Why OPAL? 

At Blue Coat we have been embedding OPAL (Outdoor Play and Learning) principles for the last few years. Why? Because research has shown that children spend 20% of their time in school playing. To ensure that this time and our fantastic school grounds are used to their full potential we adopted an OPAL philosophy that allows the children freedom to explore play in their own imaginative ways.

We want our children to be resilient, creative, happy and develop a love of being outdoors. Not only is this important for their physical health but also for their mental wellbeing and social and emotional development. Bob Hughes has researched play and identified 16 types of play. He suggests that engaging in each play type is necessary for a child’s healthy development and that these are implemented so that all children have wide-ranging high quality play experiences. We are constantly reviewing and improving our play offer and are striving to provide all 16 types of play so as to meet the needs of all our pupils. 

Our OPAL Story so far…

Our OPAL journey has been along a long, loopy and twisty path, paved with tyres, mud, COVID interruptions and a lot of hill rolling. But to understand where we are, it’s good to look back at where we’ve come from and forward to where we want to be. 

We’re fortunate at Blue Coat to be blessed with wonderful grounds: a large field, beautiful mature trees, a hill and more besides. But for too many years, play was limited to the yard - aside from a few glorious days in the summer when the field was “open”. We want to make the most of our glorious natural resources and to make every breaktime a memorable experience for every child. 

The first step was to “open” the field under (almost) all conditions and encourage the children to wear wellies and waterproofs when needed. Some children have taken to this like fish to water - which is a good attitude to have at times on our rather sodden grass. Children have loved playing in the trees, building dens, and rolling things - including people - down the hill. 

We have gradually increased the variety of play opportunities that the children have. The children now have fancy dress, music, small world play, den building, sports, chalk and much more on offer every day. The impact it has had is more than just increasing ‘play’. We have seen their imagination and creativity blossom during this time. The children are able to collaborate effectively to build dens, listen to each others’ ideas when decided what to ‘cook’, take turns when using the water, take calculated risks when rolling each other down the hill.

Our whole school community is part of OPAL

We - children, parents & carers and staff - all have our responsibilities to make OPAL work:

Children: Have the easiest job - to go, explore, take (calculated) risks, try new things, play with new people and in new ways. 

Staff: We have the pleasure of facilitating, encouraging and joining in with the amazing things the minds of Blue Coat pupils can create.

Parents & Carers: Talk to those in your care about their break times, help them be prepared to be outside in (almost) any weather, be prepared for some nature to come home attached to your child at times.

Donations

Many of our resources are donated by kind parents and members of the public. This helps us to make our play as sustainable as possible.  We are always on the lookout for loose parts including buggies, pans, traffic cones, fancy dress clothes, guttering or piping. Please contact the school office or speak to your child’s class teacher if you have anything you could offer.

Further Information

For further details about our amazing playtimes please see the documents below. Our most recent OPAL adventures will be on Facebook and in the newsletter.