The Play Well Podcast

Karen is the leading expert in playwork qualifications in Scotland. She is the curriculum manager at Glasgow Clyde College for Playwork, Childhood Practice, Additional Support Needs, Social Services, and Early Learning and Childcare. She is a qualified primary teacher and she recently completed a Masters in Education where her research focused on play deprivation. 

Dr Sarah Goldsmith has been a playworker and playwork trainer for over twenty years, after finishing a degree in Playwork. Sarah has worked in out of school clubs, adventure playgrounds and as a play ranger. The experience Sarah gained as a playworker led her to a PhD that explored children's experiences of toys and gender from a playwork perspective. Currently, Sarah works part time at Thrive Outdoors, researching children's opportunities for outdoor play in Glasgow, as well as working part time as a Childhood Practice lecture at West College Scotland. Sarah is also Chair of the International Play Association (IPA) Scotland.

Dr Stephanie Chambers is a Senior Lecturer in the Sociology of Health and Wellbeing at the University of Glasgow. She leads a masters programme in Global Health and teaches on health inequalities and programme design and evaluation. Stephanie’s research focuses on children and young people’s health and wellbeing. She is particularly interested in the ways in which intergenerational programmes might bring wellbeing benefit to both children and older adults.

Give Them Time is a grassroots movement which evolved in 2018 from parents across Scotland sharing their own, often difficult, experiences of applying for a further year of nursery funding for their child.Their campaign has been successful in changing the law so that all children with a legal right to defer their p1 start (those not age 5 by the school start date) from Aug 2023 to Aug 2024 and every year thereafter, are now automatically entitled to a further year of nursery (Early Learning and Childcare – ELC) funding. This means it is no longer up to councils to decide whether to fund this or not for mid-August to 31st Dec born children (Jan and Feb borns have had an automatic entitlement to this funding since 2000).They have created a two page information leaflet as a resource for parents, carers, ELC staff, health visitors, primary school teachers and anyone else with an interest in primary one deferral rights in Scotland.

Virginia Radcliffe is the Artistic Director & CEO of Licketyspit, a theatre and play charity focused on early years children and families.After graduating in Drama & English Virginia became an actor. In her 30's, on becoming a mother, she developed her fascination for the early years, which flourished on moving to Scotland in 2000 to become Director of Scotland's first dedicated early years theatre programme at Wee Stories. In 2004 this became Licketyspit. Virginia has written and directed 7 successful touring plays, teaching resources and children's books.In 2008 she led the development of LicketyLeap - a groundbreaking immersive theatre as early intervention. This defined the role of the actor-pedagogue and the children's rights-led Storyplay approach and methodology that now underpins Licketyspit's repertoire of participatory drama-led projects for children and families in areas of high poverty.Virginia is passionate about equality, children's rights, the early years, the way Storyplay can support children to prompt families and communities to relax and appreciate each other and remind us what matters. She seeks to share Storyplay as a trauma-informed practice that can open doors to imaginary playworlds and unlock the limitless possibilities of children.You can find our more about Virginia's work at www.Licketyspit.com Big Porridge & Play Glasgow - 5min promo; 20min documentaryHappening NowPorridge & Play Hubs - New Scot Integration Project'22 – 5min promo; 20min documentaryStories of Resilience Film 4min film showing online Storyplay with refugee families in Pandemic.Have Your Say Through Play Film demonstration and child consultation reports.·         Children’s Rights approach ·         Children & Families NetworkFamily Art Voyage – Webpage with blogs/pics about project with range of artists selected by children to lead workshops in their own practice within the Storyplay framework.

