OPAL outside play - Mud, glorious mud.

[AaronPurr]

The school have just introduced this, and I wondered if any other posters had any experience of it?

I really like the fact the different year groups are able to mix with each other, and there's definitely a lot more for the children to play with. Although there's also a lot of mud and soggy socks, but I guess that's to be expected when we live in such a wet and muddy country.

It's at ours and has transformed playtimes. It's been going over a year and a new thing has been added each month. The kids have the things explained and it's introduced. Now we have a rota for slightly bigger things e.g. bikes are out for a week then scooters then nothing on the playground so they can do skipping or table tennis.

Parents donated all sorts of stuff (tyres, old bikes, Lego, old buggies) and pta and school put in money and time (creation of mud kitchen, extension of play equipment e.g. climbing frame, swing, Welly storage). It's been great.

Strict rules about where mud stays helps the school stay clean too!

Our school has it. Looks an absolute state. I have numerous health and safety concerns ranging from the unsafe stacking of pallets to kids playing with screwdrivers to kids zipping themselves up in suitcases. However no one seems to want to listen. I am 99% sure it would not pass a H&S inspection. My daughter doesn't like it either.

My dd's school introduced this in September.

They have no real grass to play on as it's a small site and they have a Muga so we haven't experienced the mud issue.

However on a small site I think it's stifling for the older children as there are just too many children playing at one time.

There are lots of very unhappy children (mainly boys) at not being allowed to play football.

General consensus in my dd's year is a big thumbs down.

Thanks. I disagree though that being made to tidy up other people’s mess is a lesson for life which they need! If during my day some other people got a load of cardboard, old electronics planks and tyres and left them on the floor, I’d be pretty unimpressed to have to spend half my lunch break every day putting it all away! Opal is ok for younger children but in our school it’s no good at all for upper primary.

@Littlebluebird123 I'm glad it's been a positive change in your school. The idea of a rota for bikes and scooters is a sensible one.

@whydoihavetowork The school looks a state? Can I ask why this is? I appreciate your comments on health and safety concerns, and i'm sorry you feel no one is listening to you. Can you explain why your daughter doesn't like it?

@Blankscreen I like that the children are able to play together. However if your school has a small site, I can see why the increase in those outside at the same time would feel overwhelming. I'm also sorry to hear some of the older boys are disappointed that they can't always play football. Although for every disappointed child, I guess there's another who is happy it's not dominating the playground.

@Notoironing I appreciate it's not always fun tidying up things you haven't played with. But it would be impossible to check exactly who has played with what, so I can see why they ask everyone to help. I'm also sorry to hear your son feels like he's spending so much time tidying away, is that something you could raise wih the school?

Sounds like the latest " thing" and of course it has to have an acronym.

Hello!

I am the OPAL play leader at a mid-sized primary. We were awarded gold status last year and hope to go for platinum when we go for re-accreditation in the next couple of years.

We went from long autumn and winter months with 250 children on a sterile playground to utilising the full grounds year round.

Children have their own wellies at school and access to waterproof trousers.

We introduced a mud kitchen, complete with a microwave and dishwasher, pots, pans and utensils.

A digging area with hand trowels, buckets.

Tyres, pallets, old blankets and crates for den building.

Dressing up clothes (a hit with year 6!)

Lego, Duplo, cars, dinosaurs, dolls, teddies.

A quiet area for reading, drawing and crafts.

Bikes and trikes.

Sporty stuff, balls, skipping ropes.

Water play with tubes and guttering.

It's been a massive change and hard work, not least because for most of the equipment, we rely on donations. I use freecyle and local Facebook pages to source stuff and parents have been kind too.

The whole Opal programme really only works because all staff underwent training. It was surprising how many teachers just didn't understand the benefits of a play-based learning. We work on the same ethos as early years and forest school in the sense that children are free to choose who and what they play with and the lunch staff (mostly!) provide the scaffolding. Although to the untrained observer, it just looks like we're playing, but there's a lot more to it!

After concentrating in lessons, children really need to play in the ways that suit them to balance it out. We are acutely aware that good quality play can (and does) promote physical and mental well-being.

I did an experiment last summer, with a large cardboard box, to track its life around the school. Over the course of a week, it was used by different children to be a chair, a disguise, a skirt, a mobile library, a football commentator's box and a toilet (not literally!) I love seeing the imagination skills in full force!

Basically, Opal is a positive project but you need staff, governors and parents to be on board in order to keep it working well for everyone. We have a play policy, thorough risk assessments and an ongoing dialogue with the children.

And yes, we all help to clear up! The last 5 minutes, everyone helping, dojos, stickers and certificates for those who put in effort. Surprisingly, some of our more 'tricky' children love the responsibility. It's all carried out in a positive, collaborative atmosphere!

Opal is great as long as all staff are on board.

Opal- outdoor play and learning- is intended to allow children allow children to properly play in a safe and controlled manner, whilst giving them the ability to not have to ensure prescribed activities or a football take over. It ensure the whole space of the grounds are used and, in doing so, the first aid incidents are reduced. There should be different areas to suit all children, eg mud kitchen, sandpit, small world, lego, colouring, dance tents, building, etc.

Play spaces areas divided into different areas with new areas being introduced through play assemblies. For example, scooters should only be used in a scootered area. They don't need helmets as the space they would be covering and the way they would give a helmet would be detrimental to their safety as children won't put them on properly resulting in a strangulation risk being the biggest issue.

Over a a 2 year period, Opal is introduced with staff having continuous training, including those in the play team, which include how to do risk assessment traditionally and a rapid risk assessment. There is training available all the time for staff to engage with and nothing should be banned- including football and play fighting!! Children should be encouraged to set the rules of their playground in play assemblies with the play coordinator (who should be a member of slt). Any issue, such as broken toys, should be discussed then too.

Initially, donations may be wanted, but schools should quickly find ways to ensure longevity of this and not rely upon parents. Welly swap shops, links with local shops for waste items, even links with the local council to help gather larger items should be encouraged.

Children shouldn't be expected to tidy up other children's mess. Only small items are cleared and the expectation is that you take the item you're playing with back to the storage centre. The tidy up for the whole playground should be less than 4 minutes.

If the field is covered in mud, then an area can be coned off to allow growth and regeneration, but mud shouldn't be brought into the school as children shouldn't be going inside in their wellies, even for a wee.

Yes, children will get a but muddied snd a but damper, but hopefully they will get a lot happier, build more resilience, their play will be purposeful and engaging for all.

Haha! Funny how we posted the same thing at the same time.

Do you have a local Amazon hub? We got onto their waste management programme and get about 20 boxes a month of unsellable toys and paper that is perfectly good, but the packaging is broken or it's been a return.

@2ndChristmas
😄 We sound like we're on commission!

No, I've not explored an Amazon hub, will have to look and see if that's an option.

We do have a good relationship with our local tip, who save us a few bits. We got some lovely balance bikes recently. We get tyres from a garage nearby and linked up with another Opal school to trade ideas.

@snibril I've sent you a pm. :)

@Snibril and @2ndChristmas Your posts are really informative, so thank you for taking the time to write them. You both sound really passionate about the scheme, and it made me laugh to see you both post at the same time with glowing reports. 😄 It seems like it could be a really positive change for the school, but only if all staff are on board.

@Snibril I love the experiment with the cardboard box. Children are really creative, and hearing about how they use such a simple item in so many different ways is really interesting.

@2ndChristmas The amazon hub sounds like a great way to save items that might have been otherwise discarded, would you mind sending me some more information so I can pass this onto the school?