Outdoor Play and Learning - OPAL

At our school, we believe that high quality play is essential for every child’s wellbeing, happiness, and development. That’s why we are proud to be part of the OPAL (Outdoor Play and Learning) Programme, a nationally recognised, school wide approach that transforms playtimes and enriches children’s daily experiences.

OPAL helps us create a play environment that is inclusive, imaginative, active, and full of opportunities to learn and grow. Through well planned outdoor provision, children develop resilience, teamwork, creativity, independence and problem solving skills- - while having fun.

OPAL at Clifford Bridge Academy

What Is OPAL?

OPAL is a long term, award winning programme designed to improve play opportunities for all children. It supports schools in creating a culture where play is valued, well resourced, and central to children’s physical, social and emotional development.

With OPAL, play is not just a break in the day - it is a vital part of learning.

What OPAL Looks Like at Our School

Since introducing OPAL, we have transformed our outdoor spaces into rich, exciting learning environments. Playtimes now offer a wide variety of experiences, including:

Loose parts play (crates, tyres, pipes, fabrics, etc.)
Construction and building areas
Mud kitchens and messy play
Den building and imaginative role play zones
Nature and exploration areas
Performance and creative spaces
Water and sand play
Quiet, reflective spaces for calm time
Wheelie toys to support with physical development

Children have freedom to explore, invent, collaborate and express themselves - whatever their interests or abilities.

Why OPAL Matters: Benefits for Our Children

Our OPAL playtimes help children to:

Be more physically active
Build confidence and independence
Develop social skills and teamwork
Strengthen problem solving and creativity
Improve emotional wellbeing
Form positive relationships across year groups
Enjoy happier, richer, more fulfilling play experiences

We have already seen improvements in social interaction, behaviour, cooperation, and children’s overall happiness at playtime.

Safety and Supervision

All staff involved in playtimes receive OPAL training to support safe, meaningful and engaging play. We use a risk–benefit approach, meaning children are encouraged to challenge themselves in a supported way, gaining independence and resilience while staying safe. Clear routines, expectations and supervision ensure that everyone can play confidently and responsibly.

How Families Can Help

We often welcome donations of materials to support our OPAL play. Items we may request include:

Clean pipes, crates, tubes, planks, tyres
Dressing up clothes and fabrics
Pots, pans and kitchen items for messy play
Small world figures, construction toys
Natural materials (pebbles, sticks, cones, shells)

If you have suitable items, please contact Mrs Gudger or the school office. Families may also be invited to volunteer during development days or outdoor clean up sessions. Your support makes a huge difference!

Our OPAL Journey

We are incredibly proud to be an OPAL Platinum School!

Following two years of working with OPAL through the OPAL Primary Programme, Clifford Bridge Academy has achieved the OPAL Platinum Award, recognising the transformation of play across our school.

OPAL praised the dedication, vision and hard work of our whole team and described the transformation in our approach to high quality play as remarkable. Achieving Platinum recognises that every child at Clifford Bridge can enjoy a rich, engaging and varied playtime experience every day, with play firmly established as an important part of children’s development and wellbeing.

Our OPAL journey has transformed our outdoor spaces and the experiences available to our children. Through imaginative play, creative activities, physical challenges, exploration and opportunities for social connection, our children are developing confidence, independence, resilience and friendships while having fun.

We could not have achieved this without the incredible support of our Clifford Bridge community. A huge thank you to everyone who has donated resources, volunteered their time and supported us throughout our journey. Your contribution has helped us create the play provision our children enjoy today.

Achieving Platinum is a fantastic milestone, but our OPAL journey does not stop here. We will continue to develop our provision, introduce new opportunities and ensure that every child at Clifford Bridge can enjoy, explore and thrive through play every day.

Clifford Bridge Academy