‘The impact has been profound': the headteacher bringing play back to the classroom
When Tina Farr visits the year 2 classroom at her Oxford primary school, she can feel the changed atmosphere since play was put firmly back on the curriculum.
'When I walk in there, I just feel the energy. The children come running up with things they have made, there is always a shop on the go so they will be pricing up something or finding change. They are always working together,' the headteacher says.
It might not seem radical to see six- and seven-year-olds busy in a world of imagination, but in the majority of primary schools it is not how children this age learn.
Play-based learning – letting children move around, interact with friends, make up games and explore within loosely guided activities – usually stops when they leave reception. Lessons then become desk-based, focused on reading and writing.
Farr had long championed the value of play, working hard to bring it into breaktimes through the Opal play scheme. But the eureka moment for the school came when her year 2 teacher suggested incorporating play-based learning into her lessons – extending it beyond reception.
After reading the Department for Education's guidelines, Farr realised she had the freedom to decide how to deliver the national curriculum. 'It says we are free to arrange the school day any way we like – it actually says that at point 3.4 in the national curriculum.
'Teachers would recognise what we do as learning, but we do it through play. For example we might explain money and maths to them with a PowerPoint then they move on to games and play on that theme, it doesn't take any more planning than the standard approach.'
With play-based learning in place for her year 1 and 2 children, Farr then looked at where else she could change any practices that weren't working. 'There is so much that we can do within our current system. We just think we can't. If a practice isn't aligned with healthy child development, why are we doing it?
The school's year 5 children – aged nine and 10 – were struggling to sit still in a cramped room so she removed all the furniture. 'Children are shamed for needing to move their bodies in cramped classrooms,' she says. 'So we took out all the tables and chairs and decided to let them sit or lie or stand where they liked. It wasn't expensive, it was almost free as an experiment.'
She added beanbags, comfy chairs and lap trays, as well as a high desks for children to stand at. 'The impact was immediate and profound particularly for the neurodiverse learners. Children now choose where and how to learn, relocating without permission when needed. A class once struggling with attention is now calm, focused, and engaged.'
One of the year 5 children said: 'I like flexible seating. I find it very calming. A normal classroom is a bit overwhelming. I like that you don't have to sit at a table but can sit anywhere. I prefer a spinny seat because it makes less noise when you turn your chair around. You can choose who you sit with during the day.'
And according to the teacher: 'Their self-regulation has improved immensely. They are much calmer and can have space from someone if they wish. They settle down to work much more readily, and I have more of an opportunity to see their level of engagement which has been deep.'
Farr believes the outdated system needs to urgently change. 'If a time traveller arrived from Victorian times into a school they would recognise it immediately. But the world has changed and what we know about the brain has changed. We have the neuroscience to know children learn through play.'
In June the school sailed through its Ofsted inspection. 'The inspector was great and really understood our play based learning. They didn't question it and they wrote us a lovely report.'
Farr's message for other professionals is that her approach can be replicated. 'It's blown my mind how engaged the children are. It's phenomenal,' she says. 'Don't call our school progressive or maverick. We are teaching the national curriculum but through play.'
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