Congratulations to Westcourt Primary and Nursery School on achieving Platinum status for their commitment to creative play.

"Westcourt Primary School and Nursery has just achieved Platinum award status from OPAL Outdoor Play and Learning. This means that they are in the top 0.5% of UK schools for the quality of the play they provide for all their children. The school has demonstrated that it takes the UNCRC Article 31, the child's right to play, seriously and is implementing all stages of school improvement in relation to play, including policy, planning, resourcing, staffing and evaluation."

Michael Follett BA Hons Ed, PGCE OPAL Founder and Director

Did you know that during a child’s life at primary school, they spend 1.4 years out at play? This means they spend as much time outside as they do in their maths lessons!   In March 2023, Westcourt Primary decided that playtimes needed to change.

Head Teacher of Westcourt Primary, Mags Sexton, explains how…

“For many children playtime was unstructured and caused them to become dysregulated, for others who were not sporty it was a difficult time to get through.

As a former EYFS teacher I know and believe in the benefits of creative play. Children learn much through problem solving, resilience, collaboration and creativity, therefore all our children deserve high quality play every day. In March 23, we began our work with Opal to transform play time. https://outdoorplayandlearning.org.uk/

We started small by introducing low risk activities such as dressing up, chalking, small world toys, arts and craft, crates and pipes. As the project continued with our mentor from Opal we added in a mud kitchen area, a digging area, den building, loose parts for building, scooters, including sit on scooters and our biggest success - prams!

The zoning of our school grounds now means that all children can go to any playground and have access to the field all year round. This means all year groups mix, which is such a benefit. The start of winter 2024 was challenging, but with many kind donations of wellington boots and the purchase of all-weather trousers, the children have been able to continue with these activities all year! We still have traditional sports such as football, tennis and in the summer cricket.

We have already seen so many benefits to Opal play, the variety of activities means that all children can find something that interests them. Children who don't like the busyness of a playground are able to find a quieter corner to play in. Brothers, sisters and friends from all year groups can play together.

For the adults supervising playtimes, there are less conflicts to sort out and less first aid.

Opal has made our school a much happier and creative space! “

As part of The Primary First Trust, Westcourt Primary School has been able to share their experience and the benefits of Opal Play with other Trust schools, many of whom are already rolling out their own Opal programme.