Children at the centre

The buzz is bound to be tangible as you step into this year’s Children’s Centre and Extended
School Show, which takes place at the Royal Horticultural Halls in London on 24 and 25 June. With an all-new interactive seminar slot, where cookery and exercise demonstrations take
place, an extended schools activity zone and creative play space showcasing the latest thoughts on indoor and outdoor play, there will be plenty of good practice to feast your eyes on. There will also be the opportunity to meet experts in the sector, network with other professionals and get up-to-date with the latest government policy and advice on how to best implement guidelines.

One issue bound to get tongues wagging is the growing recognition of play. As Lisa Davis, policy officer at Play
England, says: The importance of play has always been recognised by practitioners, but now it’s filtering down to government policy level and its inclusion in the Children’s Plan signifies a big shift in policy. How to offer a wider range of play activities is a hot topic, with the government’s Fair Play document, about improving play in early years, out for consultation until 18 July.

The changing shape of play

Exhibitors Community Playthings and Hand Made Places, both located in the creative play space, are keen to educate visitors about the benefits of play both indoors and outdoors. Community Play Things plans to show visitors how they can integrate creative arts and crafts into other activities, such as play with different shaped blocks, so
children are making something that has a use. We believe play is not just about creating something in a vacuum, then putting it away on a shelf. It’s about using what the child has created, says sales and marketing director Martin Huleatt.
As for Hand Made Places, its main message is that centres can use play for education, with nature being a strong theme within its portfolio. For example, its playground products include a wooden table and seats engraved with the shapes of native leaves. This enables children to make rubbings to learn about the leaves. The manufacturer is
also planning to unveil its new range of musical instruments at the show, including xylophones and drums. "You don't have to be musically trained for these instruments to sound good. We will be running jamming sessions at our stand where anyone can join in," reveals Kris Cullum, marketing co-ordinator at Hand Made Places. Cullum explains that the company is keen to use the show to find out more about extended schools' needs in terms of their play areas. An extended schools consultant will be on hand to discuss the firm's bespoke design services. "Visitors should feel free to come to us with their own ideas or their children's ideas and we can discuss what is possible," says Cullum.

Ideas for youth workers

In the extended schools activity zone, youth working charity UK youth, is keen to demonstrate its potential in running successful extended services.
Traditionally, this is not an area that has been covered by the organisation but, with the vast changes occurring in children’s and young people’s services, the show is a valuable opportunity to educate visitors about the value of youth workers.
One programme it will be talking about is its youth Achievement Awards. There will be an opportunity to see how young people have benefited from this programme and how youth work is an ideal approach on which to build other services, says chief executive John Bateman.
The programme is about broadening a young person’s ability to achieve and it is particularly effective at addressing the inclusion issue, he explains.
UK youth aims to bridge the gap between formal curriculum learning and non-formal learning. The government, in its 10-year strategy Aiming High for Young People, has identified this approach as beneficial and calls for the need for young people to develop resilience, adds Bateman.
The show will also be a forum for UK
youth to discuss its forthcoming physical activity programme, which it is about to launch on the back of £120,000 funding from the Department of Health. The organisation has high hopes for the programme, which aims to tackle the obesity issue by creating an achievement award linked to young people reaching health and wellbeing goals.
Indeed, health and wellbeing is another hot topic at this year’s show, as well as on the policy agenda. The School Food Trust will be on hand to talk about its Let’s get Cooking initiative, aimed at promoting healthy eating and a healthy lifestyle.
In July 2007, the trust received £20m from the Big Lottery Fund, which it is using to fund this five-year project. It aims to create a national network of cookery clubs for children, families and the community in general.
So far, 20 pilot schemes have gone live, the vast majority of which are linked to schools, which is why the extended schools agenda is so critical to the trust’s success.
Our key objectives are that more than a million people will learn new cookery skills through our clubs and 70 per cent of these people will replicate those skills at home, says David Edwards, director of Let’s get Cooking.
Visitors to the trust’s stand at the show will be able to see examples of clubs in action and learn more about how they can integrate cookery classes into their extended schools service.

Another organisation seeking to strengthen its influence on government policy, is the National Association of
Head Teachers (NAHT).
It wants to use the show as a platform to outline how it can support and represent the employees of extended schools and children’s centres on a wealth of issues. One such issue the association feels strongly about is fair levels of pay for all head teachers, whether they are working in extended schools or children’s centres. According
to Kathryn James, NAHT’s senior assistant secretary, the current variable situation is unacceptable.
We’re campaigning on the issue of proper recompense for leadership roles in extended schools provision at the moment, as this is very much up for debate, she says.
Some heads get real recognition for what they do, others are rewarded in an almost casual way, which is not adequate.
We will be more than happy to talk to visitors about this issue, and any other concerns, if they want more information.