We are embarking on a new project to improve our playtimes for all children at Willow Farm Primary School.  We have signed up to the Opal (Outdoor Play and Learning) programme in order to support us with this.

Did you know that playtime is about 20% of every child’s day at school? That’s 1.4 years of every child’s life while they are at primary school. It is also, for many children, the only time they have to play outside regularly.

Playing outdoors in rich play environments is one of the best ways for children to develop social skills, build resilience, make more friends, be more creative and care more about the planet. Right now, this is more important than ever.

For these reasons, improving our children's playtime and making them the highest quality that they can be is crucial to us.

We are very excited to participate in the Outdoor Play and Learning (OPAL) primary programme, which is endorsed and supported by Sport England and runs in hundreds of schools across the UK and worldwide.

You can watch a video of how the OPAL programme has helped transform school playtimes here and read more on the OPAL website.