Amazing play, every day, for every child
We are now an OPAL school (February 2026). OPAL is an award-winning mentor supported school improvement programme that addresses all the areas that schools must plan for if they want to strategically and sustainably improve the quality of their play opportunities. OPAL is the only programme of its kind that has been independently proven to sustainably improve the quality of play in British primary schools.
It is based on the idea that as well as learning through good teaching, your children also learn when they play, and as 20% of their time in school is playtime, we want to make sure that this amount of time (equivalent to 1.4 years of primary school) is as good as possible.
At PSPS the children will have access to good quality outdoor play every single day regardless of the weather. They may come home muddy but they WILL also come home happy!
So what are our playtimes like … ?
🔵 WE DRESS UP… 🟢
🔵 WE BUILD DENS… 🟢
🔵 WE LOVE DIGGING & “COOKING”… 🟢
🔵 WE RUN, WE JUMP, WE CLIMB… 🟢
🔵 WE MAKE UP GAMES… 🟢
🔵 WE LOVE WHEELS… 🟢
🔵 WE ARE CREATIVE… 🟢
💚💙 WE HAVE SO MUCH FUN!!! 💙💚
How can our families help?
The best way you can help at home is ensuring your child is dressed appropriately for play and to embrace the mud! Our uniform is an active one so children should always be in the correct clothing Uniform | Park Spring Primary School. Every child now needs a pair of wellies they can leave in school for play every day! In the winter please make sure children have a warm coat, hat, gloves and an extra pair of socks to wear inside their wellies.
We also welcome donations of play equipment you may have laying around at home or even have access to through your work. This is a list of things we always accept but we are happy to talk about other things you might want to donate:
We often welcome parent to come and play too – watch out for our open events and come and join us.
Why is play so important to PSPS?
Don’t underestimate the value of play. Children learn and develop:
Play helps children grow strong and healthy. It also counteracts obesity issues facing many children today.
Play helps your children grow emotionally. It is joyful and provides an outlet for anxiety and stress.
Play is simple and complex. There are many types of play: symbolic, sociodramatic, functional, and games with rules-to name just a few. Researchers study play’s many aspects: how children learn through play, how outdoor play impacts children’s health, the effects of screen time on play, to the need for recess in the school day.
As parents, you are the biggest supporters of your children’s learning. You can make sure they have as much time to play as possible during the day to promote cognitive, language, physical, social, and emotional development.
They are not separate activities. They are intertwined. Think about them as a science lecture with a lab. Play is the child’s lab.
Remember your own outdoor experiences of building forts, playing on the beach, sledding in the winter, or playing with other children in the neighbourhood. Make sure your children create outdoor memories too.
Remember as a child how play just came naturally? Give your children time for play and see all that they are capable of when given the opportunity.
Children practice and reinforce their learning in multiple areas during play. It gives them a place and a time for learning that cannot be achieved through completing a worksheet. For example, when playing in the ‘mud café’, children write and draw menus, set prices, take orders, and create the ‘food’. Play provides rich learning opportunities and leads to children’s success and self-esteem.
The links between high-quality play and both personal and curricular development are well documented. The recently published Plan for Play report calls for an increased emphasis on play in the lives and learning of children in the UK. With rising levels of poor mental health and obesity in young children, it is more important than ever to prioritise their physical and mental wellbeing during their time at school. For many children, break times are the only opportunity they get to truly express themselves and play freely. At Park Spring Primary School, we do this through our OPAL approach. We launch on February 23rd 2026 – come and see how much FUN we are having!!
OPAL Leadership Team (Working Group):
Leading the development team are: Mrs Horan (HT) Mr Barker (Curricular Lead for Play), Mrs Sanchez (Play Leader), Miss Glastonbury (Governor for Play), Mrs N Best (Parent voice) and Miss Harris (Early Years, Play, Outdoor Learning, Forest Schools and creative force!
We appreciate this is ALL NEW and quite different to the way we have organised our play up to this point. As such we are ALL HAPPY TO ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS you may have – please do stop and ask us or get in touch via the school office.
Some Quotes from the EARLY stages of OPAL:
‘I love play time now!’ – Pupil Y3
‘I can’t believe it – my son said he couldn’t wait to get to school – he said he LOVES school now that we have OPAL!’ – Parent of Y6 pupil
‘This is exactly how I used to play – it’s exactly what our children need – I am so excited by OPAL!’
A BIG THANKYOU to the Crutchley and Hickmot families, Miss Sanchez, Mr and Mrs Horan and Isaac for helping create our new SANDPIT during February half term. Between them they moved 30 tonnes of sand in a day!
LOOSE PARTS LIST …
BUSINESS PARTNERS:
We couldn’t have got this far without Matt and Mark from the ‘PLAY MOVEMENT’ – they have been so supportive and patient whilst we have been learning what we needed them to build for us – you can see their handiwork below. Contact them on 07843478829
COMMUNITY LINKS and DONATIONS:
WILCO MOTORSAVE. Thanks to Dan and Staff for the donations of the tyres for our ‘WHEELS TRACK’
PENNINE AGGREGATES: Thanks for the SAND – a great price – a great service – the driver was really kind trying to get it as close to the hole we had dug as possible!
NORTERN GAS: Big shout out to Katie Howson – for organising us the SIGNS and CONES for our WHEELS TRACK and the newest, cleanest pallets we have ever seen!
HERITAGE PAVING AND LANDSCAPING: Without the help from Hayden offering us the use of his time and mini digger, we would still be digging out our amazing sandpit. Thank you – the smiles speak for themselves.
PSPS Families - OPAL launch letter January 2026
February 27, 2026