Amy Woodhouse is the Chief Executive Officer of Parenting across Scotland - speaking up for and with parents and families in Scotland. Prior to this role, she was Head of Policy, Projects and Participation for Children in Scotland, a position she held for eight years. Earlier in her career she worked as a researcher in the mental health sector and has a particular interest in how music, and the arts more widely, can be used to promote mental health and well-being. She is currently a Board Member of Scottish Ensemble, a pioneering collective of outstanding musicians.Amy recently participated in a Churchill Fellowship research project that looked at Increasing Children and Young People’s Access to Hobbies and Leisure Activities (churchillfellowship.org). Her fellowship focused on national approaches to improving children and young peoples’ access to hobbies, learning from the experiences of Finland and Iceland. In her own spare time she is a tap-dancer, sometime painter, terrible but enthusiastic guitar player and lover of long-distance walks.

The Opentree Foundation (Project: Toybank — Development Through Play) Toybank — Development Through Play is the flagship project of Mumbai-based non-profit The Opentree Foundation, which was founded in 2004. Toybank creates safe spaces for at-risk children with a focus of mainstreaming play-based learning in India. We adopt a Conscious Play™ approach to enable children from vulnerable communities to alleviate stress, build resilience and overcome probable adversity. Through the Conscious Play™ approach, the programmes focus on children's critical thinking, communication, and socio-emotional learning. We set up play centres in partnership with Nonprofit Organisations, Community-Based Organisations, government and low-income semi-government schools, and government and non-government CICs (Child in Institutional Care). Through advocating for the Right to Play, we aim to bring about a change at the policy level to make Play an integral part of children’s learning. Currently, Toybank works with 77,000+ children, across 623 play centres in seven districts of Maharashtra, India. Shweta ChariCo-founder and CEO, Toybank — Development Through PlayShweta has been a champion of children’s Right to Play for over two decades and has been working towards mainstreaming play and play-based learning in India. A creative facilitator, Shweta is an engineer by education. She was selected for the Harvard Business School — Strategic Nonprofit Management — India programme with a full scholarship. She has won prestigious accolades for spearheading Toybank in its efforts to bridge the gap between the developmental needs of at-risk children and their emotional well-being and cognitive development through Play. With The Opentree Foundation, Shweta has brought together a team of passionate changemakers and subject matter experts who have helped make learning a joyful and fun experience for underserved children.

Pete Moorhouse is an early years creative consultant, researcher, author and artist educator based in the UK.  He is an associate trainer for Early Education delivering training nationally and overseas and is also a Froebel Tutor for the Froebel Trust. His work in school is centred around nurturing children's creativity inspired by Froebelian principles and the approach in Reggio Emilia. Pete is a leading authority on woodwork in Early Years education and has written several books and journal articles, including ‘Learning Through Woodwork’ (Routledge) as well as books on outdoor learning. He is currently working on his latest book – ‘Creativity in Practice: Nurturing creative and critical thinking in early childhood education’. He was awarded an honorary research fellowship from the University of Bristol and is currently researching creative progression in early education. Pete was also awarded a Churchill Fellowship to undertake international research into best woodworking practices in education. Pete won the national award (2019) from the Creative Learning Guild for his work promoting creativity in education and is Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. Yvonne Young is an Early Years Officer with West Lothian Council. Her ‘Wonderful woodworking’ journey began three years ago whilst completing the Froebel in Childhood Practice course with the University of Edinburgh, sparking her interest in play through a Froebelian lens. Her project has since sparked an initiative linking West Lothian College and West Lothian STEM to offer woodworking opportunities within primary one classes, with 50 teachers embracing this. After completing CPD training with Pete Moorhouse, he awarded her the first-ever Big Bang Woodwork Award last April to celebrate her achievements in embedding woodworking across her previous ElC and School community. She continues to promote the idea that every day can be a wonderful woodworking day! Catch up with Yvonne, Pete and Fiona in this latest episode.

