Playground
Positive Playtimes
At Bovey Tracey Primary School we value playtimes immensely. We recognise the many valuable aspects of this time including the opportunities for relaxation, exercise and social interaction.
We have an established Playground Team and value greatly the team work amongst our whole school community including staff, children, parents and governors.
The foundations of our playground are built upon our Playground Vision:
Our playground vision
Children will be given every opportunity to take responsibility for their own behaviour and play The playground will be used properly and safely in order to facilitate children’s play Successful playtimes will be seen as a partnership based on respect, whereby adults respect the rights of children as individuals and children respect the rights of adults. |
Our fantastic new playground markings
Our Lunchtime Team
We have a great team of staff who work to facilitate positive playtimes. This team meet fortnightly to review current practice and discuss future developments. They also meet together each half-term to take part in staff SEAL training as well as taking part in training at other times throughout the year.
Playground Assemblies
Each half-term, we hold a whole school playground assembly. Our Lunchtime Team come into school for these assemblies We use this time to share news from playground activities, introduce new games and equipment, consider ideas we may have for future developments and much more!
Rewards
We have lots of ways of recognising and celebrating positive play, behaviour and attitudes on the playground. Our Lunchtime Team gives out stickers and ‘Thank you’ tokens each day. We also have a ‘Playground Celebration Tree’. If a pupil is noticed on the playground for a consistently positive reason, their name gets put in the ‘Playground Praise’ book and this is read out in assembly each week. The child’s name then gets put on one of the leaves of our celebration tree. At the end of term, all the children with their name on the tree get an extra playtime!
Our Playground Rule
Our whole school and playground rule is ‘keep you hands, feet and cruel words to yourself’. If someone does not respect this rule, they spend time in the ‘Think Zone’ to reflect how they can positively reintegrate themselves onto the playground.
Posts of Responsibility
Our playground is based on a partnership whereby all children and all adults involved with our school, work together to help us enjoy positive playtimes. We have ‘Posts of Responsibility’. These are playground jobs which are carried out on a rota system each day. The posts are advertised in September. Children in Year 5 and 6 can then apply for the jobs they wish to do. Once the jobs have been allocated, the children are trained and begin work. Throughout the year, the children with playground responsibility have meetings to discuss how their work is going and how it can develop further. They also undergo Performance Management through group appraisals. Each month, we select ‘Playground Workers of the Month’ and these children are given a special rosette award in assembly to celebrate their positive work. Each job has a specific job description and duties they are responsible for. They wear different coloured bibs so they are easily identifiable on the playground. The jobs are:
- Peer Mediator
- Play Leader
- Referee
- Lunchtime Helper
See our gallery of Playgounr Workers of the Month here.
Pastoral Support Systems
We have a School Befriender who is available at lunchtime to support pupils. If a child would like to talk to an adult on a one to one basis they can go down to the Befriending Room to talk to Mrs S, our Befriender.
Playground Areas
Our playground has four main areas: a ball game area, a quiet area, a creative playground and an adventure playground.
We have different activities happening in each area and these are coordinated by our Play Leader. These activities include: football, basketball (which are run by our team of referees), croquet, roll-a-ball and much more. We also have daily physical exercise challenges called ‘Active Activities’. These involve all sorts of tasks such as running a mile, football and basketball dribbling; bean bag targets games and minute movement boxes. Our Year 5 and 6 Play Leaders work with both KS1 and KS2 children. They learn lots of games to lead. These range from team games to traditional games such as ‘What’s the time Mr Wolf?’ and ‘The Farmer’s in his den’.
Peer Support
Our Peer Mediators are always on hand to facilitate conflict resolution if there are any friendship problems on the playground. We also have a ‘Friendship Stop’ where children can go and stand if they are looking for someone to play with. Peer Mediators and the other children will check this stop and look to include anyone waiting there.
Caring for our environment
We are very proud of our playground and try to always look after it.
Our Lunchtime Helpers carry out daily litter checks and they also water the planets to ensure they thrive and make our playground look colourful!
We are very fortunate to have a very supportive School Association who have helped to fund developments on the playground and have purchased equipment for us to enjoy.
We welcome people to come and share our positive playtimes and are always open in new ideas to keep developing our playtimes, ensuring they are happy, rewarding times for everyone!