When elementary schools create a safe and healthy recess for students, there can be a major impact on individual kids and school climate overall. In schools with safe and healthy recess students are more active, more cooperative, and more likely to use strong conflict resolution tools. Schools also see more drops in bullying and disciplinary referrals, and reductions in the number of conflicts that start in recess, spill back into class, and take up valuable class time to resolve.
Those are the findings from a new research brief about school recess and Playworks released last week by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Read the full brief: Building a Culture of Health Through Safe and Healthy Elementary School Recess.
Playworks brings safe and healthy play to recess and the entire school day. This new brief examines how some elementary schools have implemented the Playworks TeamUp service.
In addition to sharing the findings, the authors provide recommendations for school leaders to consider when ensuring that recess is an integrated part of the school day. These recommendations include treating recess plans like lesson plans, implementing policies that protect recess for all students, and recognizing the role of recess in building positive school climate.
