There are many children of South Asian ancestry (particularly Bangladeshi ancestry) in this school. Most children walk as they live centrally. After school activities seem to be quite limited. Many play on the streets sometimes staying out until 10 pm. They would like to have more organised activities, particularly sports such as karate, tennis, boxing and football. They would like to have regular discos, ice skating facilities, a big screen for playing Playstation and competitions. They would be prepared to travel for good leisure facilities. Some don’t think much of what’s already on offer in Loughborough, or aren’t aware of opportunities within their area.

Busy roads and traffic make safety an issue, and self-defence rates highly with the boys as they think they need it. The boys were very interested in self-protection, Anglo-European children were cited as giving Asian children bother. Some would like parents to be more involved and feel that it’s very important for parents to help you to do what you want to do, but also that there needs to be some element of compromise. Some think that more people should be around as this would make for a safer environment.

‘There was lots of talking about stealing cars and in some cases it was an obsession. The children told me that they did play out on the streets and in many cases until late at night. When I asked if it was safe to play out they said they did have some fights with older children but they often kept together so they didn’t get in too much trouble.’

Concerns about crime mean time and place rectrictions for many of the children, and the Bangladeshi girls in particular were constrained by family responsibilities, and weren’t used to expressing what they wanted to do. One girl, when pushed, said she’d like to have more time to play. Some also said they were scared of going to Bangladesh as they’d heard stories about poverty and murders.

For some, lack of money is an issue. Their ideal buildings include: ‘a mansion with computer games, playroom, park, swimming pool, football pitch, basketball and dartboard.’
Some children seem to live very ‘indoor lives’. They are always, or most of the time, at home. A particular girl at Cobden said that she’s the youngest and her elder brothers/sisters are too busy to take her out e.g. to the park and the mum can’t because she’s pregnant. They’d love to go to the park but usually can’t because there’s no adult to supervise them.

The children at Cobden made two body outline surveys. Both put parents, money, buildings, culture and transport high on their lists of importance but differed over friends, safety, and length of time issues.

When the children talked about parents they said that it was very important that parents help you to do what you want to do and more activities should be provided. These weren’t specified, demonstrating the limitation of children’s awareness of what the possibilities were.
Both agreed that toys/equipment, choice, bullying and crime were quite important along with spaces to do things in. Activities/workshops were less important.

The children do a variety of activities after school such as: Playing on Playstations, playing on the street, going to the cinema and to visit friends, karate, tennis, boxing, football, cricket (in the streets), Cubs, swimming, Nintendo and Thai boxing. The things they would like to do include; a regular disco for kids, to learn boxing, slides and a wave machine in the pool, paint ball, an adventure park, Laser Quest, ice skating, competitions and a computer game projector. The children said that they would be prepared to travel for good leisure facilities.

Personal space and public space were seen as very important; parks, safe spaces; enough outdoor space for outside activities; safety issues; an area for wildlife; scary to be on own around Charnwood Water; more people should be out; adults should do more with kids, e.g. bike riding, going to parks etc. “Mum can’t go out as too many small kids in house – feels she can’t ask anyone else for support as problem with language – mum is from Bangladesh and is trying to learn English”. They mentioned lots of pressures on parents who are often very busy and don’t have too much time. Some were concerned about sibling rivalry issues.

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