OPAL Our outdoor play and learning

OPAL

Developing play is something we value at Whitefield Primary School, which is why we have decided to focus on making our playtimes as stimulating, engaging and most of all, FUN for your child at school!

We have teamed up with OPAL; a company who are experts in developing school playgrounds and the activities as well as the ethos that helps school playtimes to change for the positive.

What is OPAL?

OPAL stands for Outdoor Play and Learning. Their motto is to ‘create happier playtimes, better play spaces and enable staff to support new outdoor learning’

Find out more about OPAL Schools by visiting the OPAL website.

What has happened so far?

Since we began our Opal journey in November 2023, we have made some exciting changes to playtimes:

• All children across school can now access all of the school grounds at playtimes
• All staff across school have engaged in training with OPAL so we understand the different types of play and use this knowledge to improve our grounds and play provision
• We hold weekly play assemblies where we ask children for their ideas about what they would like to play with, how we can improve our school grounds, and ways that we can encourage play across all year groups
• We show children that we value and recognise the importance of play by awarding a Golden Welly award each week

We have already made huge changes to our playtimes, with the addition of resources including tyres, bikes and scooters, dressing up, dancing and many other fun activities.  We have zoned our grounds to cater for the different types of play, and offer quieter spaces along with more adventurous areas.

We are so excited to get out there and transform our grounds even further!

OPAL Policy 2024