Play:Layout 1 11/09/2009 16:33 Page 66
children’s play & the curriculum
4playground what they learn in the
classroom by using costumes, fancy dress
Regeneration
and Snug items – activities that the
school believes is helping to solve wider
of the West Midlands
issues, as former deputy head Pam Cleave
explains. “We noticed a marked improvement
THE West Midlands was one of the
in behaviour at play times and during
most heavily redeveloped regions of
lessons since the Snug equipment came to
Britain throughout the 1950s and
the school, together with a major reduction
1960s as Birmingham and surrounding
in play fighting and rough games.”
urban centres sought to recover from
the devastation wrought by some of
Relationships
the worst World War II bombing. The
Teaching at primary school level can often
‘rebirth’ saw swathes of concrete
be challenging, even more so in an area of
tower blocks scattered across the
high deprivation, Cleave acknowledges.
region as modern building methods and
Whilst Solihull presents a mostly green,
styles ushered in wholesale post-war
leafy, affluent suburb, Smith’s Wood is
modernism creating what were soon to
reportedly one of the most deprived
be dubbed ‘concrete jungles’.
communities in the region, languishing in
The decades since then have seen the
pioneering planning spirit of a ‘new
dawn’ decay into the reality of deprived
children in the 5-11
communities and sink estates.
age group are acutely
Regeneration is once more underway in
the region, however – this time to a fresh
conscious of their
blueprint of village life, low-rise housing
and a vision of neighbourhoods where status in front of
residents can enjoy a sense of identity
with and responsibility for their locality.
their peers
At the heart of the urban renaissance
are schools and the Government is the bottom 5% of the national statistics.
committed to build sustainable “There are a few areas we’ve been striving
communities around education and pupils to overcome recently. Some children have
to foster a sense of pride and belonging particularly difficult social circumstances
in the local environment and beyond. and a number of the children in the 5-11
age group are acutely conscious of their
Its statements are unequivocal in this
status in front of their peers.
mission: “Creating sustainable schools
“The play equipment can only help
is about embedding a commitment to
improve relationships between children.
‘care’ for oneself, for each other, and for
The focus of play in the primary
the environment, near and far. In practice,
curriculum has increased significantly
this means integrating high standards
over the last few years and Snug offers
of achievement and behaviour with the
the opportunity to blend in creative
goals of healthy living, environmental
learning and problem-solving.”
awareness, community engagement
and citizenship
(1)
.
www.sutcliffeplay.co.uk
Smith’s Wood Community Primary
School’s development is the result of a
multi-agency initiative that includes
the North Solihull Partnership and the
Youth Sport Trust among others.
Due to be fully completed in 2010, it is
part of a wider commercial venture to
create five village centres in North Solihull
– and a wider 15-year regeneration
scheme that will see the construction
of 8,000 new homes and the creation or
redevelopment of ten primary schools.
Smith’s Wood, as well as the other four
village centres, will include a mix of retail
development and private and social
housing elements, with the community
primary school being as the focus.
(1)
DCSF, 2008.
66 edbmagazine.co.uk
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