Children are being encouraged to enjoy and learn from challenging play opportunities with a “Risk Benefit Toolkit” launched by Bath & North East Somerset Council.
The Council has adopted a Risk Benefit approach to children’s play. This toolkit will help Council staff and other organisations working with children to weigh up benefits as well as risks when making judgements about places to play or activities to do.
All of this supports the Council’s commitment to provide “challenging and stimulating” play opportunities which allow children to develop and grow, as outlined in the Council’s Play Policy and endorsed nationwide by the Health & Safety Executive.
Bath & North East Somerset Council is committed to offering children and young people opportunities for them to enjoy their childhood and prepare for adult life. These essential opportunities for exciting play enable children to develop and grow; and it’s through childhood play that we first learn to spot risk and deal with it appropriately.
It’s all about finding the balance between enabling children to get the benefits of challenging and exciting play without putting them at risk of serious injury. The Risk Benefit Assessment process helps to make a sensible, professional judgement on this and is now promoted by the Health & Safety Executive as the best approach.
To celebrate the launch of this approach, children from St Michael’s C of E Junior School will test out a newly created playful space at Carr’s Wood, Twerton, in Bath on Monday 18 March featuring fallen tree climbs, hilltop lookout, swing and balance/clamber logs – after “doing their bit” for the community and helping to clear litter from the woodland.
For more information on the Council’s Play Policy and where to find opportunities for challenging play, visit www.bathnes.gov.uk/playfulrisk.
