Opal Lunchtimes
OPAL – Outdoor Play and Learning
We are proud to have introduced a different lunchtime experience for all our children. We are currently working with OPAL to make every lunchtime an inclusive, fun and enriching experience for all our children. With lunchtime break taking an hour each day, that’s as long as a Maths, English or Science lesson. In fact, as long as most lessons across the curriculum and this time adds up to 20% of a child’s day at school or 1.4 years of their primary school time. Therefore, we want this time to be spent learning and not just waiting for the learning to start again!
The Outdoor Play and Learning (OPAL) Primary Programme is the result of over 20 years of testing and development in over 800 schools and has been used in Spain, Canada, France and New Zealand. The programme has also been adapted and used in schools in Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Austria under the Play Friendly Schools project. In 2018, OPAL won first prize in an EU-funded award for the best active school’s programme in Europe and two UK national Playwork awards. In 2019, OPAL was awarded a quarter of a million pounds by Sport England to bring the programme to many more schools.
Research has shown that opportunities for children to play have significantly reduced. and many children no longer get their play needs met out of school
- Average screen time per day is six hours.
- Average outdoor play time per week is five hours.
- Percentage of UK children who only play outdoors with other children at school is 56%.
What is play?
Did you know there are many ways to play? This poster shows 15 different types of play.
Why is play good for you?
OPAL believe that play teaches children all the things that need to be learnt but cannot be taught.
Children love playing outdoors in the Early Years so why should they stop?
The benefits of play are broad, but encompassing:
✓ Health and wellbeing
✓ Early childhood development
✓ Cognitive development
✓ Physical activity & literacy
✓ Emotional wellbeing
✓ Social development
✓ Learning about risk and challenge
✓ Play as therapy
✓ Resilience and character
✓ Mental health
What my child needs to play with?
We are committed to ensuring that our school uniform allows for active play. We no longer have white as a colour in our uniform and footwear can be trainers. On PE days the children attend school in their PE kits so no time is wasted getting changed, no one feels uncomfortable getting changed and no lost PE kits!
To enable children to play outdoors all year-round, all children need appropriate clothing. They will get cold, wet and very muddy without this. We recommend:
✓ Waterproof coats
✓ Waterproof trousers or rain/puddle suits
✓ A pair of wellies
✓ additional suitable clothing depending on the weather e.g. sun hats, woolly hats, scarves and gloves.
Children will get muddy since it tends to rain a lot in England! We have fabulous fields and grounds that we want our children to access all year round. It’s there for them and they deserve to use it!
Donations.
We are always appreciative of any donations of smaller or larger loose parts.
What are loose parts?
Loose parts are any materials that can be easily moved, combined and incorporated into children’s free play.
The five loose parts rules are:
1. Plentiful: large quantities, many items (four per child)
2. Accessible: always available, got-out and put-away by children, available across the whole environment
3. Varied: lots and lots of different stuff and materials that can be used in lots and lots of different ways
4. Safe-enough: regularly checked, monitored and disposed of when no longer safe
5. Replaced: you will need to keep replacing and refreshing your loose parts.
Loose Parts information:
For more information about what’s been happening:
Additional information for parents and carers: