OPAL (Outdoor Play and Learning)
At Clavering Primary School, we believe that all children need opportunities to play that allow them to explore, manipulate, experience and affect their environment. We believe play provision should be welcoming and accessible to each and every child.
We promote our children's personal development through the Clavering Family Values. These values – citizenship, collaboration, creativity, curiosity, empathy, honesty, resilience, respect, self-awareness and wellness – capture the qualities that we want all Clavering children to acquire, treasure and continue to demonstrate and develop throughout their journey with us. With OPAL in place, children have the opportunity to develop these values outside the classroom. The positive attitude for learning created through more active and creative playtimes supports us in our endeavour to instil a love of learning in our children.
What is OPAL?
The OPAL Primary 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 is an award-winning, mentor supported school improvement programme that addresses all the areas that schools must plan for if they want to strategically and sustainably 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.
Its success comes from a series of interrelated actions undertaken with specialist support from an OPAL mentor. This embeds play into the school’s policies and practices and establishes clear guiding principles and strategies for initiating lasting changes at playtimes.
The right to play
Our school acknowledges the UN Charter on the Rights of the Child, especially Article 31, and supports the child’s right to play. We believe play provision should be:
...welcoming and accessible to every child, irrespective of gender, sexual orientation, economic or social circumstances, ethnic or cultural background or origin, or individual abilities.
Play policy
Download our Play Policy.
Play Charter
What do our playtimes look like?
