OPAL Play

(Outdoor Play And Learning)

We are an OPAL school and we are very proud of this!

OPAL Play

Why did we launch OPAL Play?

Every child at St. Nick’s loves to play as well as learn. We believe that every child should be given the opportunity to learn through play and balance out the huge effort they put in to every other aspect of school life with high quality play time.

Play develops imagination, risk-taking, balance, social skills, counting, designing, speaking and listening and so much more. In the Early Years children learn through play and we don’t want this to stop when they leave Reception. We want to help children create life-long memories as well as life skills at playtimes. We hope that OPAL will be one of the many happy memories children leave us with too.

OPAL Launch

Is it safe?

We follow HSE guidance and risk assess every piece of OPAL equipment. We hold regular assemblies to make sure that children act safely whatever they are doing.  Here is our OPAL Play policy:

OPAL Play Policy

What stage are we at with OPAL?

With the expert guidance of our OPAL mentor, Rachel Murray we have developed an OPAL team who meet regularly to plan provision, develop the site, create policies and take action to keep moving forward with OPAL.

What can  you do to help?

With the help of kind donations from the community and local builders Stonehouse, we now have storage for toys and wellies, a brand new sandpit and lots of loose parts for the children to enjoy. Please look out for requests for loose parts in our weekly newsletter. Finally, please make sure you send your child into school with a waterproof coat and expect them to get a a little soggy and muddy from time to time.