OPAL
Amazing play, every day, for every child.
OPAL is an award-winning, mentor supported school improvement programme that addresses all the areas that schools must plan for if they want to strategically and sustainably improve the quality of their play opportunities. OPAL is the only programme of its kind that has been independently proven to sustainably improve the quality of play in British primary schools.
OPAL is based on the idea that, as well as learning through good teaching, your children also learn when they play. As 20% of their time in school is play or lunch time, we want to make sure that this amount of time (equivalent to 1.4 years of primary school) is as good as possible.
There are many proven benefits for schools that carry out the OPAL Primary Programme. They usually include: more enjoyment of school, less teaching time lost to disputes between children, fewer accidents and greatly improved behaviour.
Play is not 'messing about'. It is the process evolution has come up with to enable children to learn all the things that cannot be taught, while also having fun. There are certain things children must have in order to be able to play. These include:
The vision for Opal - click here to see more https://outdoorplayandlearning.org.uk/ and what an Opal playtime may look like in schools where it has been running for several years... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cm7IfAEsjqI
Its success comes from a series of interrelated actions undertaken with specialist support from an OPAL mentor. This embeds play into the school’s policies and practices and establishes clear guiding principles and strategies for initiating lasting changes at playtimes. |
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