Shelley OPAL
Rationale
OPAL (Outdoor Play and Learning) is an award-winning, school improvement program designed to improve the quality of children's playtimes.
The OPAL vision is “that every child in every school has an amazing hour of high-quality play every day – with no exceptions” and 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”.
https://outdoorplayandlearning.org.uk/opal-programme/introduction/
There is more information for parents/carers in the following booklet: The Power of Playtime.
OPAL at Shelley
At Shelley we are providing the children with play times full of enriching activities. At the moment this includes:
- Tyres
- Lego
- Crates
- Blocks
- Skipping ropes
- Hoops
- Bats and balls
- Wooden planks
- An art station
We are listening to pupil voice and looking forward to introducing the following:
- Dressing up
- Role play
- Den building
- Quiet corners
- Board games
In a school where OPAL is fully embedded play times can look as exciting as this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cm7IfAEsjqI&t=2s
This is what we are striving to achieve for our children at Shelley.
How can I help?
- Make sure you child comes to school with appropriate clothing. In winter this may include: coat, wellies, gloves, hat, change of socks. In summer your child will need a sunhat and sun cream (that they can apply themselves).
- Occasionally we may ask for donations to help increase our OPAL provision. Look out for these emails requesting specific items.
- If you feel you or your workplace have cable reels, pipes, tarpaulin, storage boxes, waterproof rope, logs and planks, woodchips and sand, please contact the office. We would really appreciate these items all year round.
You can find out more about OPAL through visiting their website and of course, do let us know if you have any time, energy or resources that you think would be helpful in our venture.
