G. (Loud) Oi, I got that ball first.
A.
No you didn’t, I did.
G. Look at you. You’re so selfish!
A.
Excuse me. Who do you think you are?
G. What’s your problem, Girlie?
A.
Hey wait a minute! This is not the way we should be talking to each other.
G. No you’re right, we are being a bit hot-headed.
A.
Especially after all the work we’ve been doing on the playground
and it’s impact on behaviour.
G. How did it all start?
A.
Well, it started as a whole class discussion about what we did at playtimes.
We discovered that a lot of us feel bored because there isn’t much
to do.
G. I see. And of course, boredom quite often ends up in silly arguments
and fights.
A.
That’s right.
Then we discussed with our headteacher what improvements could be made
to the back playground as it is so dull and dreary.
G. And there are places in the playground where trouble occurs.
A.
I know.
Our
class used a map to pinpoint these and we took photographs of them. Then
we discussed why we thought they were problem areas.
G. I bet on of the worse spots is over there by the water fountain. They
are so old and never seem to work very fast.
A.
Yes you’re right. Everyone has to queue for ages and then the impatient
ones just come and push in.
G. And what happens then?
A.
Both Arguments and fights!
G. What did you do next?
A.
Once we had identified the trouble spots, we set about analysing the types
of behaviour problems that happen during playtimes.
G. Didn’t you carry out a class survey to find out what actually
causes arguments?
A.
We did. And as far as we were concerned, insults and name calling were
the main problems.
G. That doesn’t surprise me.
What else did you do?
A.
Find out what the rest of the school thought.
G. I remember filling in the questionnaire you designed for other classes.
A.
All the teachers were really helpful and went through the questions with
their classes.
G. Were the results the same as yours?
A.
Yes.
Over
60% of the children questioned said they were often bored at playtimes
and nearly 80% agreed that name calling was the main reason for arguments.
G. Wow! It makes our playground sound like an awful place doesn’t
it?
A.
We are now looking at ways to improve behaviour and we want everyone to
be involved.
G. Who exactly - the headteacher, teachers and support staff?
A.
Yes and it’s also very important that parents are involved.
G. What about us?
A.
It’s all about us. The teachers are developing a new policy for encouraging
good behaviour; and everyone agrees that we should take an active part
in that.
G. So now you need to come up with some ideas for taking things forward.
A.
Yes, we have.
They
include:
Decorating the back wall with bright pictures and patterns, new drinking
fountains and some attractive planters to hide those horrid bins?
You see those nice wooden benches we’ve just got?
G. Yes.
A.
Well, we thought we could allocate one of them as a Listening Bench.
G. What’s a Listening Bench.
A.
A place where you will always find someone to talk to if you feel left
out or lonely.
G. What about a lunchtime circle time session, where we can feel safe
talking about our feelings and things that are important to us?
A.
Yes, the staff are quite keen on that idea. Training children to be Mediators
is also something we are looking at.
G. Oh! wouldn’t it be difficult to solve problems for other children?
A.
Yes, but they won’t be doing that.
First they have to be sure that both people want to try mediation to solve
the problem.
G. Okay, and if they both say yes, how do they do it?
A.
Well, they get both children to explain the problem as they see it, and
how it makes them feel.
Then they ask each child in turn how they think the problem can be solved
and how they might change the way they behave in future.
G. What if it doesn’t work?
A.
The whole class then tries to help during circle time.
G. Sounds reasonable.
What about a name calling notice board?
A.
What a good idea – children could write positive comments about what
we should do about name calling ……
We would also like to organise a mini parliament.
G. Arrange a half day in June and invite other schools to talk about the
behaviour in their playgrounds.
A.
Then we could all discuss ways of sorting out the problems!
G. What about helping children talk to each other in a positive way?
A.
Yes! And after our little skirmish over the ball earlier, we would have
been the first clients.
Bye.
Exploring playground problems through role play
Mapping the good and bad features of our playground
Receiving our awards at the Parliament from Nigel Pallace, Director of
Environment
