Often it’s not the big ideas that cause controversy but small decisions or actions that are seen to Really Matter to a group of people, be they children, parents, staff or the wider establishment. And wet breaks are one of those – to have or to have not?

As a head teacher, the only time I’ve ever had a complaint made to my line manager was about letting children play out in the rain. A parent, in anger and frustration, questioned the school policy about wet breaks. Her child was in Primary 1.

I happened to have been absent from school on the day this event took place. However the depute head teacher was a sensible person and the weather could not have been too serious. My line manager got in touch with me and queried what the school policy was. I stated that I had undertaken a risk assessment. Owing to the overcrowding of the school and the ongoing understaffing within the school, I felt that the level of cover required for indoor breaks was difficult to achieve so it was safer to let the children out to play as much as possible. I duly sent in the risk assessment and heard nothing more.

In many ways, it was simply a chance matter that I had risk assessed the break times because of my concern over the impact on children in terms of supervision and the knock-on disruption to the formal classroom staffing levels.

In Scotland, teachers are not paid for their breaks and cannot be asked to undertake supervision of children during these times. Furthermore, at that time, the school was allocated just two playtime supervisors yet there were more than 240 children in the school. Often older children will go into the younger classes to act as monitors and help with games, and activities indoors. Interestingly, when I look back at the risk assessment, no mention is made of the benefits of being outside, the physical activity, the socialisation, the contact with nature, etc. at all.

A few weeks later at a parents’ evening, the parent who had made the complaint came over to see me. She was extremely nice and apologised for her response. She explained that she knew her child must have been playing out in some very heavy rain because her child arrived back home after school with a curly fringe (yes – the part of the hair covering the forehead).

We chatted in a friendly way for several minutes about this and other matters, during which she told me she was a primary school teacher who taught at a nearby school. The moral of this story is that it’s not schools versus parents on such a matter. It’s about personal opinions, experiences and mindsets from all involved.

It also raises the issue about the entitlement of children to play outside. During all of the above, no adult, including myself (I’m now ashamed to say) considered asking the child affected for her opinion. How schools make the decision about an indoor or outdoor break is normally at the discretion of the head teacher or another person in a promoted post. Usually the decision is made on the grounds of safety rather than looking at the matter from a health perspective or a rights perspective.

As nursery classes are demonstrating, many children are quite happy being outside in a whole variety of weathers. We are now seeing schools where the primary children are being kept indoors whilst nursery children are outside playing. This was the situation when the photo below was taken. The playground in which we were playing was deemed too icy for the older children.

Similarly, at secondary schools, often there is no such thing as an indoor break. The students have a choice most days whether they stay indoors or outside, irrespective of the weather. It seems to be a phenomenon that is a primary school matter. I’m not sure why this should be so.

It does suggest to me, that in light of Curriculum for Excellence through Outdoor Learning and the ongoing concerns about the health and wellbeing of children, that Scottish primary schools need to look at their decision making around indoor intervals and re-examine the matters around indoor breaks with both the children and their parents and carers.

A few topics to kickstart the conversations could include:

• Does the school uniform policy include outdoor gear such as waterproofs and wellies? Should this be part of the expectation around appropriate clothing for schools?
• Should the onus be on schools to provide appropriate wet weather clothing? Is this a “poverty-proofing” approach or is this an example of the “nanny state?”
• What choice do children have about going outside? Should this choice be available regardless of the weather? In some schools, there is one classroom that is available for children who wish to stay inside during inclement weather otherwise the children are expected to be outside.
• When is the weather too wet, or too hot or too cold or too windy or too icy? The moment one looks around the world, perceptions differ widely. What can schools do to help children learn to manage all types of weather experienced their local area?
• Do different circumstances require different measures? For example, on some days where the amount of play space may be limited outside due to ice, wind or other matter, then is a rota needed where different classes take their breaks at slightly different times.

It is easy for schools to assume that parents will make a fuss. A small, vociferous minority may choose to do so. But an interesting survey undertaken in 2010 by Connect (formerly the Scottish Parent Teacher Council) in conjunction with Learning through Landscapes Scotland suggested that parents are overwhelmingly in favour of children being able to play outside in rain or snow if they have the appropriate clothing and feel that wet muddy clothing is a price worth paying for enabling outdoor learning and play to happen.

I appreciate that these conversations may not be easy in some schools. A lot of thought and discussion is needed around the benefits of outdoor play. Useful organisation to support schools here include: Outdoor Learning and Play (OPAL), Play Scotland and Learning through Landscapes Scotland.

What do you think? Are you happy with your school or your child’s school’s approach to playing outside?

Further comment can be found at these blog posts:

• I’m a parent, let my child outside at school
• Outdoor clothing boxes

This blog post was originally published in June 2012.