Should schools have playgrounds and outdoor space?

[alanmckinney]

I didn't realise (until earlier this year when I helped start a campaign for my children's school to expand onto available land and not build on it's playground) that schools in the UK do not have to provide any on-site outdoor space at all.

It's shocking to me that free schools setting up in the UK can (and are) doing so with no playground or outside space at all. Some have (and there are plans for more) set up in office blocks, above shops and other spaces not really suitable in my opinion as a school.

In January 2013 the government made changes to the Free Schools Legislation to allow this to happen. So many schools now transport children off to external sites such as leisure centres, parks and secondary schools for PE and other outdoor activities which eats into classroom time and isn't environmentally friendly.

So together with the charity Learning Through Landscapes (www.ltl.org.uk) I am petitioning the government to revise this legislation or introduce new legislation that stipulates new schools MUST provide adequate on-site outdoor space for their children.

Please take a look and sign the petition here if you agree:

www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/the-uk-government-stop-new-schools-being-created-without-any-outdoor-space-for-children-to-play-and-learn

Would love to hear other parents opinions on this too

Thanks

Of course schools need outdoor space. All the schools in our town have it, it's essential.

I walk past the Norwich Free School regularly when I go shopping in town and I just despair - it has a tiny concrete space at the back and that is it. Children need space to run/mooch about in the fresh air.

schools should have play space my kids school built on to the the grass at front of school which was the pe field and they were given a fenced off bit of land on the park over the road but its used by dog walkers to let dogs off and let them shit all over it few times I shouted at them and reported to school but was told the council wont allow them to lock the gate!

Yes they should have outdoor space.

Schools where possible do have out door space, we should be working to making new schools even better and more pleasant...not regressing and making them less pleasant!

a school near us has giant beehive looking huts for the children to go in at playtime, as they are in a heavy flight path!

noise and airoplane 'droppings'.

so not exactly outside.

Great, let's create some more red tape to make it even more difficult for new schools to open in built-up areas.

Of course schools should have outdoor space. But given te choice between bussing my DC miles to the nearest school with space and a crowded area because restrictive laws say a new one can't open as suitable premises can't be found, and taking a place at a great school that does PE in the park, I'll go for PE in the park.

but it isn't just PE it is playtime, if they don't have a large enough space the children have to be quiet and still during breaks, how is this going to work with the children who just need to explode and run at breaktime, or they will explode and run during lessons.

SarcyMare you don't answer Manatee's point. It's a question of priorities.

A couple of years ago there was a thread about the school-run (another old chestnut) and one poster wanted every school to have a car-park even if it meant tarmacking the playground and bulldozing the houses around. I tried to guesstimate how many houses would have to go for an average size school and the result was like me - not a pretty sight!

My son went to a school in the centre of the city with no outside space. They made a huge effort to take each class to the park every day (small classes). They did PE in a local military field!

I know of a school in central London which had a tiny courtyard, so i asked the caretaker where the children played and he took me to their basement playroom.

It's a shame that the children have no natural light, there is a shortage of schools and a shortage of suitable land, so there isn't an easy answer.

Some inner city schools in the US have a playground on their roof -this may become more common here with the change in legislation.

Schools do need outside space but I don't see why they need outside space that is exclusively used by the school, the schools could just use local parks instead of having their own yard/field.

I think ideally they should have some space but we don't live in an ideal world so it won't always be possible.

If the school doesn't have it's own space then they should try to find somewhere locally they can use

Definitely! My daughter went for a short time to an all-girls primary school with ahankerchief-sized playground when she was five years old. All the girls could do was stand around and gossip!

Completely agree op. Have signed.