A NEW playground scheme aimed at promoting the benefits of outdoor play has been launched in Devon this week, with Tavistock Primary School being one of the first to benefit.
Supergrounds ? a £3 million scheme to improve school playgrounds right across the UK ? has awarded Tavistock Primary School £4,000 to help improve its play facilities.
Headteacher Joe Flynn said: ?We have been looking at improving our school grounds for some time and have already made significant improvements to facilities for the older children.
?This grant will fund new playground markings with whistlestop stations, trails and exercise positions for pupils to use, as well as improving the climbing frames and adventure spots for the younger years.?
The launch of Supergrounds was provoked by recent research showing that the days of children in Devon spending long hours playing outside were a thing of the past.
The Natwest and Royal Bank of Scotland commissioned research revealed more than half of primary age children in Devon spend more than 3 hours a day watching television or playing computer games, with many spending at least 5 hours on these activities.
Supergrounds aims to combat this trend by transforming 450 school playgrounds into fun and stimulating places where children can learn and play in safety.
This last point is particularly salient as the same research revealed a large proportion of children in the area never play outside because parents believe it puts their safety at risk.
Professor Frank Furedi, sociologist and author of the book ?Parental Paranoia?, said: ?This research gives a compelling insight into how young children are spending their leisure time and confirms that an atmosphere of mistrust surrounds their experience of the outdoors.
?Children?s outdoor play experiences are gradually being displaced by a bedroom culture of electronic distractions.?
He said the long term effects of children spending less time playing outside were having negative consequences for their development because the sedentary lifestyle was bad for both their social life and health.
He said: ?Outdoor activities encourage interaction between children as well as developing their social skills ? the school playground constitutes an important site where children learn how to engage with one another.?
Tavistock Primary School looks set to buck this trend with a full programme of exercise activities and subject related play which Mr Flynn is convinced improves his pupils? learning.