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Outdoor Play and Learning (OPAL)

Walter Halls is proud to be an OPAL school!

It has long been recognised that play is fundamental to a child’s health, happiness, development and wellbeing. Article 31 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child states: Every child has the right to rest, relax, play and to take part in cultural and creative activities. Play is how young children learn to navigate the world, and build narratives, knowledge and social skills. Play is essential business for children.

Research has also shown that children spend 20% of their time in primary school playing. One fifth of their total time in school MUST be viewed as important enough to take seriously and develop just as well as we do for subjects like English and Maths. In 2023 we started our OPAL development journey. For us at Walter Halls Primary, this is a long-term commitment to prioritising learning through play.

Please take a look at our PLAY POLICY and LONG-TERM OPAL STRATEGY (see below)

Our school grounds are impressive and we’re very proud to be able to offer all of our children so much space for outdoor learning – we know that not all inner-city primary schools benefit from this space. Over time, we are committed to developing our grounds to meet the needs of all of the many different play types that children have:

MEET THE PLAY TEAM

Having the right staff team for OPAL is essential.

Walter Halls commits to ensuring the right people are always in post to continue to make playtimes the best they can be. We do not have midday supervisors at Walter Halls – we have a Play Team who are continually trained in effective play interactions and risk benefit management.

Click the link below to meet our Play Team.

RISK MANAGEMENT 

We follow the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) Guidance for taking a balanced approach to all of the risks associated with free play. 

OPAL approaches to play seek to weigh-up the potential benefits to a play activity against the risks that it may pose. We teach children about risk and view healthy risk-taking to be an important life-skill that we need to develop in all of our children. We know that none of our Play Leaders can watch every child at every minute during play. We take a ‘Dynamic Supervision’ approach instead

Please see the attached document for further information and for  a copy of the HSE guide.

HOW CAN OUR FAMILIES HELP:

  • Read ‘The Power of Playtime’ to understand more about why OPAL is so important to support for your child’s overall wellbeing and development (see document below)
  • Make sure you follow our School Uniform Policy – it is OPAL-friendly and designed to help your child access play every day in all types of weather (see link to uniform policy below)
  • Wellies or outdoor footwear are an essential part of Walter Halls Uniform, as well as outdoor waterproof coats or puddle suits
  • If you can help us gather loose parts and other equipment for our play areas, we’d love to hear from you!

OPAL ambassadors & OPAL assemblies:

Every year we choose some children to help us to lead OPAL. They are our OPAL ambassadors and take a keen interest in effective play. They are our eyes and ears for improvements that our children want to make happen.

Every week we commit to having an OPAL whole-school assembly. We teach our children about safe and effective play. We do this on using a structure to meet the following aims:

  • Celebrate school’s culture of play and children’s creativity.
  • Inform children of changes, rights, and agreements.
  • Negotiate with children on issues such as risk, tidy-up and expected behaviours.
  • Innovate around what children are currently playing to deepen children’s engagement.
Examples of our OPAL play activities