Dr Naomi Lott is the John Fell Research Fellow, at the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights, where she is Co-Investigator on the project ‘Developing a Framework for Implementing the Right to Play’. Naomi is also a Lecturer in Law at UCL.Naomi has recently completed her ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Oxford, Faculty of Law, where she was Principal-Investigator on the project ‘Advancing the Development and Application of the Right to Play’. Naomi completed a PhD at the University of Nottingham on the child's right to play (Article 31, UNCRC), examining the right from conception through to implementation. This research has recently been published in 'The Right of the Child to Play: From Conception to Implementation' (Routledge, 2023). Naomi holds a LLM in Human Rights Law and a Masters in Socio-Legal Research Methods from the University of Nottingham, and a degree in International Politics from Aberystwyth University. Naomi has conducted research for/funded by the United Nations University, Delta 8.7, the Rights Lab at the University of Nottingham,the ERC, the Walk Free Foundation, and the ILO and IOM. Here, she speaks with Play Scotland's Chief Executive, Marguerite Hunter Blair, and our Director of Projects, Cherie Morgan, about the Child's right to play.The Right of the Child to Play: From Conception to Implementation - 1s (routledge.com)Delta 8.7 | United Nations University (unu.edu)Winning research proposals: 16 Junior Researchers Awarded Fellowships and Seed Grants (ilo.org)

NB: Due to poor internet connection, this episode has some glitching. We have edited this where possible. Thank you for listening!This month we celebrate 35 years of Care and Learning Alliance in the Highlands! We speak with the Chief Executive, Jaci Douglas and the Head of Quality, Learning and Workforce Development, Corrina Shearer about all things CALA and play.Care and Learning Alliance (CALA)

Mick Conway started his playwork career on Bermondsey adventure playground in 1978. He went on to become Director of Hackney Play Association where he was a founder of Playday, created the Quality in Play system and was a consultant on development of the Playwork Principles. He helped set up London Play and Play England and ended up back where he started, working on adventure playgrounds in Islington for a change. These days he’s kept busy by three grandchildren and two great grandchildren.

This month on The Playwell Podcast we will be discussing childrens use of video games, and how they impact and interact with childrens play. To explore this, we will hear from Andy Roberston. Andy is a gaming journalist who wrote the book 'Taming Gaming', and runs a family gaming database. He has written for The Guardian, Forbes, and appears on BBC TV. Listen to hear our Project Support Intern, Christopher Drewery catching up with Andy.

In this episode, we will look at Play in Museums.To explore this we will hear from Lauren Henning and Loretta Mordi.Lauren Henning is the Learning and Museum Manager at the Tall Ship Glenlee in Glasgow. From West Lothian forests, onboard Glaswegian ships to Orcadian galleries, Lauren has worked in cultural and heritage organisations the length and breadth of Scotland and joined the Glenlee team in March 2021. Lauren believes passionately in the importance of play within heritage spaces and that museum and learning departments need to work together to remain forward-thinking and relevant to their communities.Loretta Mordi is the Museum Development Manager – Learning and Engagement, at Museums Galleries Scotland (MGS), the national development body for museums and galleries in Scotland. She has a passion for education, learning, culture, equality, diversity, inclusion, and social justice. Her role at MGS includes driving strategic learning and engagement by supporting the sector to deliver Scotland’s Museums and Galleries Strategy and Scottish Government National Priorities. She provides a proactive interface with museums and galleries on key strategic learning and engagement projects to build a sustainable sector relevant to schools and their communities and to improve quality of services. She convenes the MGS Strategic Learning Forum and is keen on the social impact of museum and heritage learning and health and well-being.Here is our Play Pedagogy Office, Fiona Kirkland, catching up with Loreen and Lauren.

In this episode, we will look at Dungeons & Dragons at school, in primary and secondary.To explore this we will hear from Debs Barrie & Andrew Hay.Andrew Hay is the Principal Teacher of Technologies at Newbattle High School where he runs a Dungeons and Dragons club. He supports the 66th Edinburgh Boys' Brigade company as Captain and Games master of the Dungeons and Dragons games they play for fun. He is passionate about supporting young people to develop creativity and problem solving skills to support them as a teenager but also give them the skills to apply in adult life. Debs Barrie has been a primary teacher for 15 years and has been playing dnd since the launch of 5e. She feels lucky to still play with her original group in which there are two fabulous DMs. They made the game so much fun that she started a school D&D club in 2018. She continued throughout lockdown and until the children went to high school and joined, or formed, clubs there. While she continues to run games for upper primary children, more recently she has introduced D&D to primary 1 children, simplifying and adapting it to suit younger players. Here is our Learning & Development Officer Jenny Lester catching up with Debs & Andrew.

