The OPAL Primary Programme
Register for a free introduction HERE
Back in February 2009, I visited a primary school just north of Bristol with Michael Follett, a board member of Play England. About ten minutes into walking around the playground during the lunch break I stopped, turned and said:
"WOW! What have you done???"
It sounded different.
It was a damp, Tuesday lunchtime. There was no noise of stressed, bored children.
Instead, the sound was a busy hum of happy, satisfied children.
Over 400 of them, playing together, everyone engaged and busy, whether building dens, dragging their friends around in bread crates, digging in the sand, making hammocks from a net or relaxing with their friends.
There were some children lying on their backs and watching the clouds, whilst others were playing in a giant sandpit.
There were some ball games but they didn't dominate the space.
The head teacher told us he had no more bullying, far fewer accidents, children returning ready to learn in the afternoon - and no children waiting outside his office for the inevitable playground fallout conversations.
"This is OPAL" said Michael simply...
When I founded Outdoor People in 2014, it was with the mission to make it easier to get outdoors for children, the schools they attend and the families they live with.
The OPAL Primary Programme is the most effective tool I have ever seen for ensuring children get to go outside to play every single day in environments that can meet all of their play needs and with adults that understand how to foster the right environments.
I am incredibly proud now to be an OPAL franchise holder and offer the OPAL Primary Programme and OPAL Next Steps Programme to over 150 schools across London and Kent.
If you would like to know more about this fantastic programme and book a free introduction, then sign up through OPAL's website LINK.
You can visit a current OPAL school by signing up to one of our visits HERE.
And see other OPAL schools in action over on the the OPAL PlayTime YouTube channel
The OPAL programme is by far the best way to develop the systems, knowledge and policy infrastructure to ensure that your school can plan for every child to have a great playtime, every day.
Two evaluations, winning the Play award from Children and Young People Now and many, many positive judgements from Ofsted, from teachers and most importantly from children, prove it.
