At Ludworth Primary School we are committed to ensuring quality play opportunities are available to all of our children, every day. It has long been recognised that play is fundamental to a child’s health, happiness, development and well-being. Research has also shown that children spend 20% of their time in school playing at playtimes. This led Ludworth Primary School leaders to reflect upon how playtimes could be improved in our school and so, our OPAL journey began.

The OPAL vision is that “every child in school has an amazing hour of high quality play every day”.  As a school, we share this vision and recognise the tremendous benefits play has on a child’s life.

In Ludworth Primary School we have an OPAL group involving the head teacher, a lead teacher (Mrs Robinson), lunch time supervisors and a group of children we call 'OPAL Mentors'. This group meets regularly to evaluate play during playtimes. Developments are planned and children present ideas to governors – particularly when there is money involved! We have OPAL assemblies where staff and children evaluate the quality of play and negotiate any issues, as well as celebrate excellent examples of OPAL in action. The whole school developed a charter outlining children's responsibilities to help us achieve our aim of 'Everyone Enjoys Playtime'.

Our OPAL expectations on the Ludworth OPAL Charter align with school expectations:

Ready, Respectful, Safe.

We are delighted with the impact our OPAL ethos has on playtimes. Children have developed their play skills and there are fewer problems at play times. We have hosted play picnics on our school field which were attended by parents. Everyone had a lot of fun! We are delighted to have been awarded an OPAL accreditation at our school.