OPAL play - concerns for bullying and mixed age groups

[denimflame]

I need an outsider point of view! My daughter is 4 and in reception and at her school they do something called OPAL play where all years are in the playground at the same time (except nursery kids). She's come home today saying that she was trying to play with something and that there was older kids playing there that were laughing at her and saying 'well I'm older than you' and not letting her play. I know I can't wrap her in cotton wool and she needs to build resilience but I don't think it's acceptable for her to 1 be playing with kids twice her age and 2 to be laughed and made fun of by kids twice her age. I'm going to speak to her teacher tomorrow but honestly I don't feel it's right to have all years playing with all years (I.e. a year 6 who would be 10-11 playing with reception who are 4-5) 🤯🤯🤯

I wish my kids’ school would do OPAL play. Of course it’s acceptable for children of different ages to play! It’s positive for them all. One incident while unacceptable isn’t bullying. You need to teach your daughter to speak to a member of staff if she can’t deal with an issue herself. You can also mention it to the teacher you who keep a closer eye on her and reminder to tell them if there is a problem.

I understand and think it's a great thing to have but I just don't see how an 11 year old who would be leaving for secondary school would be interested in playing with a 4 year old it should at least be segregated. And to be 4 and see bigger age groups and people can be quite intimidating I assume, I certainly wouldn't have liked it as a child. She's been humiliated by the older children laughing at her and telling her she's not allowed to play. I fear now she's not going to feel comfortable to go play with what she wants if there's older children playing there incase she's made fun of for simply just being younger than them 😢

Children usually love playing with older children. There is a lot you seem to be assuming and projecting here. Empower your daughter to deal with the situation.

I'm completely not projecting as my child has come back upset that she's been being belittled therefore they are her own feelings. I'm also stating that I don't think I would quite have liked to play and approach an older child as a 4 year old unless they were a sibling, the interests and maturity levels are on a completely different wavelength. The older you move up in school the older you seem to feel and the more grown up you want to be. We have completely different views on this. Yes I empower my child to speak up and to tell the teachers and to take it on the chin and yes I'm aware it builds a resilience. But I'd expect this from children in or around her year group. I suppose we'll have to agree to disagree on this one!

Did she tell you she felt belittled?

Completely agree with the projection just from that one sentence

I've no idea what OPAL play is, but my DC's single form entry had playground open to all. I think there were some rules regarding climbing play equipment with each year having an allocated day to be on it, but that was about it.

DD loved playing with the year 6s when she was in reception and lots of the older ones love it too. There's nothing fundamentally flawed about OPAL or about full school mixing. If there are some specific girls not treating the younger ones nicely then yes the school should be told and they should be spoken to but it doesn't mean the whole system should be closed down

Well she's 4 so belittled isn't quite in her vocabulary. But she explained she wanted to play in the mud but the big kids wouldn't let her because she's small and it made her feel really sad ... so yes she was belittled..?

No definitely not I don't agree with it being shut down and I think it's a great system. But I do think there should be monitoring with the younger kids. My child's 4 there's only so much I can do or say but at the minute she's not as mature as a 10 year old and if they tell her to jump she'll say how high. Yes that's my child's problem and yes as a parent I need to instill a back bone into her but parents know this and teachers know this so there should be more monitoring in those areas where I as a parent cannot be to guide.

You make me laugh lol. Are we forgetting she's 4!! And you're expecting her to know a word like belittled. She's told me how she felt. She didn't feel great. Yes the children were belittling her and laughing at her. I will stand on that hill.

Mine loved it, they did a version when they were little and lived having the bigger kids taking them under their wing, it probably helped that they did whole school clubs - not a small school either - around 800 kids. It helped massively with the transitions to secondary school.

That said, issues need to be dealt with- can she make a ta aware or does she know any of the bigger kids that she could speak to?

It could be that the older children told her that she couldn’t play in the mud for entirely the right reasons, our play leaders certainly would!

