Pupils from Hook Lane Primary School are jumping, digging and tug of war-ing for joy as their new play programme is rolled out. It comes as Outdoor Classroom Day is celebrated this week (Thursday, 18th May), with a focus on embracing opportunities for learning outside of the classroom.

The school in Faraday Road, Welling, has joined the Outdoor Play and Learning (OPAL) Primary Programme, an initiative to transform how children play during school time and encourage them to take risks and increase their independence. The new approach responds to the outdoor classroom ethos that finding ways for children to learn and play outside is a key part of their development.

Children now have several zones they can use when playing, giving them more opportunities to choose how they interact with toys and equipment. Lunchtime staff, now known as play leaders, will support the sessions and oversee the new zones. These include:

A section of the playground with wheels, scooters and trikes
A section for small-world play such as dolls and farm animals
A mud kitchen
A digging area with trowels and spades
A tug of war rope
Nice seating areas
A rewilding area with meadow grass and wildflowers

OPAL has calculated that children spend an average of 20% (or 1.4 years) of their primary school attendance in play. This opens up a huge opportunity to restructure play times to support children’s learning, and it is something the school is keen to develop.

Hook Lane’s Headteacher Joy Sheekey says the new programme has changed how the school looks at play. She said, “Play is a crucial part of learning, and we are now treating it as a subject like we approach more traditional subjects, such as maths and science. The opportunities to learn through play are vast, and this new programme helps us to teach new skills beyond the classroom.”

The school has a play lead and delivers weekly play assemblies to give the children inspiration for play times and teach them how to play safely while still taking risks. It also forms part of the school’s focus on developing children’s communication and language skills. Joy added, “It encourages children to be more independent and communicate better with each other. We’re also changing the language around play to encourage safe risk-taking and help children explore different ways to play. Instead of saying ‘no’ or ‘stop doing that’, children are asked ‘Why don’t you have a try?’, ‘Could you make it safer?’, ‘Have you checked?’

Parents and pupils have welcomed the new approach.

Isla, in Reception, said, “I like playing with all my big friends. They are good at playing mums and dads.”

Gracie, year 4, said, “Now I have lots of games to play with lots of people. I like that we can go to different places.”

Maelle, year 6, said, “I like to build obstacle courses with the large loose parts so that other children can play on them. I also like to use fabric to build dens”.

Arjun, year 1, added. “I have fun making games with other people. In the old playtime, I couldn’t choose anything fun but now I can play with everything.”

Commenting on Facebook, Charlotte Davis, a parent at the school, said, “Sid absolutely loves OPAL! He tells me all about OPAL play and what and who he played with! I never usually get anything out of him! Amazing work Mr Barnes (and everyone else). Well done!”

Fellow parent Gilly Bednarz added, “This is such an amazing idea. Love it! Thank you for the hard work put into this for our children.”

The programme has been funded through the school’s sports premium allocation, which is given to the school by the government for sports, PE and physical activity. Parents also donated resources and toys to help develop the zones alongside teachers.