This is a takeover episode!Play Scotland recently attended the International Play Association Conference in Glasgow. This episode of our podcast is made up of are reflections from this conference.PEEK (Possibilities for Each and Every Kid) seeks to support children, young people and families in Glasgow by raising their hopes and aspirations, achieve goals and work towards increasing their expectations for life. Young people from PEEK attended the conference and interviewed participants with questions they designed themselves.Find out more about the conference: https://www.ipaglasgow2023.org/Find out more about IPA: https://ipaworld.org/

This is a takeover episode!Play Scotland recently attended the International Play Association Conference in Glasgow. The next few episodes of our podcast are reflections from this conference.The Aileymillers are a group of children who shared their thoughts about play linked to the conference themes, whilst engaged in play as a strand of children’s participation in the 2023 IPA conference. They attended the conference and interviews participants with questions they designed themselves.Find out more about the conference: https://www.ipaglasgow2023.org/Find out more about IPA: https://ipaworld.org/

This is a takeover episode! Play Scotland recently attended the International Play Association Conference in Glasgow. The next few episodes of our podcast are reflections from this conference.In this episode, Tam Baillie poses questions from children around the world to Philip Jaffé.Prof. Philip D. Jaffé is a professor at the University of Geneva, Switzerland, and the founding director of its Centre for Children’s Rights Studies. He is a member of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and currently serves as its Vice-Chair. A clinical and a forensic psychologist trained in Switzerland and in the USA, for many years, his somewhat eclectic academic and professional activities have focused on children's rights, and more specifically child protection and child participation. Still a practising licensed psychotherapist and a court-appointed expert witness, he has also conducted clinical and training consultancies for a wide range of humanitarian organizations, both governmental and non-governmental. Beyond the traditional "teach, research, publish or perish missions" required by a leading university, his vision of academic life is to branch out in the community at large as a science practitioner and educator.Tam Baillie is a Scottish youth worker and policy manager who served as Scotland's Commissioner for Children and Young People between 2009–2017. He was the chair of the conference organising committee for the International Play Association Conference 2023. Find out more about the conference: https://www.ipaglasgow2023.org/Find out more about IPA: https://ipaworld.org/

In this episode, we will look at play and screen time.To explore this we will hear from Dr Aaron Balick. Aaron is a psychotherapist, author and psychological consultant with a special interest in the psychology of technology. He is the author of the children’s self-help book, Keep Your Cool. Here is our Learning & Development Officer Jenny Lester catching up with Aaron.Click here to read the IPA briefing on screen time here or click here to find offline play ideas here.

In this episode, we will look at playtime at school.To explore this we will hear from Michael Follet. Michael is the founder and director of OPAL - Outdoor Play and Learning. A school improvement initiative which works across the UK and beyond. He has a wealth of experience as a playworker, teacher and school improvement officer. He is the author of ‘Creating Excellence in Primary School Playtimes’. To find out more about the OPAL programme in Scotland please visit our website https://www.playscotland.org/projects/opal/

In this episode, we will look at play in hospitals. To explore this we will hear from Teri Wright and Margaret McEwan. Teri is a Health Play Specialist at Glasgow Children's Hospital. She was recently nominated for the Children’s Health Scotland Awards for her work. Margaret has been the Play Services Co-ordinator at the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People since 2017. For her work supporting children through treatments she won the the NHs Lothian Health Hero. To find out more about play in hospitals you can visit:https://www.whatwhychildreninhospital.org.uk/ https://rhc.nhsggc.org.uk/home/coming-into-rhc-glasgow/directory-of-services/play-in-hospital/https://www.glasgowchildrenshospitalcharity.org/support-us/appeals/46-support-our-play-servicehttps://children.nhslothian.scot/parents-and-carers/play-service/https://children.nhslothian.scot/children/play/