How We Help Schools
We run the OPAL Primary Programme in hundreds of UK Primary Schools. We also work with International Schools and support schools in several other countries.
It is a mentor-supported school improvement programme addressing all 18 areas a school must plan for if they want to sustainably improve the quality of play. The OPAL Primary Programme is the only one of its kind, blending elements of strategic school improvement practice, action planning, self-evaluation, playwork skills and knowledge and twenty years of action-research.
You will be allocated an expert OPAL Mentor who will support you over an 18 to 24-month period to bring about an entire cultural and practical transformation of how play is thought about, planned for, resourced and staffed. Every OPAL mentor has been selected because of their extensive knowledge and experience in the fields of playwork, school improvement, change management and strategic planning.
You will need to treat play as if it were a curricular area. You will need to have a committed working group, including the head teacher, which meets eight times with their mentor and at least eight times on their own, working towards the implementation of your action plan. OPAL treats play as a serious area of school improvement so there will be requirements to allocate time and money towards this neglected part of school life.
Everyone. Changing culture means everyone changing. That’s why we will help you to reach senior leaders, governance, teachers, support staff, lunch staff, parents and of course, children. We will help you create the structure your school needs to create significant improvements sustainably.
No. The OPAL Primary Programme is a process that helps senior school leaders create lasting cultural and practical changes to their organisation concerning freely chosen play for all children.
However, we will suggest what capital expenditure will most effectively improve play for all children.
Yes! Most OPAL schools tell us they could never go back to the way they had been once they have completed the programme. We have hundreds of recommendations and the support of Sport England. Most of our business comes from personal recommendation from head to head.
Our schools tell us; most of their children are happy and engrossed in their play, which is more creative, collaborative, imaginative and social. They say playtimes are much fairer because playgrounds and play is no longer dominated by a boys football and this is great for girls, children with additional needs and non-sporty children.
The programme costs £5,500 plus VAT and travel. You can currently pay the entire cost from the PE and Sport Premium for Primary Schools, as we have a large amount of evidence that we can significantly increase the physical activity of all children and get more children more active more of the time and sustain those benefits over many years. Many schools also use pupil premium as the programme improves outcomes for these children.
OPAL has spent twenty years working out how schools can provide challenging, free-play opportunities within a legally robust policy and practice framework. There are over 200 hyperlinked resources and guidance documents.
We build upon the experiences of over 1000 schools, informing OPAL’s approach. Schools attempting a DIY approach expose themselves to a higher risk of successful litigation than schools that have been through and applied OPAL’s recommended processes.
Click here Contact Us. Fill out the contact form and your local OPAL mentor will arrange a no-obligation online introductory meeting for you and your staff.
Start to plan who you would like to put in charge and start to do background reading on the subject. A great place to start is the book Creating Excellence In Primary School Playtimes
