Outdoor Play and Learning (OPAL)
Our school believes that all children need opportunities to play that allow them to explore, manipulate, experience and affect their environment. We believe play provision should be welcoming and accessible to every child.
The OPAL Primary Programme rationale is that “… better, more active and creative playtimes can mean happier and healthier children, and having happier, healthier, more active children usually results in a more positive attitude to learning in school, with more effective classroom lessons, less staff time spent resolving unnecessary behavioural problems, fewer playtime accidents, happier staff and a healthier attitude to life.”
Why Play Matters
- Play is critical to children’s health and wellbeing, and essential for their physical, emotional, social, spiritual and cognitive development.
- Play enables children to explore the physical and social environment, as well as different concepts and ideas.
- Play enhances children’s self-esteem and their understanding of others through freely chosen social interactions, within peer groups, with individuals, and within groups of different ages, abilities, interests, genders, ethnicities and cultures.
- Play requires ongoing communication and negotiation skills, enabling children to develop a balance between their right to act freely and their responsibilities to others.
- Play enables children to experience a wide range of emotions and develop their ability to cope with these, including sadness and happiness, rejection and acceptance, frustration and achievement, boredom and fascination, fear and confidence.
- Play encourages self-confidence and the ability to make choices, problem solve and to be creative.
- Play maintains children’s openness to learning, develops their capabilities and allows them to push the boundaries of what they can achieve.
We believe high quality play helps our children learn our values: ‘Be Brave, Be Strong, Be Kind, Be Proud and Aim High.’
What OPAL looks like at Whinney Banks Primary
Our school has created a range of fun, exciting, outdoor learning play zones, which we are continuously adapting and developing. Click here to view our current list of OPAL Zones.
Click here to view our Whinney Banks Primary Play Charter.
Our Whinney Banks OPAL Play Leaders
OPAL Fundraising
A huge thank you to everyone who contributed and helped make our sponsored bounce a success. Click here to view our current fundraising event.
How Parents Can Help
As we improve play opportunities for your children, you may find that your children get a bit messier, are exposed to more challenges and have greater freedoms 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. In order to support children accessing all learning play zones, please send your children into school with a labelled waterproof coat and wellies/change of suitable outdoor shoes.
For further information, visit the OPAL website Home – Outdoor Play and Learning where you will find lots of useful information and several videos about the programme.
