Hi everyone
This week’s blog comes from the P3 Play Service and we’ve got lots to talk about so grab a cuppa!
I’m Linda Hamilton, I have the wonderful job of running Play and I’ve been with P3 for eight years now (I think?!). My daughter Shanae also works in the Play team and is my diamond and I have a wonderful husband of 27 years, Derick … give him a little mention ☺
We employ 15 bank staff, we have over 780 families who regularly use our services and over the past year we had 35,711 attendees. Our core focus is on supporting families who are working or who are in full-time education.
Play is an important aspect of every child’s life and through play children develop socially, physically, intellectually, creatively and emotionally. We believe it’s important for all children from an early age to take part in regular play opportunities so that they have many experiences to learn and develop new skills.
As with all businesses/services/organisations, the pandemic has meant we’ve encountered an array of ever-changing guidelines that truly challenge what we believe and love about play. We’re supporting young children who ask us ‘when will COVID go away?’ and ‘Why can’t I play with my friend?’ Their world has become very confusing; it’s all strange and sad. I believe the full extent of the impact on our children will only materialise in years to come.
Most of our Play services solely rely on parent bookings and we are facing another challenge of parents working from home. That said, families are returning to us and lots of new children are joining so things are looking good.
Continuing on that more positive note, during the summer we were able to pull together a last minute four-week holiday programme at Avondale Primary School which is very close to RPT.
This year, we were able to support over 60 local families and children from RPT’s Magic Mums as we received funding from the local council which really helped! We took many referrals from social services, the school and the council’s early help team so that we could target some of the most at-risk families.
We’ve had to work in bubbles with lots of handwashing but the children adapted well, they engaged in daily fitness programmes, gardening projects, arts and crafts, Friday competitions, plus so much more; the team did a great job!
In September, we had two after-school Play centres and a breakfast club reopen, we’ve secured an exciting new project and we’re anticipating the re-opening of two centres after October half-term. Parents have been delighted, saying ‘you’re a life saver’, ‘I don’t know what we’d do without P3!’
As she left after her first day, a new child told us ‘I love P3!’ These really are the magic words we all want to hear and even though what we are doing is different we are still creating a fun and welcoming environment where children can play freely and feel safe.
Thanks
Linda
Eight-year-old makes videos about black heroes
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Join the conversation on social media this week
for Anti-Slavery Day (Sunday 18th October).
Communities across the UK have been working
hard to raise awareness of modern slavery;
Wolverhampton Council is running a campaign
with the Salvation Army to dispel myths,
help people spot the signs and find out where
to get help. In Lincoln, the city’s cathedral will
be illuminated in yellow on Sunday and
more information—including national
helplines and apps—are available via the LCC
website and The Clewer Initiative.
In case you missed it
Thanks to everyone who has shared so far - you can still send us your artwork and creative writing on the themes of homelessness and mental health via comms@p3charity.org
A maintenance win for the East Mids team!
Not a raincloud in sight for P3 Milton Keynes!
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