OPAL (Outdoor Play and Learning)

“Play is not a break from learning – it’s how children learn best. Through play, every child can explore, create, and grow.” 

What is OPAL?

Did you know that playtime makes up around 20% of a child’s school day? That’s over 1.4 years of play during their time in primary school? For many children, it’s also their only regular opportunity to play outdoors. At Shobnall Primary & Nursery School, we are proud to be part of the OPAL (Outdoor Play and Learning) Primary Programme, a national initiative supported by Sport England and implemented in hundreds of schools across the UK and beyond. Through OPAL, we are transforming our playtimes into rich, active, and imaginative experiences where every child can explore, create, and thrive.

Find out more about OPAL and watch the video Amazing OPAL Primary Playtime to see the impact of OPAL in action.

Vision

Shobnall Primary & Nursery School believes 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 every child, irrespective of gender, sexual orientation, economic or social circumstances, ethnic or cultural background or origin, or individual abilities.

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.”

Shobnall’s vision focuses on providing a broad, balanced curriculum that nurtures the whole child, fostering creativity, well-being, and academic excellence. This links closely with the OPAL rationale, which emphasises outdoor play and learning to support physical, social, and emotional growth. Both approaches aim to develop well-rounded, confident individuals with a strong sense of respect, resilience, and a “can-do” attitude, encouraging creativity, life skills, and the pursuit of excellence. Together, they create a holistic learning experience that prepares pupils for success in the 21st century.

Aims

In relation to play our school aims to:

• Ensure play settings provide a varied, challenging and stimulating environment.
• Allow children to take risks and use a common-sense approach to the management of these risks and their benefits.
• Provide opportunities for children to develop their relationships with each other.
• Enable children to develop respect for their surroundings and each other.
• Aid children’s physical, emotional, social, spiritual and intellectual development.
• Provide a range of environments that will encourage children to explore and play imaginatively.
• Provide a range of environments that will support children’s learning across the curriculum and learning about the world around them.
• Promote independence and teamwork within children.
• Build emotional and physical resilience.

Benefit & Risk

‘Play is great for children’s wellbeing and development. When planning and providing play opportunities, the goal is not to eliminate risk, but to weigh up the risks and benefits. No child will learn about risk if they are wrapped in cotton wool.’

Managing Risk in Play Provision: An Implementation Guide (Play Safety Forum, 2012)

At Shobnall Primary and Nursery school, we use the Health and Safety Executive guidance document Children’s Play and Leisure – Promoting a Balanced Approach (September 2012) as the principal value statement for informing our approach to managing risk in play. In doing so, we will adopt a risk-benefit approach as detailed in Managing Risk in Play Provision: An Implementation Guide (Play Safety Forum, 2012).

Risk-taking is an essential feature of play provision and of all environments in which children legitimately spend time at play. Play provision aims to offer children the chance to encounter acceptable risks as part of a stimulating, challenging and managed play environment. As outlined in the play sector publication ‘Best Play’, play provision should aim to ‘manage the balance between the need to offer risk and the need to keep children and young people safe from harm’.

In addition to standard risk-benefit assessments the school will practice dynamic risk management with children, encouraging them to identify and manage risks in an environment where adults are present to support them.

HSE fully recognises that play brings the world to life for children. It provides for an exploration and understanding of their abilities; helps them to learn and develop; and exposes them to the realities of the world in which they will live, which is a world not free from risk but rather one where risk is ever present. The opportunity for play develops a child’s risk awareness and prepares them for their future lives.

Play Environment

At Shobnall Primary & Nursery School, our outdoor spaces are designed to inspire curiosity, creativity, and adventure. We continually develop our play environment to offer a wide range of opportunities that encourage children to explore, imagine, and work together.

Our playground and outdoor areas include a rich variety of open-ended materials and natural features that support all types of play – from active and physical to creative and imaginative. Children can:

• Build dens, structures, and obstacle courses using loose parts such as tyres, crates, planks, and fabric.

• Get hands-on in our mud kitchen and digging pit, discovering the joys of messy, sensory play.

• Climb, balance, and move freely to develop strength, coordination, and confidence.

• Engage in role play, storytelling, and small-world adventures that spark imagination and teamwork.

• Explore and care for our natural environment, learning about wildlife, weather, and the changing seasons.

We encourage play in all weathers, helping children develop resilience, independence, and respect for the outdoors. Families are supported to ensure children come prepared with appropriate clothing – from wellies and waterproofs in winter to hats and sun cream in summer.

Our play spaces are inclusive and adaptable, ensuring that every child can find joy and challenge in their own way. Through OPAL, play at Shobnall Primary is a vital, living part of our school day where learning, laughter, and life skills grow side by side.

Documents and Useful Links

Please see below a selection of documents that relate to OPAL at Shobnall Primary & Nursery School. If you require any additional information relating to this subject, then please contact the OPAL lead via the school office email.

OPAL Play Policy

OPAL Play Award