What Is OPAL?
Outdoor Play and Learning (OPAL) is a Community Interest Company (CIC) dedicated to providing services to schools and organisations in England and Wales to improve the quality of play opportunities for all children. OPAL staff have expertise in teaching, school improvement, landscape design, project management, play and strategic learning.
The OPAL Primary Programme offers schools a structured process, with mentored support provided for up to two years and many resources, to enable schools to permanently change both their environment and their culture to enable provision of amazing playtimes every day.
To date OPAL has run programmes in over 500 schools throughout the whole UK and has recently expanded to Canada, France, Poland, New Zealand and Australia.
Our OPAL Vision
We completely endorse this vision – our aim is to ensure that all of our children experience at least an hour of high-quality play every day.
Our OPAL Team at Christ Church Junior School
Mr Walker – Play Coordinator
Miss Holder – Curricular Lead for Play
Mr Tucker – Headteacher
Mr T Clarke – OPAL Lead for Governing Body
How are we implementing this in our School?
We are excited to be underway with a new project to make playtimes even richer, more creative and more enjoyable for our children through the Outdoor Play and Learning Programme (OPAL). OPAL helps us rethink how children play together, giving them more opportunities to explore, imagine, build, collaborate and take safe, manageable risks. By making the most of the wonderful outdoor space we have at Christ Church, we aim to create playtimes that are truly child-led, inclusive and full of possibility. staff are in the process of completing our initial OPAL training and children have already been introduced to the idea of this exciting new way of playing.
We are now gathering a wide range of resources to support imaginative and open-ended play, so that children can begin benefiting from this approach as soon as possible. To help with this, we are in process of creating an OPAL play wish list along with a catalogue of smaller items we are seeking. Every donation – Large or small – Directly supports childrens play and helps bring this project to life more quickly.
If you have items you feel may be of use, please contact our OPAL Play Coordinator, Mr Walker via email or through the school office on 01843 593350. They will be happy to advise whether the item is suitable. Your support will make a real difference to the children’s daily play experiences.
Teacher Feedback.. Coming Soon…
Q: What are the benefits of the OPAL Primary Programme?
- More Teaching Time
Most schools report ten minutes more teaching time per teacher with happier, more creative and well exercised children who settle to classes much more quickly. - Improved Behaviour
OPAL schools report up to 80% decreases in use of behaviour policies and 90% drops in senior leadership time spent resolving playtime issues. - Faster Core Skills Development
Children at OPAL schools repidly develop creativity, imagination, cooperation, resilience, stamina and confidence. - Inclusion
OPAL’s approach makes play better for every child, every day – no exceptions. - Happiness and Wellbeing
Play is a human need and a human right. Children and staff at OPAL’s schools report feeling less stressed and happier, more excited about school.
