We are excited to have launched our OPAL play journey in Spring 2026!
Opal's vision is that every child in every school has an amazing playtime every day – with no exceptions.
What are the benefits of Opal play?
- All children are able to engage in fun activities at playtime.
- Improves Mental Health.
- Research shows OPAL children are happier.
- Social and emotional development.
- Increased creativity, imagination and collaborative skills.
- Through the OPAL approach to play children are not only more active at playtime, but they are also having the opportunity to further develop life skills such as cooperation, team work and problem solving. They are becoming motivated and enthusiastic builders, engineers, explorers and designers.
What does OPAL mean for us?
- Happier children
- Children coming into class ready to learn
- A fully inclusive playtime with free flow across both playgrounds, the field and forest
- It allows children an opportunity to be creative and make decisions, managing their own risk
- Children develop independence and resilience skills
- Increased social skills (there is a great mix of all ages playing together)
- Most importantly FUN!
So far, we have added the following areas of play:
- Low riders/wheels
- Water play
- Dig pit
- Sand pit
- Mud kitchen/forest area
- Chalk, arts & crafts
- Stage with music!
- Dressing up
- Small world areas
- Quiet areas
- Play equipment on KS2 playground (stilts, ball games etc)
Our next steps for summer 2 are adding more adventurous play:
- Large loose parts
- Wheeled play (scooters, pushchairs, buggies, wheel barrows etc)
- Den building
- Tyre swings
What Our Children Say About Playtimes
“I love being able to go to all areas of the school”
“It is so fun playing with all of the OPAL equipment”
“My favourite area now is the sand pit. It’s like being at the beach!”
We have introduced Play Ambassadors, which change every half term. A Play Ambassador's role is to ensure everybody is tidying up effectively to ensure our site stays safe and tidy!
We have also introduced Wellbeing Warriors, who are year 6 pupils. Our Wellbeing Warriors set up a range of mindfulness and calming activities in our Thrive shed. They are there to help build friendships and provide a friendly face for younger children who need some comfort.
We hosted our first Stay & Play event on Friday 15th May 2026 which was a massive success! Thank you to all families who attended and helped us in raising almost £100 towards our tumble bars, as requested by the children.
Please see our poster for our Family Hample Raffle. We are currently accepting donations (food, drinks (including alcoholic ones!), toilets, games etc) in red, blue, white and multicoloured. Raffle tickets to win these fantastic hampers will be on sale later in the term, with the raffle being drawn on the final week! Again, the money raised here will go towards our tumble bars.
We are also hosting a Stay & Build session on Friday 26th June 1 - 3:20pm. If this is something you are available to help with, please contact Ms Rist!
Ideas for summer break!
Please see below the link to the Power fo Play booklet. This outlines the OPAL approach for parents and there are some fantastic ideas for play over summer break.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uAgKdI3j5auInBZMXQZ5htnTLaB2REil/view
How can you help?
We are busy collecting resources that children can use for creative play. All messages for donations we require are posted to our school story on Class Dojo. If you have any of these please drop them into the office.
Play Types - we aim to provide resources and opportunities that address the 16 play types.
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