OPAL

The Outdoor Play and Learning (OPAL) Primary Programme results from over 20 years of testing and development in over 800 schools and has been used in Spain, Canada, France and New Zealand. The programme has also been adapted and used in schools in Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Austria under the Play Friendly Schools project. In 2018, OPAL won first prize in an EU-funded award for the best active school’s programme in Europe and two UK national playwork awards. In 2019, Sport England awarded OPAL a quarter of a million pounds to bring the programme to many more schools.

OPAL is based on the idea that as well as learning through good teaching, your children also learn when they play. As 20% of their time in school is playtime, we want to make sure that this amount of time (equivalent to 1.4 years of primary school) is as good as possible.

One reason we are carrying out this programme is that childhood has changed, and many children no longer get their play needs met out of school.

• The average screen time per day is six hours.
• The average outdoor play time per week is five hours.
• The percentage of UK children who only play outdoors with other children at school is 56%.

There are many proven benefits for schools that carry out the OPAL Primary Programme. They usually include: more enjoyment of school, less teaching time lost to disputes between children, fewer accidents and greatly improved behaviour.

Play is not messing about. It is the process evolution has come up with to enable children to learn all of the things that cannot be taught, while also having so much fun. There are certain things children must have in order to be able to play. These include:

• Having clothes that they can play in.
• Having things to play with.
• Having a certain amount of freedom.

As the school improves play opportunities for children, you may find we ask you for resources and make changes about how the children use the school grounds. They may use more of the grounds, for more of the year. Your children may get a bit messier, be exposed to more challenges and have greater freedom to play where, with whom and how they like. The experiences the school is fostering are essential for children’s physical and mental wellbeing and are in line with all current good practice advice on health and safety, wellbeing and development.

We are at the beginning of our OPAL implementation journey. We envisage it will take 12 to 18 months to fully develop our play offer. We will be posting lots of updates and news about the project as it moves forward.

Baseline Surveys

At the start of our OPAL journey, we surveyed the children, parents and staff to gather information about our community's play experiences and viewpoints.  We will use this information to help guide us on our OPAL journey and shape our decisions to bring more play opportunities to our children.

Any other comments?

Kids need to get dirty and muddy.

I don't mind them getting dirty, let them be children.

They love muddy play.

Skillful children are happy grown-up humans.

Screens and safety rules around sports can limit children's developmental opportunities. 

Washing and drying clothes for the next school day would be hard but happy to supply a change of clothes.

Accidents happen but I hate muddy uniforms. 

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

There were lots of offers to help fundraise, donate items and collect/deliver items - THANK YOU.  If you left your name, Mrs Pearson or Mrs Foley will be in contact when they need help.  If not, please leave your name with them.  For donations, please take a look at your child's class bingo sheet for our current wishlist.