Outdoor Play and Learning (OPAL)

Amazing play, every day, for every child

What is OPAL?

Did you know that playtime is about 20% of every child’s day at school? That’s 1.4 years of every child’s life while they are at primary school. It is also, for many children, the only time they have to play outside regularly. Playing outdoors in rich play environments is one of the best ways for children to develop social skills, build resilience, make more friends, be more creative and care more about the planet. Right now, this is more important than ever.
I am very excited to tell you that your school is now starting to participate in the Outdoor Play and Learning (OPAL) primary programme, which is endorsed and supported by Sport England and runs in hundreds of schools across the UK and worldwide. You read more on the OPAL website here: 
https://outdoorplayandlearning.org.uk/the-opal-primary-programme/

Why OPAL?

The Outdoor Play and Learning (OPAL) Primary Programme is the result of over 20 years of testing and development in over 800 schools and has been used in Spain, Canada, France and New Zealand. The programme has also been adapted and used in schools in Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Austria under the Play Friendly Schools project. In 2018, OPAL won first prize in an EU-funded award for the best active school’s programme in Europe and two UK national playwork awards. In 2019, OPAL was awarded a quarter of a million pounds by Sport England to bring the programme to many more 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 playtime, we want to make sure that this amount of time (equivalent to 1.4 years of primary school) is as good as possible.

One reason the school is carrying out this programme is that childhood has changed, and many children no longer get their play needs met out of school. 

• Average screen time per day is six hours.

• Average outdoor play time per week is five hours.

• Percentage of UK children who only play outdoors with other children at school is 56%.

How can we help?

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