Free to Play

The project provides after school play activities for children and young people. Through adopting a play ethos, 'Free 2 Play' it empowers children and young people of all abilities to make decisions about their preferred activities and choice of play. This freedom increases their levels of involvement and confidence while allowing them to develop their interpersonal skills in a safe, friendly environment.

The project aims to benefit the children and young people by providing fun, creative play opportunities:

• offer access to activities that meet the interests and needs of the individual child or young person
• provide opportunities for challenge and increase the confidence of children and young people
• promote the development of skills such as motor skills, communication skills
• stimulates the imagination

'Free 2 Play' aims to overcome the barriers that young people face as a result of disability and help them achieve their personal and social potential. The BFL grant has funded:

• a proportion of the cost of a transport service to bring the children to sessions as the majority of families who are not accessing mainstream provision state this is a major obstacle
• a play coordinator's post to manage the after-school play project, supervise and develop a team of play workers and volunteers
• the cost of employing 8 play workers 4 hours per week
• the salary for 2 driver's escorts
• equipment and resources for the project

Children and young people are able to access the service free of charge and is run in line with an underpinning play ethos incorporating the play values and assumptions/principles. However, the service runs as a closed access service as:

• the majority of users have complex needs and require constant supervision to maintain their safety and meet their needs, and are not able to travel alone
• the project is one of very few specialist services in Luton serving this group and so the users travel to access it, potentially some distance, and so it is not feasible for those users without the level of need described above to travel alone to and from their homes, please visit fobe