Posted on: July 8th 2013
This year saw the inaugural formation of the Positive Playground Committee (PPC) – a dedicated group of eight children from Forms 3-5 who met weekly to discuss how we can maintain the positive atmosphere in our school playground. These children were Jasmine S, Poppy D, Oliver L-S, Maria S, Jacob H, Ewan B, Meaghan L and Olivia F .
The PPC developed a mission statement in September: “The PPC aim to make the playground a better place by trying to encourage friendships, modelling appropriate behaviour and having fun” With this mission statement in mind, the PPC planned several events aimed at spreading their message.
Firstly, to encourage positive play with the new equipment received from the collection of our Active Kids vouchers, the PPC introduced and demonstrated equipment such as hoop skippers and skittles to both Key Stage 1 (KS1) and Key Stage 2 (KS2). They then spent a breaktime in KS1 encouraging children to play cooperatively and imaginatively as well as showing them how to put away the equipment safely and listen carefully to teachers.
In KS2, the PPC worked hard on developing conflict resolution skills in the playground. The PPC members became ‘Peacekeepers’ and taught children how to negotiate and compromise in order to sort out small disagreements. In keeping with their mission statement, the PPC also introduced a new initiative at the end of playtimes where children were invited to ‘Tell a Good Tale’ and share something kind that another child had done for them and to award ‘BRICKS’. This has had really positive effects, with teachers and children alike commenting on the positivity that ‘telling a good tale’ creates.
Next year, we look forward to welcoming new PPC members to continue this excellent work as well as help to plan our very first fundraising event some time in the Autumn term.
Some quotes from the PPC:“I’ve enjoyed helping children make new friends in the playground and I’ve also enjoyed explaining the new equipment.” Jasmine“I’ve enjoyed discussing new ideas to help our playground.” Ewan“Helping KS1 play nicely with the equipment was fun!” Poppy“I liked teaching people how to use the equipment.” Meaghan“Encouraging people to share toys and introducing the new equipment were my favourite parts of PPC.” Olivia“My best thing about PPC was thinking of ideas to help improve our playground.” Jacob