Children, young people and parent play survey – a chance to win £250 towards play equipment for your school

Oxfordshire County Council are running an online play survey for children and young people in years 5 and 9 (pdf, 155kb). Each school that supports its year 5 or 9 pupils to complete the survey will be entered into a prize draw for a £250 voucher for spending on play equipment. 

• This survey is part of wider work involved in producing Oxfordshire’s first play sufficiency assessment. The surveys are open now and will close on 31 January 2026. 

Supporting children and young people to complete the survey It is expected that most children and young people will complete the survey in under 30 minutes. Teachers can help them to understand the questions, but it must be the children and young people who choose their own answers, and each child should complete the survey separately. The survey is anonymous but also asks for children’s home postcode. 

This information is important because we can use it to compare responses from children living in different areas. Teachers can support children and young people by having a list of their home postcodes to hand. Please try to avoid using the postcode of the school. 

Parent and carer’s survey 

There is also a survey for parents and carers, and we would welcome your school’s support in sharing this with parents via your communication channels. The schools and settings who have the most parent and carer responses will also be entered into a prize draw for a £250 voucher towards play equipment. 

Benefits to school

Playing matters to children and young people and their opportunities for play affect many aspects of their life, including school. The survey asks a specific question about children’s opportunities for play in school, the results of which will be fed back to schools. As well as providing important information about children’s play, these surveys offer a good reading and comprehension task for children. And because it’s about play (or “hanging out” as older children may prefer to call it), it’s a survey most children and young people will be willing to complete.