How important are play/sports areas in primary schools?

[Dad2016]

My DS will start Reception in 2020 and we are looking at primary schools in London.

I have been surprised to see that almost every single school has extremely limited space for the children to play - though I admit that, given this is London and space is at a premium, this probably shouldn't have come as a great surprise.

How important do you think it is for there to be outdoor space (or an indoor sports hall) for kids at their primary schools? Is it not that big a deal if:

1, You ensure extra-curricular sports outside of school (very difficult given busy working schedules)?, or 2, Live near a park and maybe, assuming decent weather, give them a run around in this for 20-30 mins after school every day?

Furthermore, does anyone know of any primary schools in London which have decent outdoor space? We were looking at schools in West London, but might now move and look further afield if need be.

Thank you in advance for any help or tips on this!

I'm.not in London but would not have wanted my DC to go to a school with limited outside space. In reception and KS1 my children spent a lot of time outside, and rightly so. I appreciate it can be different in urban areas with a premium on space and I'm.not saying children need vast football fields but small children do benefit from being outside.

My DC both started school just after their 4th birthdays. Their reception class had an outdoor classroom attached to it where they did sand and water play, rode bikes, grew veg etc.

We feel that outdoor space is very important. We live in muswell hill (north London) and all the six schools we toured had good outdoor space. Some had bigger space compared to others, but all had sufficient space.

Also, my DC attended two primary schools due to moving house. Both schools had a swimming pool and that was fabulous as in the summer they swam every day. I appreciate that city schools are bigger with more classes so that there's less chance every class can swim every day. And I'm.guessing that most London schools dont have swimming pools. But if you find one with a pool.then it's a bonus!

I think it’s crucial. Our primary has an enormous playing field and they all tip out there at lunch and break times and noon around - football, swing and slides, skipping ropes etc. We also have a outside swimming pool that’s open after summer half term, and they swim twice a week with school.

A neighbouring school has massively over expanded - they only had a tiny playground to start with, it’s now got a portakabin on it and they can’t all have playtime together, let alone do any decent running around during PE.

From my (limited) experience - the biggest playground I know of is at Sullivan school in Fulham - massive playground & directly opposite huge green playing fields

My DS goes to Fielding Primary School in Ealing which has a really nice, big field, a climbing area, sand pit, allotment, chickens and a treey bit too (rather ambitiously referred to as a ‘forest’, but I think they do some forest school style outside lessons in it).
The Reception outside area looks really nice too (its new) and they seem to be out in it a lot.

Coldfall in Muswell Hill has the biggest outdoor space I know of for a London primary.

Belmont primary in Chiswick has a large playground and they've added greenery to the infants one (sort of a nature effect). No fields although there is a common close by where they hold sports day (or they did, many years ago).

I think outside space is essential. Children need to burn off energy at breaktimes, not just formal PE lessons.

Thank you everyone for the great advice and tips!

I think the consensus is this really does matter a lot.

My kids' school is pretty limited on space on the actual school site - very small forest school area and the rest is just playgrounds and no school field. It's not as bad as it sounds - round the corner is a large nature reserve and woodland the school make good use of, and they use their partner school's field for things like sports day. Depends how the school works around what they've got basically.

It's all well and good saying you can take them to the park after school, but what about all the winter months when it's dark by the time you can pick up?

I would not want my child to spend their early days in a place with no sense of space and openness. When you take a class to a local park or wood it is necessarily different to school playtime as the teachers have to structure activities and be hyper-vigilant about the public etc. It's not like being chucked out to play independently on a school field. Kids need space for unstructured play and a sense of freedom.

Very important. My child's school has a huge field and playground used for playtime, PE and normal lessons. Keep in mind that you don't really choose a schhols, you put down your preferences then tbe LEA allocate according to their policy.

It all depends. DD's Infant and Junior had only a playground but they have an arrangement with a secondary next door to use their playing fields.

So in practical terms the outside space is a lot larger than the actual one on paper. For forest school they walked to a local parkland.