Welcome to another important year in working towards growing our capacity to lift the play provision for all children.

Our first Member News for this year is a bumper edition! Lots to share to support you in your important work of bringing play to life in your sphere of influence. 

We provide details of our many Professional Development and Training programs to be offered to Members. 

We are launching two NEW programs this year, both relating to Early Years.

One is an Early Years Series delivered online and focussed on specialised information for educators.

The other is a 1 Day seminar discussing the risk management requirements and Australian Standards for the management and maintenance of outdoor play spaces in supervised early learning services in Australia.

Both have been sorely missing over recent years and we are delighted to bring these unique training and professional development opportunities back to support our Members.  

My further updates in this edition include:

• Play Australia Risk Assessors Network
  
• Online Learning Series Summer 2022
• Play Australia staff supporting our campaigns

• February 24 - Professor Ruth Jeanes: More Play for Sport - The Growth of Informal Sports Participation in Australia

• March 10 - Local Government Connect - 1000 Play Streets: Discussing the key issues to designing temporary streets closures for play
  
  
• March 17- Michelle Carlyle & Bree De La Harpe from Be Centre: The emerging field of play therapy - what, why and how?

March 3 - A discussion about the maintenance, design and manufacture of playspaces and equipment.

This session will include: 

• Playground Standards update 
• Current concerns and issues for 2022 
• Q & A  with members of the Standards Committee

February 17 - Robyn Monro Miller: The Power of 30 Minutes - Play and the Developing Brain

• Thursday February 17 - Robyn Monro Miller: The Power of 30 Minutes - Play and the Developing Brain.
  
  Join Robyn for a playful exploration of neuroscience and take away enough interesting facts for you to convince even the toughest cynic about the value of play for every child.
  
  
• Monday February 21 - Bron Joslyn: Taking a Positive Approach to Outdoor Play during a Pandemic
  
  This session will focus on the positives of outdoor play as part of pandemic intervention whilst also discussing how we can maintain curriculum, play and joy. Examples of outdoor pedagogy and evidence of joy will be showcased.
  
  
• Thursday March 10 - Anne Houghton & Bron Joslyn: Theories of Playspace Arrangement 
  
  The purpose of any early childhood outdoor setting is to ensure that the necessary stimuli are present in order for children to participate in physically active play. This session will provide practical strategies as well as the pedagogical theory to support arranging outdoor playspaces to benefit children’s learning experiences. 
  
  
• Monday March 21 - Jason Tyndall, Nature Play SA: The Habitat of Childhood – A Snapshot of Why Spending Time in, and with, Nature is a Fundamental Component of Childhood
  
  Childhood has changed. The notion of kids roaming around neighbourhoods unaccompanied by an adult is not a current practice of the childhood landscape - but this type of ‘free play’ is often incorrectly associated with what nature play is.
  
  
• Thursday April 7 - Kim Knersch & Michelle Shaw, Wyndham City EYM: Nature Based Advocacy - A Pathway to YES 
  
  This session will outline the pathway to YES....in order to develop and deliver a kindergarten based program at Werribee Mansion, a first for Council. Early Years Teacher, Michelle Shaw will share her story, the trials and tribulations and commitment that she needed to get a YES to make this happen.
  

Maintenance Requirements for Early Years Outdoor Play Areas

When: Wednesday 6 April 2022

Where: Westerfolds Park, Fitzsimons Lane, Templestowe, VIC

The outdoor program is not an optional add-on to a 'main' indoor program, but an essential key component of every service for young children. It is a requirement as detailed in the National Quality Standards and regular playspace maintenance is essential for every early years’ service.

This one-day program will focus on the risk management requirements and Australian Standards for the management and maintenance of outdoor play spaces in supervised early learning services in Australia.

Cost: $165.00 (inc gst) per Play Australia Member

After the challenges of face-to-face training in 2021, we are delighted to launch a new program of Playspace Development training dates for the coming year.  

Starting in March, this program is designed for people working in the government and non-government sectors, involved in the design, development and management of play equipment and playspaces.

