To think playtime should be better managed?

[TheHouseOnBellSt]

Fully prepared to be told if I am BU.

I've often heard people say that school is just as important "for social reasons" as it is for academic. It's often trotted out when someone thinks about home education...."But what about her social development??"

And so forth. But...I think that for many children, the reality is that socialising in school is not all it's cracked up to be.

You have some kids who are excellent socially...you could possibly say that they are a minority...I have one DD who is excellent socially and one who'se had to learn.

Anyway...my friend's son has ASD and is in infants but starting to struggle...she's at a loss because he has no one to one at playtime...she's seen him alone...wandering.

He's maybe the extreme end of things but many kids have periods when they need guidance at playtime.

I'm aware that my friend's son has little support from the midday assistants as of course they're trying to "police" a whole playground...

Here's my point....shouldn't there be more support for all the kids at playtime? Some trained staff.....not necessarily teachers...but people who know something about play and learning...who could be more hands on and helpful when it comes to children learning to get on together?

I know there are kids in year 6 who struggle at my own DDs school...kids in other years who do...kids who can't share...kids who bully...kids who have issues understanding the fine nuances of conversation...the list goes on...and yet they're all thrown out together at breaks and expected to sort themselves out!

AIBU?

I think the pta at my son's school back in day did the volunteer play workers thing.

We have less than 1 member of lunchtime staff to each year group. So about 1:70 children.

I agree, I did not know how to ask anyone to play so played alone for the whole of primary it's strange how the teachers never noticed

I agree amother though if one to one cover could be arranged for the children that need it that would be helpful...back to money

you sounds like my friends school, and I winge at the 1:30

I agree entirely OP. My DS has ASD. Playtime was impossible for him, he could barely manage to walk out there into the play ground let alone make social connections. He had no friends except for one kind little girl who took him under her wing. For this and a myriad of other reasons I now home educate him. To see him with his gang of mates charging round the huge paddling pool in our local park, playing football, wrestling and bundling about confirms that I was totally right to take him out. He has a peer group now, he speaks to friends on Skype, they go to each other's house to hang out and play on consoles. This is more than I could ever have hoped for for him. People who knew him at school say he is unrecognisable now.

I think yours is a great idea OP; activities there for children who need/want them, lots more trained staff to be aware of children with SN needing support to socialise and join in.

We all have first aid training for a start and put up with a awful lot of disrespect from children.

I would say that just having a basic first aid certificate and putting up with a load of disrespect rather than managing it, puts someone smack bang in the 'barely qualified' bracket.

Which is why the whole system needs reviewing and arrangements along the lines of those in early years settings considered. There is no real need for whole schools full of children to start and end break times simultaneously or for them to be corralled on squares of tarmac all together during those breaks. It's just that it's what we're used to.

Not enough money isn't a good enough reason on its own to allow a system that doesn't really work for lots of children to remain in place. Change is never popular but it often bring improvements if it's done for the right reasons.

Meeting the needs of all of the children during break times could mean much more learning and less disruption in the classrooms in the afternoons. That's worth quite a lot of a school budget IMO.

It would be great if there were enough of the schools you describe amothers and even better if they were able to accommodate certain kinds of SN that seemingly cannot be accommodated anywhere I'm the school system. It all seems so simple doesn't it, but it is a fact that for some children there is NO suitable school place, special or otherwise.

Our school has 2 play leaders (in addition to lunchtime supervisors) who organise games for anyone who wants to join in and who keep an eye out for more vulnerable pupils. It also has a variety of lunchtime clubs to provide alternatives to the classroom. And a special retreat for those who find it all a bit much.

So it can be done.

That should read "alternatives to the playground"

Putting up with the disrespect? We have little action we can take other than telling their teachers. So we do that and nothing gets done.

We've had two members of staff injured by pupils in the last 6 months. We get bitten. We get kicked. We have things thrown at us. We get punched. And all that for minimum wage.

How about some parents (not all, because 80% of the children are absolutely great) begin by teaching children basic respect for the people around them who are trying to help them? That might free up some of our time for a start.

Of course it can be done

Some schools have staff just for the dining room and separate ones for playtime outside

A lot of lunchtime supervisors are trained in more than first aid you did say to start...not its the only thing we do

And of course lack of money isn't a good excuse, both you and I () have said its a great idea it's just it will never happen without the money

But yes in an ideal world it would be great to have a small army of adults, ready willing and able to play at the drop of a hat...lots of us hold skipping ropes and supervise games and look at bugs and nests (what's with the nests ) but there is not enough staff

If your friend's son has a statement or EHCP, then this needs to be brought up at his next review, as his needs are obviously not being met during this part of the day.

We do have a small army of year 6s who do activities with the KS 1 children. We also have behaviour/play supervisors who are shite and go in the opposite direction at the first sign of trouble, leaving us 'barely qualified' staff to deal with it - not that I'm bitter that these men get paid 3 times what I do .

Rufus, I often take out books about insects and go bug hunting with the kids.

Sorry you

Should have said lots of us ALREADY hold ropes etc

Think I might be getting RSI from all the skipping rope holding.

They broke ours, snapped it clean in half...no idea how they managed it

By tying up lunchtime supervisors...

In my mind, there would be no need to get rid of traditional playtime assistants...they would still be there, doing their job of watching out for the DC..mending hurt kids...helping the crying ones...stopping the others from fighting etc...

thehouse

A school my friend works at has separate playleaders, they have different pay which I don't agree with but if we had the extra staff playleaders would be good

But people do need to bear in mind that if a child is upset they will go to the first adult they see (even the other side of the playground) and how does the playleader NOT deal with the child

So really extra staff so there are more people generally would be better in my opinion, so everyone can do all the jobs

Friendship bench though, really, who thinks these things up? I had a couple of years of being a sad little loner. I would have cut my feet off before I'd have sat on a friendship bench.

Our superior who is on £30k has been on the playground 3 times in the last 3 months and that was when we were 4 staff down. Admittedly, he does do more than just lunchtimes but it is bad form.

More staff would be great. Extra training would be welcome too but there's no money for that either.

At my local Primary, the school council organise playground activities and it works amazingly well.

The teachers/midday assistants teach them certain games and the kids on the school council play them with the kids.

Anyone can join in and it's not just kids who have no friends either. Lots of various kids will pass by and stop to play.

For the quieter kids/those who just don't fancy energetic games, there is a huge Connect 4 game, a huge Snakes and Ladders game and a 'quiet corner' where kids can read or play board games. Again, all of this is organised and run by the lovely school council.

Perhaps you could suggest something like this OP? It actually didn't cost that much to fund, as much of the budget came from FSM funding and the fund raising committee.

In our school, in addition to the normal ratios at break and lunchtime, we also have our lovely Behaviour TA (lots of fun but no messing her) and two Sports Apprentices, whose job it is to track and engage with specific high-needs children, but also to pre-empt issues arising and set up group games, mediating if necessary. In colder weather, they'll sometimes run indoor board games/tournaments for certain groups too. As a lot of aggro was stemming from "ball management," they organise which year group has which ball to play what game.

The kids all love them (the team of 3), and it's made a massive difference to the amount of fallout from playtime disputes that inevitably impacts on their readiness to learn when they get back in the classroom afterwards.