The Big Lottery Fund Children's Play initiative, to which Hall ispresumably referring, defines play as "what children and young people dowhen they follow their own ideas and interests, in their own way, andfor their own reasons".
The initiative states it will fund provision that is "free of charge"and will only consider projects based on school premises "where alllocal children will be welcome and where there are plans in place toensure ongoing community access". Sadly, this is far from the current orforeseeable reality for most extended schools.
The extent of play deprivation experienced by many children today is atleast as damaging as the prevalence of junk food. Commentators asdiverse as Barnardo's, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Campaign forReal Education are now echoing the play sector's long-held caution:unless we redesign school grounds as enriched play environments andemploy professional playworkers to manage them, extended schools may bejust like placing a large part of the child population in detention.
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