Outdoor Play and Learning Programme

What is OPAL (Outdoor Play and Learning Programme)?

OPAL is an award-winning, mentor supported school improvement programme that addresses all the areas that schools must plan for if they want to 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 at Westmoor

At Westmoor Primary School we have been thinking about how play times are for our children and how we can improve them!  So, we are excited to announce that in February 2023 we have started working with the not-for-profit, OPAL (Outdoor Play and Learning) to improve our pupils' experiences at playtimes and lunchtimes as we recognise that play time forms approximately 20% of a child's school day and is incredibly valuable. 

The OPAL ethos is that playtimes should be active, creative and involve activities that are freely chosen and directed by the child. 

This is a significant project for us to undertake and as such, we will be working with OPAL over the next 18 months. At the moment, we are in the early stages of our journey but we want to keep you involved in our project and up-to-date with all the improvements. Keep your eye out on this page for updates!

OPAL Phase 3

We are into our final phase of OPAL.  We can not believe it has been 2 whole years since we started our journey and can't imagine our play times without it now!

We have set up a toy hospital for toys which are broken ,  we have set up our wellie store and we are continuing to ask and receive donations so that the play can continue to evolve.

In this final phase we have had feedback from staff, parents and children and made more exciting changes.

Children have got involved in improving playtimes, parents have been in for lots of visits during showcases and an OPAL afternoon and after school clubs have begun to use the grounds and equipment for more free play!

OPAL Phase 2 

Opal is still a huge success, the children and staff are all happier and enjoying play and lunch times more. We have had more donations and have changed some of the areas and had gardeners and other local groups in to support updating areas,  after feedback from children and staff. We will continue to adapt and improve the areas and listen to everyone's feedback!

OPAL Phase 1 at Westmoor Primary School 

In phase one we  have collected in all the donations made (thank you so much for all of these so far!) and set up some of the different stations for children to use and added music to playtimes.

Playtimes already are calmer and a happier place to be! All the feed back so far has been extremely positive!

Please see some videos and photos below. We can't wait to continue this journey with more exciting stations and adapting and improving the ones we have. 

If you can please donate any of the items listed above or know any who can help provide us with some of the above please let us know. Thank you for all your support so far!

Why is play so important?

During the last 2 years children have lost out on lots of opportunities for play and cooperation due to the pandemic therefore there has been an increase in the number of children who struggle with forming strong friendships, communicating together and conflict resolution it has been proven though OPAL play work these areas can be positively impacted.

Children spend 20% of their school day in play therefore it is a really important area for us to focus on, through  play children encounter, explore and make sense of the world around them and their place in it.

Here are just some areas that play can improve for a child:

• health and wellbeing
• cognitive development
• social development
• understanding of risk and challenge
• resilience and character.

The OPAL programme rationale is that “…better, more active and creative playtimes can mean happier and healthier children. And having happier, healthier, more active children usually results in a more positive attitude to learning in school, with more effective classroom lessons, less staff time spent resolving unnecessary behavioural problems, fewer playtime accidents, happier staff and a healthier attitude to life.”

OPAL - More Information.

If you would like more information about the OPAL programme or the research behind it please see the links below.