Play Pals

In conjunction with Education Services, the Sports Commission has introduced a new, fun programme to help children get the most out of playtime at school.

Play Pals is currently focusing on children in Year 2 who teachers recognised had been impacted the most by Covid and periods of lockdown and so were sometimes struggling to play together in the playground.

The programme aims to instil certain behaviours and values around how the children play such as being kind, taking turns, playing safely and fairly and being creative.

Fun ‘monster’ characters have been created to remind the children of these values and they are rewarded with stickers if they display the behaviours. Staff in schools have been provided with flash cards featuring the monsters that they can also use when supervising the children in the playground.

The programme is being rolled out across all primary schools during the spring and summer terms.