Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that schools provide adequate unstructured play opportunities to support pupils’ wellbeing and development.

Play is an essential part of a child’s development and learning, as recognised in the early years foundation stage statutory framework. Schools, governing bodies and academy trusts are responsible for ensuring the school day includes opportunities for social interaction, physical activity and enrichment activities.

The department’s guidance sets out an expectation that the school week in all state-funded mainstream schools should be at least 32.5 hours including breaks, providing opportunity for schools to incorporate time for play and other enrichment activities. This guidance can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/length-of-the-school-week-minimum-expectation.

As part of the department’s work to develop a good practice framework to help schools increase pupil engagement, we will consider the evidence around effective use of breaktimes and other elements of the school day that can support engagement. While Ofsted does not inspect breaktime quality, inspectors will observe and talk to pupils on breaktimes, and this will form part of their consideration of the school.