OPAL Play
Our school believes that all children need opportunities to play which allow them to explore, manipulate, experience and affect their environment. Our school acknowledges the UN Charter on the Rights of the Child, especially Article 31, and supports the child’s right to play.
In order to develop the play provision in school, we are being supported by OPAL Play to maximise the resources (time, equipment and school environment) that are available for our children.
Children from year 1 to year 6 will have the opportunity to go to any area of the yard to participate in the activities that are available. We will continually review the activities that are available and change or introduce new ones throughout the year.
Our PTFA are providing a lot of help in funding and resourcing our OPAL play journey because of the benefits that every child will experience.
Our Play Charter
We have a Play Charter that was created in consultation with the Young Leaders. They signed it on behalf of their classes. (click here). It sets our, in a child-friendly manner, our intention for supporting play for all children.
February Update - collective worship presentation.
November
October
Some of the children in Year 5 have proudly donned their official Opal Play Team hi-vis jackets today. They have volunteered to help monitor the use of the play equipment in our yards ensuring everyone has a fun and safe place to flourish together! We were super impressed with their first day of duties, with lots of positive feed-back, keep up the excellent work team!
September
Our OPAL suggestion box is always full. One of the most popular requests is more climbing equipment. Thanks to the fundraising efforts of our wonderful PTFA we had two sets of monkey bars installed on the school grounds over the summer holidays. They are a great addition to our Trim Trail and because they are made of high quality composite plastic they will last for many years to come.
July
Mrs Cryer added a slackline to out OPAL provision on the field. Its takes concentration, balance and maybe a little help from a friend to cross the line.
June
We are always working hard working hard to create new areas for the children to explore. We recently launched a home area which is proving to be very popular.
May
March
February
In February we hosted an OPAL play meeting for all parents. You can view this presentation below.
January
The launch of OPAL Play was met with great enthusiasm. We opened 7 new areas plus the gym and trim trails.
Large loose parts
Small World
Construction
Wheeled Area
Games/Sports Area
Costume and Performance Area
Social Area
December
We are hoping to start on our OPAL Journey after the Christmas break. We are pleased to announce that our wonderful PTFA has bought some essential equipment for us. Scooterboards and helmets for the wheeled area, clamps and clips for den building, wellies for the digging area, brushes and rollers for the creative space and storage boxes to keep everything nice and neat.
November
Mrs Cryer had secured us a boat! SeaFury was kindly donated to us this month. She needs a little love but we hope that she will soon be a feature in the children's creative play. If any parents/carers would be able to spare some time to help to restore SeaFury to her former glory it would be very much appreciated!
October
Mrs Cryer and Mrs Dowson have been working really hard to cut a path through the perimiter bushes. We are hoping to use this as a nature pathway and den building area.
September
As a school we will soon be embarking on our OPAL Play journey. We have lots of exciting plans that will provide enriching play for all of our children. At this time, we would like to ask for help from parents and children in the form of donations to get our scheme off the ground. We would like your help to resource 4 exciting new areas within our grounds. Any spare wellies/wet weather gear would also be greatly appreciated (all sizes). Collection bins will be placed outside the main entrance from Monday.
Mud Kitchen
Bowls
Pots and pans
Muffin/cake trays
Utensils (mixing spoons, whisks, ice-cream scoops etc)
Metal tea pots
Metal plates and cups
Plastic measuring jugs and spoons
Gardening
Hand held tools and children’s gardening equipment {trowels, rakes, spades etc}
Stiff brushes
Sturdy pots
Buckets
Wellies (all sizes)
Splash suits/ wet weather clothing of all sizes.
Clean paintbrushes and paint rollers
Costume Area
Hats/helmets
Scarfs
Waistcoats/jackets
Themed jackets (police officer, firefighter, doctor)
Tabards
Bags
Easy to put on items of clothing (NO characters please, such as princesses and action hero's)
Material
Small World
Dinosaurs
Figures
Cars and vehicles/ garage
Building blocks
Dolls house and furniture
Wooden trainset
Farm/jungle animals
Construction toys
Baby dolls and accessories such as prams.
