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Play Wales

Project Manager - Richard Trew
Baltic House
Mount Stuart Square
Cardiff Bay
Cardiff
CF10 5FH

T: 02920 486050
F: 02920 489359

Play Wales is the national organisation for children's play in Wales; an independent charity funded by the Welsh Assembly Government. Play Wales’ aim is to act as a champion for children’s play, to increase awareness and understanding of the critical importance of play to children’s development. Play Wales promote high quality play provision for all children, and provide support for all aspects of staffed playwork, playground development and maintenance, and the development of playwork education and training.

The purpose of Play Wales’ work in CWLWM is to develop, pilot and mainstream an innovative learning and training experience. It will have a profound impact on playwork and the quality of play opportunities available to children. Participants will be given a range of materials, experiences and examples of theory and practice which will communicate the essence of playwork. These will inform and enable participants to reflect on the fragility and subtlety of the process that is children’s play. It will demonstrate an understanding of the degree of sensitivity that playworkers need to apply to the process that encompasses the child’s spiritual, scientific, cultural, artistic learning; identifying those things that most effectively foster play and those things that damage it.

Participants will be provided with the knowledge and skills that are critical for the effective facilitation of children’s play. It will explore and address tensions between external agendas that conflict with the child’s internal play ‘drive’ in order that this drive can be fully realised.

Play Wales’ CWLWM work will result in:

• The establishment of a radical new model of play training at induction, level 2 and 3 - which will result in participants receiving a qualification that will equip them with the skills and knowledge to recognize the vital significance of play for all children and to be able to effectively facilitate the play process in any play space or setting.
• A diverse range of learners considering playwork positions as a consequence of the varied use of experiential, theoretical, practical and reflective learning methods. 
• An increase in the number and quality of playwork trainers in Wales through the implementation of a ‘Training the Trainers’ course.
• The development of a network of mentors able to support and encourage participants throughout Wales.

This model will raise the standard of playwork practice and act as a quality benchmark for other providers throughout Wales and beyond. It will challenge all playworkers, play trainers and developers to consider how best to improve the quality of their playwork training and practice.

For further information about the Play Wales click here to visit their website.