The Power of Playtime – Read or download this booklet with lots of practical ideas for busy parents:
17.03.2023 – New Installations
This week we have opened up a new ‘Digging Zone’ and ‘Mud Kitchen’ for the Key Stage One and Two children to enjoy. We held class assemblies to discuss sensible play and the children came up with their own rules for this zone. These have been displayed in the digging zone as a reminder. It was all very exciting … and muddy, this week but we hope as they begin to use it more regularly they will remember how to stay cleaner! Thank you to Mrs Ziolkowski for building our mud kitchen furniture.
Our lovely new seating area in the ‘Zen Zone’ (Wildlife Garden) has been installed. It is large enough for a class to be seated to enjoy stories and activities outdoors and also for children to use during OPAL play, once we open this zone. Thanks again to FOHS for fundraising for us and our whole school community for contributing! We are so lucky to have your support!
Thanks to the Education Training Trust fund, we now have a real stage for all of our budding performers to enjoy!
01/03/2023 GREAT NEWS!
Thanks to Mrs Gregory and Mrs Southern we have secured £1000 of community funding for our OPAL Play project. We plan to spend the money on den posts and materials to enhance our den building skills and opportunities.
The seating area for the Zen Zone in the Wildlife area (thanks to funding from FOHS) is die to be installed o Friday 17th March.
Staging (Funded by St Andrew’s Church) is also due to arrive on 17th March.
Our digging zone and mud kitchen is almost complete. Tools for this will be purchased from the money raised on our Break the Rules Day.
We were unlucky with our Armed Forces bid for a Water Play Zone but will continue bidding for funds … if you are aware of any funding opportunities you think we may be able to access, please do contact us.
Opal Play Loose Parts update 27.02.2023
What is OPAL Play?
We are very excited to let you know that we have begun our OPAL Play journey! OPAL stands for Outdoor Play and Learning; research shows that children’s mental and physical health is getting worse and that great play can make it better. During seven years at primary school, children spend 1.4 years at play so we want to make it as fun and stimulating as we possibly can!
Click on the link to see an example of an OPAL Play Platinum School:
The video was taken after a two year journey with OPAL Play …. we are just at the beginning of our journey but the possibilities are exciting!
Here are the OPAL Working Group:
Mrs Cubbage (Curriculum Lead), Mrs Ziolkowski (Play Coordinator), Mrs Walker (Play Coordinator), Mrs Southern (Parent/PTA Champion), Mrs Gasser-Thompson (Site Manager), Mr Wheatley (Headteacher) and Mrs Henderson (Play Governor)
THURSDAY 1ST DECEMBER IS LAUNCH DAY!!!
Today we launched OPAL Play with the children. We invited the children to mix Key Stages and across both yard spaces. We opened up a Sports Zone with football as our first weekly sport; it was rude not to when the World Cup is on! We added a performance area and a board games zone. Here are some photographs from our first day …
