Bringing Girls Into Play

Ossett School - Wakefield

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Ossett school in Wakefield has a sports college and technology college status and are expected to support the Government’s aspiration for all young people to have two hours high quality PE per week within the curriculum and opportunities for three hours outside the curriculum.

Sports and play area specialist Proludic, were invited in to discuss with the Head Teacher, Director of Specialism / Head of PE, Head of Technology and a group of 12-15 year old girls how to meet this target and to improve the opportunities to exercise within the school and local community.

The financial investment for a MUGA (Multi Use Games Area) can be high and their experience of this facility was that of being exclusive, territorial and not the worthwhile investment originally thought and so were keen to look at alternative solutions. They explored the benefits of the MUSA (Multi Use Sports Area) concept which provides the opportunity for after school activity for all students but particularly targets teenage girls by creating an open access fitness provision.

The school identified that the MUSA facility could potentially tie into KS3 and KS4 Physical Education and Technology curriculum supporting key objectives and learning outcomes.

The Head of Technology also thought it would be a fantastic opportunity for her curriculum in terms of students studying manufacturing processes and composition of materials to create fit for purpose products. This process also supports the Learning Outside the Classroom (LOtC) initiative.

A consultation involving ten girls aged between 12 and 15 from the school took place in the Spring of 2009 in their local park. They were then taken to a Proludic MUSA site to get their views on the benefits, fun factor & whether they would use these facilities locally and if so why.

“It’s a great informal way to exercise and the equipment doesn’t look childish, it’s much more appealing to me and my friends.” – Kellen Beck-Sliney aged 13yrs

“I’ve never been on anything like this, I enjoyed the team work and the fact that it’s quite physically demanding”. – Grace Griffin aged 13yrs

Following the consultation, Osset School decided that this was something that could enhance their reputation as a leader in innovative ways of working with their pupils and enhancing their school life experience. The Head is also keen to roll the concept out to their feeder primary schools which ties in with the government initiative to target under 11’s with the healthy lifestyles message before they become subject to obesity issues.

Green Park in Ossett, near to Ossett School is now scheduled to be refurbished this financial year as part of Wakefield Borough Council’s Playbuilder Programme. They have also confirmed that they would be delighted to work with Ossett School both in terms of consultation and to pool resources with their team responsible for project management.

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