Did you know that children in British primary schools spend 20% or 1.4 years of their school attendance in play ? 

Barwic Parade Community Primary School are proud to be working with OPAL to improve our children's play experiences.

The Outdoor Play and Learning (OPAL) Primary Programme is a mentor-supported school improvement programme. It  helps us to address all of the areas we must consider and plan for to strategically and sustainably improve the quality of our play opportunities.

Research shows that play contributes to children’s physical and emotional health, well-being, approach to learning and enjoyment of school. Given the importance of play in children’s lives and current concerns about children’s health and opportunity to access time and space to initiate their own play outdoors, there are considerable benefits for children, parents, school and the wider community from participating in OPAL's programme and improving our play experiences.

We want to continue to develop and deliver a school cultural shift in thinking about and supporting children’s play. We embed play into school’s policies and practices and establishes clear guiding principles and strategies for initiating positive changes at playtimes. 

Parent Involvement

We all have our favourite memories of play from our own school days and it's really important that our parents are on the OPAL play journey with us. Whether responding to a play appeal, providing us with their feedback, or attending our open play events we really do value their involvement.

We were delighted that Parents are supportive of both our startegy and delivery of OPAL play and how this is improving experiences for the children at Barwic Parade.

Play Zones

Over the last 18 months we have worked hard to create a variety of zones of play that have different appeals for the children. These include:

The Forest

Opportunities to play in a natural space, with opportunities to climb and dig including our popular sand pit.

Construction

Areas on our field designed for children to build new structures and play.

Small World

Resources to enable children to role play and create a world using their imagination.

Art

A popular space and resources to be creative.

Lego

An area to get creative and test your imagination and engineering skills.

The MUGA

The Multi Use Games Area  (MUGA) was new in 2024 and provides a dedicated space for active play which includes some sports such as netball and hockey as well as kite flying and rhythmic gymnastics.

The field

An amazing open space providing plenty of space to run or sit and play.

The Willow Village

Planted in 2024 this new natural space is popular with the children who want to play using their imagination.

The Wildlife Area

Spot squirrels, birds and bugs in this area new for 2024.

Football

Miss Dixon acts as referee and if your are on the team everyone expects 100% commitment.

Reading

A covered shelter designed for children to be quiet, to read a book or talk quietly to friends.