‘We have to be all things to our children’: how a school made sure pupils had time to play

Brighton primary has worked with organisation to provide better quality time outside

• Children deprived of outdoor play at higher risk of obesity, say doctors

Every Friday morning Damien Jordan can be seen walking back and forth in the local park, staring at the grass. He's checking for dog mess and drug paraphernalia; in the next 10 minutes 30 or so of the pupils of Fairlight primary in Brighton will hit the park for their weekly football practice.

With a playground that measures just 800m² and more than 400 children, there is no room for sports on the school grounds, so about a decade ago Jordan, headteacher at Fairlight, started practice at the park. It is just one of the ways that he, like other heads, is finding to cope with the issues many state schools are fighting; shortages of green space, shortages of staff and time, and shortages of cash.