What is an OPAL School?
We are an OPAL (Outside Play and Learning) School. We believe in the power and importance of play.
Play can:
- offer opportunities for creativity and imagination
- enhance personal confidence
- provide opportunities for challenge and risk taking
- help improve health and well-being
- offer thinking, reasoning and problem solving opportunities
- build strength and endurance
- improve whole body coordination
- encourage emotional attachment
- develop social skills
- improve hand and-eye coordination
- improve early language development and communication skills
- provide literacy, numeracy, narrative and artistic skills
- offer social and group work skills
- help children understand rules, compromise, respect and turn taking
- help develop discussion skills and mental representation
As playtimes make up to 20% of school life we want to ensure that our playtimes are the best that they can be. We have therefore adopted an OPAL approach and are working towards our OPAL accreditation.
Our children are encouraged to use all of our outside space throughout the year. This includes our forest area, mud kitchen, loose parts area (for den building and creative designing), a stage for performances, music, bikes and scooters, small world areas and so much more.