Children can get messy and occasionally wet and dirty when playing
Our teams deliver open access play schemes and closed play schemes across Cardiff. The schemes are for children aged 5 to 14.
You can find out what open access play is and how the sessions are run in the open access play policy.
Our playworkers support children to play at their own pace and develop their individual play experience.
If your child has specific support needs, please take a look at our information on inclusive play opportunities.
Open access play policy
Our play schemes are for children aged 5 to 14 years old.
Qualified play staff facilitate play activities, as well as providing materials and equipment to use for play.
The play sessions are friendly, safe, and fun. Children can play regardless of cultural background, gender, and religion. We aim to accommodate and support children of all abilities to attend our schemes.
Open access
Play schemes operate on an open access basis. The schemes offer free play opportunities which means children can only be supervised whilst on site and participating in the activities.
We cannot confine children and young people to the play scheme or its grounds or prevent them from coming and going as they please.
We strongly recommend that you take every precaution to ensure your child’s wellbeing, so that there is no danger of them wandering off. We cannot take your child home to you.
Ratios
We will normally enforce a guideline of 13 children per member of staff. This is in line with current legislation. This means that occasionally we may have to send your child home or ask them to return later when the numbers may have gone down.
What to expect from our sessions
Play sessions are opportunities for children to design their own play space. We provide a wide range of resources for children to invent their own play and expand their imagination. This could be in any space or setting, inside or outside, in a natural environment or in a city space.
Providing a varied and interesting environment can encourage socialising and creativity, whilst providing opportunities to experience new feelings, discover senses through play, take risks and overcome challenges.
There is no charge for your child to go to the play session.
Resources that could be found at a play session include:
- cooking,
- den building,
- sewing,
- dressing up,
- loose parts play (building, manipulating and designing using various objects and materials),
- games and sports items and
- a variety of arts and crafts activities such as puppet making, jewellery, card making, masks, clay, junk modelling
Photographic consent conditions of use
We will ask you for permission to take photographs of your child, record their voice, or record their image on film. We would do this to promote the benefits of play and Children’s Play Services.
Conditions of use:
- We may use group images with general labels such as ‘Children having fun at their play venue’ or ‘inventors at work’. If we use images of an individual child, then they will only be named in any text for a good reason and with additional permission from their parent or guardian.
- Consent is valid for 3 years and automatically expires after this time. If you wish to remove your consent, please contact Childrens.Play@cardiff.gov.uk and we will deal with your request as soon as possible.
- We will not reuse any images after this time.
- Although you may withdraw your consent at any time, Cardiff Council will not be able to recall any leaflets, newsletters or flyers that have already been distributed. Cardiff Council will have no control over any photos that may have been saved or downloaded from the website or social media posts.
- We will not include details or full names (which means first name and surname) of any child or adult in an image on film, promotional material or in printed publications without consent.
- We will not use the photographs, film, or comments for any other purposes than those mentioned above.
- We will not use personal email, postal addresses or telephone numbers in any publication than those mentioned above.
Policies and procedures
Play schemes follow all Cardiff Council’s policies and procedures. You can read them at any time by asking any member of staff. The policies include:
- Health and safety policy
- Smoke free policy
- Complaints procedure
- Open access play policy
- Behaviour policy
- Safeguarding policy
- National Minimum Standards for Regulated Childcare
Health care
We promote the good health of children by making sure the premises and equipment are kept clean and safe. All members of the Play Team hold a Paediatric First Aid training qualification, and the majority of the team hold a Level 2 Food Safety certificate.
If your child arrives at the session ill or becomes ill during the session and needs to be collected, we will try to contact you first to collect your child as soon as possible. If you are unavailable, we will work through the emergency contacts. This is to avoid passing on the illness to other children.
If an emergency arises at any time during the session, we will contact the emergency services before contacting you. If necessary, treatment or advice may be sought from the emergency medical services. You will be asked to give permission for this on your registration form.
Medication policy
We will consider each request to administer medication individually, as this is something we do not have to agree to.
We cannot administer proprietary or over-the-counter medicines to a child under any circumstances. We can only administer essential medicines by prescription.
If technical or medical knowledge is needed for the medicine, for example an Epi pen, the Play Team will need specific training from a relevant health care professional before any medication is given, or the child attends the setting.
All children must be registered to attend the play sessions. You can complete a registration form at the start of your child’s first session.