HI-TECH toys can come and go but traditional fun is the name of the game in Swindon's playgrounds.

While schools have changed considerably in the past 50 years, break times are still the same and full of children playing football, tig and stick-in-the-mud.

Teachers are keen to keep it that way, with many schools teaching children the traditional games.

Swindon Council even has a team of play leaders in its Primary Support Team whose job it is to visit schools and teach lunchtime supervisors how to teach and supervise games.

Mike Welsh, headteacher of Goddard Park Primary in Park North, says that play is an essential part of the school day.

He said: "Children are learning a lot in the playground, they are learning social skills and using their imagination, getting some exercise and most of all having fun.

"Computer games and expensive toys are exclusive, only one or two children can use them but traditional games are more inclusive and you don't need expensive equipment to play them.

"If it is wet at break time and children have to stay inside you notice the difference. Outdoor break times are conducive to better learning."

Goddard Park's playground has been spruced up in the last decade with a basketball court and log fences to split up the playground and make sure no one gets hit by off-target balls.

It has added a quiet garden where children can talk and play table top games, and the school is bringing in a befriending scheme where pupils can talk to other children if they are upset or have no one to play with.

The story is the same at Covingham Park Juniors in Covingham, where headteacher Colin Green says traditional games remain popular while crazes like Pokemon come and go.

He said: "We went with Pokemon for a long time and only banned it because the cards were coming out in lessons. It was popular but not hugely so.

"If children are keeping active they are less likely to get into trouble, it helps manage behaviour, so play helps in many ways."

Goddard Park pupil Jordan Gilliver, nine, from Park North said: "Most of us all love playing sport at break times. We play games like Pokemon sometimes but if you play it for too long it gets boring so we would rather be playing football.

"We like eating fruit at break times too, I don't miss sweets and I don't think anyone else does. The playground is so much cleaner without all the wrappers too."

Lisa Reason, nine, from Park North, said: "Today we are playing stick in the mud, and we will probably play it at lunch too.

"It is more fun than being sat around playing Pokemon because we run around and use up all our energy."

Goddard Park has a new website at www.goddardpark.co.uk