We are Proud to say that in June 2025, we achieved the Double Platinum Standard for OPAL play, the highest accolade available, putting us in the top 1% of all schools nationally with the quality of our play provision.
Children spend 20% of their time in school playing. To ensure that this time and our fantastic school grounds are used to their full potential our school has adopted an OPAL (Outdoor Play and Learning) philosophy that allows the children freedom to explore play in their own imaginative ways, often using found and gathered resources in the natural outdoor environment.
An OPAL approach promotes a more inclusive play environment in which all children can feel comfortable to express themselves. Our OPAL journey began in Autumn 2021 and since this time, we have quickly transformed our outdoor environment. Our children love the new outdoor opportunities that OPAL offers with so much more for them to do, no matter the weather! From playing with tyres and digging in the sand pit, to enjoying imaginative play in the woodland area or cooking up a storm in the mud kitchen, OPAL offers an exciting alternative to the standard playground activities.
Through this approach to play children are not only more active at lunch or break times, but they are also having the opportunity to further develop life skills such as cooperation, team work and problem solving. They are becoming motivated and enthusiastic builders, engineers, explorers and designers.
-Really fun, we can go on all of the fields, and we have lots of things to do. YR 5 child
-Very good- I love it! We get time to speak to teachers and they play with us. Also, we can see all of the younger children and help them, and they can play with us. YR 6 child
– It is amazing! We get to explore and do lots of things around our school grounds. YR3 child
– It’s exciting when we get to something new to play with outside! YR 2 child
Take a look at the links below to get an idea of all the fantastic things the children have been up to and just how much fun they are having…
Ofsted – Good
