Save school playing fields

Hundreds of thousands of children could be about to see their school playing fields sold off or built over. The Education Secretary, Michael Gove, has scrapped key safeguards. We could have only weeks to change his mind before for sale signs start appearing.

Without playing fields it’s hard to imagine the kids of today – the Team GB of tomorrow – will ever match this year’s record Olympic medal haul. Once playing fields are sold off to private developers they’ll be gone forever.

The Government won’t want a scandal about school playing fields taking the shine off the Olympics. If enough 38 Degrees members move fast to create a big petition, we can push them to back down and bring back protections for playing fields.

We don’t have a moment to lose! Click here to sign the petition to save school children’s play areas.

School playing fields are precious for so many reasons. For lots of people, playing outside at break time helped make school a positive experience. Running around outside gets children into good exercise habits early in life. And it can help them concentrate in class the rest of the time, so they learn faster.

Too many schools already don’t have enough playing fields. We know from previous sell-offs that once open spaces are gone, it’s hard to get them back. But we also know that when 38 Degrees members come together, we can stop these kind of short-sighted plans. We did it before to protect England’s forests. Let’s come together now to protect school playing fields.

Please take 30 seconds to sign the petition.