Are the children not given specific instructions of what to play/do?
Free reign of the playground is fine for playtime but if they are marketing this as a type of education (it's Outdoor Play and Learning for those that don't know) then they should be having someone leading them in a task or game.
This might involve the older children leading the younger ones.
It doesn't sound very organised from the way you describe.
This sounds like something you should talk to the school about. Find out what they are actually meant to be doing.

All the primary schools I have ever seen have one playground for everyone.

never heard of splitting them up by age.

We have an EYFS/KS1 playground and a KS2 playground. But a dozen of our year 6 children are trained playleaders and go to the KS1 playground at lunchtimes to play with the littlies, both sets love it!

@Needmorelegomy DC’s school does Opal play, the point is that it’s unstructured, child led and they have freedom to choose from everything that’s available - it’s meant to improve quality of play, imagination, self-assessing risk etc for playtimes not teaching time. Having adult led/directed activities defeats the object.

What's the difference between that and a regular playtime?
Are there activities set out? If a child doesn't seem to be doing much are they guided to a task.

At our school it has meant:
-More mixing, the infant and junior playgrounds are now open to all
-More equipment. They've invested in some more stuff and asked for donations of old dressing up clothes, suitcases, scooters etc
-More areas available. Bits that would have been considered out of bounds are open more like muddy areas

Basically getting dirty, playing with more children and more imaginative play is being encouraged but not guided.

@DappledThings sounds good.
Although I know some children probably will need a bit of guidance.

FYI for posters who aren’t familiar, OPAL stands for Outdoor Play and Learning

All these acronyms do make me laugh sometimes.
You have STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths).
Then some schools added in A for Art making it STEAM.
Then you have your SpaG (Spelling and Grammar).
And now OPAL (Outdoor Play and Learning).
Back in my day.....we just called that "school".
😂😂😂

@denimflame just have a chat with the teachers. It could have just been the older children told her not to play in the mud because they had been told by the teachers to not let the little ones do that (because the mud was like a swamp or something).

DD1’s school does OPAL from year 1 to 6 and she loves it.
I have no issue with her being around any of the older kids, I think it helps them to start building relationships with such a variety of ages, both boys and girls.
I’s sorry your DD had this situation happen, but why not turn it into a learning situation?
did she tell a teacher?
is she actually allowed to do the thing she was trying to do, or were the bigger kids right?
help her be more assertive

When I was at school the infants’ and juniors’ playgrounds were separated by a line on the ground and when I was in upper juniors I used to stand on the line and talk/play with the little ones. Depending on the teachers on duty sometimes I was allowed into the infants’ playground to lead games like Farmers in his Den. I loved it as I wanted to be a teacher and was very good with younger children. So I agree that it is good for older and younger children to be able to play together.

That said, there were lots of older kids who wouldn’t have wanted to play with the little ones, and some areas where the little ones wouldn’t have been safe such as the top end of the junior playground where the (usually) oldest boys played football.

So I think that allowing all children to be together in all areas needs to be carefully managed. If older ones are monopolising an area that is suitable for younger children to use as well then teachers need to step in and have ‘buddies’ or a timetable or
something else to make it safe for the youngest children. So I definitely think you should let your child’s teacher know that bigger kids are being mean at playtime, because if they don’t know they can’t do anything about it.

I am with you OP.
Our school have OPAL and on the whole its great (my Year 3 loves it)
BUT
My little Reception child is often quite confused and sad when I ask him about playtime.

His teacher called me over a few weeks ago to tell me that he had sworn at the Year 5 and 6s he was playing with. They had told the teacher that he did that. I dont understand why 11 Year olds are wanting to play with very young 4 Year olds and I really can't imagine he just decided to swear at them with no provocation from them. Either way, whether it was his fault or not I don't imagine that situation would have happened with other 4 year olds.
I'd rather he was being encouraged to play with children who are more similar in maturity and interests than with children three times his age.
He's very little and I'm certain its not his teacher telling him about 6-7 and Stranger Things.

So many posts here saying you're overreacting are from people who do not have OPAL in their schools, it's really great for older ones but I think that the very youngest kids should be excluded.