“There is always a certain risk to being alive and if you are more alive there is more risk.”
Ibsen

Edinburgh is a mysterious city. Within its centre is a myriad of steps, alleyways and hidden streets. Just off the Royal Mile, invisible to non-nursery muggles, is the equivalent of Diagon Alley. Finding the right place is a challenge. Instead of tapping a brick to get in, there’s a non-descript black door one could easily miss.  This is the entrance to the magical, yet very real, world of Cowgate Under 5’s Centre.

This establishment opened in 2002 and the manager, Lynn McNair, has been in post since the beginning. She and her staff, from the outset, embraced the principles of early education advocated by Frederick Froebel who recognized outdoor play provision as essential for children’s learning and development. The rest of this article is over to Lynn, our guest blogger this week. I hope her words help demonstrate some of the ethos of this city centre nursery…

Underpinning Values

“At Cowgate first thing in the morning our doors are wide open and children are free to move between indoors and outdoors. Our practice is underpinned by values of choice, autonomy, challenge and risk.  Within certain boundaries, children have the freedom to select an experience, with or without the support of an adult.

Of central importance is the value of first hand direct experience and a model of play as freedom to pursue ideas, explore, innovate, imagine and create in all areas of children’s development and learning both indoors and outdoors.”

Imagine being a toddler and learning to walk up and down the slope. There are lots of things to look at and explore on the way. This constantly changes in line with seasonal events and children’s interests.

Anxiety

“We are aware of the rise in the level of anxiety in children’s safety, we live and work with a culture of fear. We believe, however that if we are anxious and prevent children from taking risks we are not encouraging children to persist at challenging tasks, by removing the challenges we are not developing resilience in our children. A great deal of children’s self-esteem comes from their belief in their own skills and abilities, belief that we support.”

“Liam and Callum are playing together in the garden. Each child has a soft play cube which they carry up to the top of the slide. Craig sits on his cube to slide down, but the surface of the slide is not slippy enough, the cube sticks and Callum continues down alone. Liam’s cube has a strap and a buckle, which he has secured around his waist. I ask him whether he thinks his cube will slide. (I envision the cube sticking and Liam tumbling over). However I ask  how he feels about it, to which he replies positively ‘My cube won’t stick’. He takes off, and makes the descent  down the slide with cube attached. ‘I told you’, he proudly declares. ‘And you were right!’ I smile.”

Risk and Challenge

“We support the concept of children taking risks and challenges. Risk taking in play allows the children the opportunity to demonstrate their competence; it requires instant judgments about danger and about safety, and some planning and foresight. Ultimately the child is in control and their safety depends on what they do.

We would argue that in a ‘risk-free’ environment adults’ expectations can remain low as children do not have the chance to demonstrate their competence – we should aim for ‘as safe as necessary, not as safe as possible’ children should be offered the opportunity to explore, experiment, try things out and take risks.

Children are not necessarily competent in all areas and may benefit from out ‘adult’ experience, we can support them if we are concerned about a risk they are about to take.

In the centre there are opportunities for children to play unsupervised. We have discovered that unsupervised play enables children to take risks, think through decisions, gain confidence and increased resilience.”

Health Promoting School

“As a Health Promoting School we believe children deserve to be given the freedom to play and exercise in safety enjoyed by previous generations. The media informs us of rising obesity levels; it is therefore essential that we expand the opportunities for self-motivated and challenging play outdoors. Outdoor play impacts on mental health as well as physical health. Play outdoors develops friendships, reduces social isolations and gives children a sense of autonomy and control, all important features of mental and physical well being.

A group of children are throwing a bean bag in the garden when it becomes stuck on the window ledge of my office. ‘Oh no!’ exclaims a voice, “Lynn, help us.’ I wander over and survey the situation. ‘I wonder what we can do?’ I muse. The children all talk at once, swapping ideas and suggestions. They begin to collect the bread crates, forming a pile and attempting to climb them. With each crate, a different child climbs atop it, trying to reach the window ledge. I watch quietly, ready to assist if needed, but not interfering with their scheme. They determine that the crates are just not high enough.

‘We need something big!’ exclaims Joe, ‘really big!’. Together he and I find a bamboo pole in the cupboard. He attempts to climb atop the crates, pole in hand, quickly determines the difficulty, so asks a friend to hold it. Once the summit is reached, he asks for the pole, and with a little waving about, dislodges the bean bag and sends it falling to the ground. His friends cheer as he climbs down, flushed with his success. I could have helped them by getting the bean bag down, but where’s the learning in that?”

“At Cowgate we are continually in discussions about how we trust children, honing our skills. We know our children and know their capabilities, we trust them to express how confident they feel about taking a particular risk, but most importantly we need to relinquish our control over situations. If we want ‘confident individuals’ willing to embrace risk and challenge then we need confident adults who have a deep understanding of the issues surrounding risk and play which goes way beyond a narrow ‘health and safety’ agenda.

What I’m sure none of us want…

“And then the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom”
Anais Nin

This blog post was originally published in 2010. It is a great snapshot in time as the nursery outdoor space has changed so much over the years. I am grateful to the friendship and kindness shown by Lynn and her staff. After 21 years, Lynn has left her position to grow wings and fly in different directions 🙂