OPAL Play
We are incredibly proud to announce that we have been awarded Platinum OPAL status, the highest level that can be achieved. Even more impressively, we scored 100%, making us only the fourth school in the areas (East Midlands and Lincolnshire) that our OPAL mentor, Bobby Beaumont, works in to reach this standard.
We were delighted to celebrate this with the children, and our assessor, Bobby, commented that within just five minutes he could tell that we were a Platinum school because of our fabulous children and the amazing quality of their play.
Our First Day of OPAL Play!
OPAL in action
Did you know that play makes up 20% of school life? Your child's play per academic year in school is 231 hours (equivalent to 37 days which is 7.4 weeks)!
The Opal Play team (who will be working hard to make lunchtimes amazing for your children) are:
The program takes 18 months to complete with the school site being developed during this period, with the children fully involved in the process. Have a look at the attached video which shows a school that has already been on the journey.
We are having a 'soft start' this term before we really go for it in September! On May 20th, the children from Foundation to Year 6 will mix at playtimes and be able to access the whole school site (apart from the school woods). There will be music playing and equipment such as chalks, bubbles, dressing up, small world play, teddies.
Each fortnight, the children will have a play assembly where we will celebrate the great play that we have been observing, inform them of the new things being introduced e.g. equipment and loose parts, negotiate with them on how to develop the play and use the equipment safely, innovate and think of what to plan for next.
We will give you a regular update in the weekly newsletter, hopefully sharing some pictures to show how it is going as well as asking for any items that you may have lying around that you no longer need.
The Power of Playtime - Information for Parents/Carers
Play Assemblies
Play Policy
Cycle Helmets - rationale for these not being worn during OPAL play