We are proud to be an OPAL Platinum school, we achieved the Platinum Standard for OPAL play in May 2025, this is the highest accolade available, putting us in the top 1% of all schools nationally with the quality of our play provision.

At St Saviour's School, we are committed to ensuring quality play opportunities are available to all our children. We believe that play is essential for physical, emotional, social, spiritual and intellectual development of each child. The school acknowledges the UN Charter on the Rights of the Child, especially Article 31, and supports the child’s right to play. Most of our best childhood memories are from playing outdoors, climbing trees and exploring the wide world around us. OPAL gives us the opportunity to give those memories to your children. OPAL (Outdoor Play and Learning) is all about using naturally and man-made resources to allow children to be inspired and creative at playtime.

What is OPAL Play?

Children spend 20% of their time in school playing. To ensure that this time and our fantastic school grounds are used to their full potential our school has adopted an OPAL (Outdoor Play and Learning) philosophy that allows the children freedom to explore play in their own imaginative ways, often using found and gathered resources in the natural outdoor environment.

An OPAL approach promotes a more inclusive play environment in which all children can feel comfortable to express themselves. Our OPAL journey began in spring of 2022 and since this time, we have quickly transformed our outdoor environment. Our children love the new outdoor opportunities that OPAL offers with so much more for them to do, no matter the weather! From playing with tyres and digging in the sand pit, to enjoying imaginative play in th eplayhouse and garden or cooking up a storm in the mud kitchen, OPAL offers an exciting alternative to the standard playground activities.

Through this approach to play children are not only more active at lunch or break times, but they are also having the opportunity to further develop life skills such as cooperation, team work and problem solving. They are becoming motivated and enthusiastic builders, engineers, explorers and designers.

There are a number of staff members who are involved in supporting this development but Mrs Cordiner (Play team co-ordinator) and Mrs Burnham (Play team leader) both have key roles in driving this forward in our school.

Mr Sheldon is always busy constructing and preparing areas and resources for use by the children. You may have heard your child talking about the types of activities and opportunities they have available to them, but just in case you aren’t aware, this is what is currently available:

• Large construction blocks and Constructa den resources
• Lego, Sylvanian Families and other small world play resources
• Mindful colouring
• Play house based on a theme (café, post office, construction firm office etc)
• Suitcases, trunkies and wheeled toys
• Basketball nets and balls
• The adventure trail
• Musical instruments
• A stage
• Cardboard boxes - a range to construct with, hide in, play with etc
• Newly painted tarmac games i.e. What’s the time Mr Wolf?, hopscotch
• Den making materials
• Sand pit and mud kitchens.

The pupils are showing real joy and happiness at lunchtimes and the incidences of any poor behaviour as well as first aid treatment have significantly reduced.

Thank you for your understanding with your child’s uniform – we are trying to provide as much access to the field as possible which occasionally leads to some muddiness! Once the sand-pit is also accessible, we anticipate some occasions where pupils may get sandy socks and shoes. Ask your child what their favourite part of lunchtime is, I’m sure they will tell you lots about it.

If they, or you, have any suggestions for further activities/opportunities, please do let us know.