Playgrounds encourage children to take risks

CHILDREN’S playgrounds are becoming more dangerous, to encourage youngsters to take risks, following decades of safety-first policies.

Richmond Avenue Primary and Nursery School in Shoeburyness, Essex, has ditched its risk-averse plastic playhouses and brought in crates, loose bricks, a tyre swing, a mud pit and log stumps. The school is also encouraging children to get their hands on knives, scissors and sharp objects that were previously restricted, in the hope that cuts will teach careful handling.

Likewise, Tumbling Bay, in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, contains tall tree houses, wobbly bridges, 20ft climbing tours and grass high enough to get lost in.

The Princess Diana Playground in Kensington Gardens. London, now informs parents that risks have been “intentionally provided” to allow children to “develop an appreciation of risk in a controlled play environment rather than taking similar risks in an uncontrolled and unregulated wider world”.

From this year, Ofsted inspectors will be trained to appreciate the positive side of risk, as well as the negative.

Amanda Spielman, Ofsted’s chief inspector, has described many of the “health and safety” measures brought in by schools as “simply barmy”.