At Buckland, we believe that play is an essential part of childhood. Children spend a significant part of their time at primary school playing, and high-quality play supports their physical and emotional wellbeing as well as developing creativity, imagination, cooperation, resilience and confidence.

We are therefore very excited to be working with the Outdoor Play and Learning (OPAL) Primary Programme, a school improvement programme which helps schools develop the quality of play and playtimes for every child. This also fits beautifully with our work as a Gold Rights Respecting School and Article 31 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child – every child has the right to play.

Our OPAL Journey

We are still in the early stages of our OPAL journey, but changes are already beginning to make our playtimes more varied, creative and exciting. Children have been enjoying music, dressing up, new games and toys, bubbles, chalk, digging and lots of opportunities for imaginative and creative play. A key part of OPAL is giving children greater choice and providing open-ended resources that allow them to decide how and what they want to play.

And we have lots more planned! We are looking at how we can make even better use of our wonderful school grounds and gradually introduce a wider range of play opportunities. Our developing grounds plan includes ideas for wheeled play, water and sand play, a performance and music area, a Mud Café, loose-parts and den building, a chill-out space, small-world and creative play, and further opportunities to explore nature.

Our OPAL Play Team

Our OPAL journey is being led by our school Play Team: Hannah Houston, Emma Brown and Kim Hatton, with Kerry Spurry as our OPAL Governor. The team works together with children, staff and families to develop our play provision, listen to children’s ideas and help turn our exciting plans for the school grounds into reality.

This is very much a journey, and we will develop our provision gradually, listening to the children and reflecting on what works well. Our aim is simple: to make sure that every child at Buckland has access to rich, inclusive and enjoyable play opportunities every day, with the freedom to explore, create, imagine, socialise and have fun.

Keep checking this page to follow our OPAL journey and see our playtimes develop!

Find out more
If you would like to find out more about OPAL and what it means for your child, please take a look at OPAL’s Frequently Asked Questions for Parents, which includes information about play, clothing, risk, resources and how families can support our OPAL journey.

https://outdoorplayandlearning.org.uk/opal-programme/faq-for-parents/