The purpose of our training is to build the confidence and capability of industry to:

• unlock creative processes to improve playspace design
• apply Australian Standards and good practice to playspace design
• develop and operate effective maintenance programs for playspaces

Participants will receive level 1 & 2 certification from Play Australia.

Play Australia believes play must be a critical consideration in all place-based planning.
 
In support of this belief our NSW Branch has written an Advisory Note, Planning and Design for Play in the Built Environment to assist planners and designer looking to implement the new NSW Design and Place State Environmental Planning Policy, 2021. The Advisory Note expands on why play is so important and should be supported throughout the built environment and why children and young people should be consulted ahead of the design of space.
 
In response to the Advisory Note the NSW Government responded to our NSW Branch agreeing “that play should form a significant component of the built environment. Its view is that high quality and inclusive play is critical in supporting healthy and cohesive communities…”.
 
We hope this supporting Advisory Note assists in this exciting time of bringing the importance of play to the forefront of place-based planning and that the provision and space to play should be integrated from the ‘doorstep to the domain’.

Erica is the Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for Sport and Social Impact at La Trobe University.

In this Member Profile, Erica tells us about what she sees as the most important issues we need to address in terms of children and play in Australia. 

Erica has been involved with Play Australia's 1000 Play Streets talking to local councils, and collecting stories from communities about their activities. This process contributed some of the evidence used to develop the 1000 Play Street LGA Toolkit.

Elizabeth Cummins (Play Australia Vic Branch Committee) has reviewed two publications by Dr Helen Little, that feature in Early Childhood Australia’s Everyday Learning Series. 

It is quite timely that we are discussing the importance of risky outdoor play and the benefits for children, who for many, have been closeted away during lockdowns and isolation during the COVID pandemic. 

These are valuable resources for all of us who want to bring about positive health and wellbeing changes for our children. 

There has been a significant increase in demand for  'Rubber Crumb' (typically produced by shredding car tyres) according to government estimates, with 80,000 tonnes made in Australia alone between 2018-19. It is believed to be even higher now. 

This is causing increased concern as it is estimated playgrounds that use rubber crumb are releasing approximately 12million crumbs into their immediate surrounding environment. Research is suggesting that the tyre chemicals 'may have toxic health effects on both marine and human life'. 

This is a must read for Members involved with the planning and building of playspaces. 

At the end of last year SunSmart presented a webinar with Dr Greg Moore, All About Trees. There is a video available, click here. 

Greg is the Senior Research Associate at the University of Melbourne, and he discusses the many health, environmental and economic benefits of trees. Greg also provides practical tips on how to get started with greening our urban environments, schools and early childhood spaces. 

Hope you can have a listen!

Congratulations to Place Design Group for winning the 'Playground Design and Development' category for their outstanding work on Variety's Livvi's Place, Glenfield, at the NSC Awards Night. Recognising 'Designs and developments that allow and encourage more children to play, have fun and be active.'

“Tonight we recognised the success of our industry and what organisations are doing to encourage Australians to be more active through innovative approaches.” Martin Sheppard, NSC Convenor.

Photo L-R, Kieran Brophy (Play Australia) | Kim Becherand (Variety NSW) | Hugh Delahunty (Board – Australian Sports Commission) | Barb Champion (Play Australia) | Jennifer Stone (Millar Merrigan) | Nick Ison (Place Design Group)

No one would be surprised that research is showing that loneliness was exacerbated during the past two years of the pandemic.  

Relationships Australia has released an evaluation report of their annual celebration, Neighbour Day, which provides an insight into the effect of restrictions within local communities. 

When neighbours are connected, community is strengthened and loneliness reduced. 

Play Australia is very pleased to be a VNO, a Very Neighbourly Organisation this year! So, we encourage you all to PLAY together and stay connected. 

Have you promoted your business on our website? Now is the time!  This growing directory is here to profile the expertise, products and services available from our Members.  

Here is the link below to put your face up on our website. 

Our fortnightly Play Today eNews covers a range of PLAY updates and brings you the latest training and PD programs on offer and developments on our campaigns.

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