What is OPAL?

OPAL stands for ‘Outdoor play and learning’ and is a programme which helps schools plan for and invest in play the same way we would for other subjects and areas such as English, maths or safeguarding. It is an award-winning programme which helps improve children’s play experiences in many different ways.

The OPAL ethos is that playtimes should be active, creative and involve activities that are freely chosen and directed by the children. It encourages the use of ‘loose parts’ in playtimes: open-ended materials that children can move and use in different ways, such as boxes, crates, sheets, pipes, log rounds, buckets, and blocks. Not only this, but children will also have access to role play, chalks, small world toys, mud kitchens and much more to spark some creativity and fun during their playtimes.

The OPAL Programme rationale is that: “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 YouTube page link

Our Journey

At Tanworth, we have been thinking about how we could improve our playtimes for the children. In October 2024, we started to work with OPAL in the hopes of improving playtimes by looking at play with a greater importance schoolwide.

In November 2024, we had our first ‘Together Tuesday’ play session where the children were able to join up across the year groups on the same field and play together. We will had a few more of these days to help practise our new OPAL routines.

In December 2024, we added music to our play times, added lots of new loose parts, play equipment, tyres, crates, small world toys and much more to the field and playground and got the OPAL shed up and running.

In January 2025, we started an OPAL play committee of eager children ready to help make OPAL run smoothly, added a stage for performances and dance routines, added a mud slide to our playing field, continued to add to our current areas such as digging, sand and large loose parts and added an extra welly store for added space.

In February 2025, we have added a fantastic mud kitchen to our playing area (thanks to Mrs and Mr Hemming!), introduced wheels to play, planted the willow arch and added another speaker to make sure our music is nice and loud across the field!

In March 2025, we took on OPAL every lunch time! We also introduced the choice of outdoor eating for children with packed lunches on picnic benches and blankets which the children seem to love! 

In April 2025, we are trialling scooters on the playground and looking to add lots more wheels to our play. We have also sourced a slide which we are getting ready to add to the field. The children are now swinging on our new gym bars and playing dress up in the stage area! 

In May 2025, the scooters are out on the playground and we have also introduced water to play which has made the messy kitchen extra messy and fun! Football and ball games have also now been added to the field in a designated area for Years 5 and 6 with the hope that we can accommodate more year groups soon too. The children (and staff!) are all enjoying the warm weather play and sunny days too 

Please see below for lots of pictures of what we get up to in our OPAL sessions!