Islington Play CEO
Ninth Blog Post
This has been a fantastic week for IPA. Every part of the service has been running well with staff excelling at their jobs. No I actually mean it! Lumpy Hill adventure playground has been voted the coolest place to play in London and all other sites are getting recognition for the hard work and commitment from our staff to the children of Islington.
It is a moment to take a breath and review the journey that we have been through since April 2013 when IPA took on six new sites to add to our children centre at Paradise Park, expanding our direct services to children, welcoming over 22 new staff and restructuring the entire organisation to ensure the success of the projects.
As we get to the AGM (November 19th, 6.30pm at Martin Luther King Adventure Playground, N7 - please come!) it is a perfect opportunity to think about what we have done and what we intend to do next.
This week we have been thinking about Childcare and Open Access Free Play. Our approach so far has been that the experience for the children should not be any different but I wonder if this was a little naive. If we really believe that the 'open access' bit is essential then we must understand the impact when that bit is missing. It is true that the children attending the playgrounds, Childcare and the children's centre get freedom to choose what they do and how they do it when on site, but only some of them can 'vote with their feet' and leave when they want to. Not only that, children at the adventure playgrounds get to go out, go to the shop, chat to friends, play in the park and be in the community. Children in the Childcare services cannot.
It also has an impact on what a child is doing and feels like if their parent has paid for them to be somewhere or, as in many cases, the council is paying for their place due to issues in the family.
IPA believes that all the children should be treated by staff as individuals and support given as appropriate to need but how children treat each other or feel inside is not in our control.
We have one adventure playground that also offers Childcare and we have worked hard to make these two very different services fit together. One aspect of this service offers children excellent play opportunities where they can explore themselves and their environment in safety and relative freedom the other is for parents.
As a parent myself I am proud that we are able to offer 'care' in such an appropriate environment and we have ensured that the nursery at paradise park also makes the most of its adventure play roots especially in its outside mini adventure playground complete with walk ways in the trees, sand, water and fire pit. The Childcare offered at the adventure playground is high quality, true to Playwork theory and well managed but I cannot say it is not a struggle to manage the expectations of parents.
I would like to ask all parents to take a little time to think. What do you actually think it is best for your children to do after school? It is actually your and their choice. If you want them to get access to open air, meet other children (not only the ones in their class) learn to negotiate the world and social situations, challenge themselves, take risks and experience some freedom then please send them/allow them to come to our adventure playgrounds. That is what they are here for.
Thinking about being a parent I have realised that there is nothing that prepares you for the world of work like having children. Living in an atmosphere of low level hostility and constant ridicule, with your plans and ideas always able to be upset, undone, undermined and sabotaged, needing to try to be one step ahead and keep safe from hostile forces, taking unexpected events in your stride and struggling to maintain discipline: the life of a mum is similar to other excellent training grounds (public school, the army) so I would like to thank my family for giving me the skills to succeed. Thanks.