Hi, I'm Jonathan.
This is why
I started this.

I have always been fascinated by the way children play. Not just as a break from learning — but as learning itself. Throughout my career in primary education, my greatest joy was watching children become curious, take ownership and surprise themselves with what they could do.

But over twenty years, I watched the education landscape shift dramatically. Teaching and learning evolved. Schools invested in curriculum, in assessment, in professional development. And yet playtime — one of the most important parts of the school day — was left almost entirely untouched.

I started noticing the children who were falling through the gaps. A lonely girl who had never heard of hopscotch. A boy with autism who spent every lunchtime walking the perimeter of the playground alone. Children who were disengaged, anxious or simply bored — not because they were difficult, but because nobody had designed a playtime that worked for them.

I also noticed how football dominated. It is a wonderful sport — but in many schools it is enjoyed by a relatively small proportion of children, yet it can dominate the playground. The other children are left to find their own way. That is not inclusion. That is not good enough.

When I began training to become a headteacher, something shifted. I started to see the full scale of what school leadership involves — the complexity, the responsibility, the sheer number of plates a headteacher has to keep spinning. Playtime is rarely at the top of that list. I understood why. But I also knew that it should be — because what happens at lunchtime shapes everything that follows in the afternoon, and far beyond.

That is when I realised I did not want to be a headteacher. I wanted to be the person who walks into schools and solves the problem that headteachers do not have the time or the tools to solve themselves. Playground Engagement was born from that moment.