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At Castle Hill, we want every part of the children's day to be as fabulous as possible. In order to achieve that, we teamed up with OPAL in September 2023. OPAL (Outdoor Play And Learning) is an award-winning, mentor supported programme that is supporting us at Castle Hill to improve the quality of play opportunities offered at break and lunchtimes.
Our aims are to have inclusive, imaginative and collaborative play that provides endless opportunities and can be enjoyable and challenging for all.
Did you know that children spend 20% of their time in school playing. This is the same as 1.4 years of school!
Therefore we are committed to making this important part of the day as engaging, exciting and as thought provoking as possible.
These are some of the zones we have created at Castle Hill:
Tyre Zone
Role Play area
Arts and Crafts
Orchard (calming area and den building)
Sports Zone
Play Pod and Scrap Play
Football days
Mud Kitchen
Water wall
Ping Pong table
Music Zones
The OPAL playteam is made up of lots of the staff at Castle Hill who have been trained to allow children to assess and mitigate risk, so they may take appropriate risk within their play.
" As an educator and a parent it is vital for me that children are allowed to be children. OPAL offers so many fantastic opportunities for our children at Castle Hill. Everyday imagination is ignited by the ability to explore and create their own adventures. Classrooms are calmer as a result of engagement and meaningful play at lunchtimes."
Mrs Fayers - OPAL Play Co-ordinator
" OPAL has brought a new dynamic to lunchtimes at Castle Hill. The children are enjoying the play offer and having lots of fun, creating new friendships and developing social skills."
Mr Harris - OPAL Curricular lead
What the children are saying about OPAL lunchtimes:
"I love getting muddy!" Oscar, Year 4
"Having football back and being able to play with our friends." Year 6
"The best part of lunchtime is having lots of different areas that we can play in and so many things to play with." Raya, Year 4
" I get to show my friends dance moves and we love singing and dancing to the music on the playground." Year 6
There are lots of BIG plans for our OPAL offer moving forward. Some of these include:
a reading car in the Orchard
a boat seating area for socialising and role play
a shelter on the field for sitting and socialising
a sand pit
Please contact Louis Harris or Hayley Fayers to find out more about OPAL.
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