OPAL Parent Playdates and Information Sessions

OPAL Parent Playdates and Information Sessions

As part of our commitment to providing high-quality play opportunities for our children, we are delighted to invite you to take part in our upcoming OPAL (Outdoor Play and Learning) parent events.

The OPAL Programme helps us enrich children's play experiences, supporting their creativity, resilience, wellbeing, problem-solving skills and social development through rich outdoor play opportunities. We are excited to share our OPAL journey with you and provide opportunities for you to see the benefits of play first-hand.

The playdates will begin with a short presentation from Nancy Low, our OPAL Mentor alongside members of the playteam, who will explain the principles behind OPAL and the positive impact that high-quality play has on children's learning and development.

Following the presentation, parents and carers will be invited to join their children outdoors for a shared play session. This is a wonderful opportunity to experience OPAL in action, spend quality time together and see how children learn and develop through play.

Playdate Dates

Please attend the session for the year group that your child is in. If you have children in more than one year group, then we invite you to attend both sessions.

• Years 1, 3 and 5: Monday 21st September
• Years 2, 4 and 6: Thursday 24th September

Time: 1:40pm – 3:00pm

What to Wear

As this is an outdoor event, please wear clothing and footwear suitable for the weather and for active outdoor play. We recommend comfortable clothes that you do not mind getting a little muddy or messy!

We would love to see parents and carers getting fully involved and joining in with the fun. Whether that is building, creating, digging, exploring or role-playing alongside your child, this is a wonderful opportunity to experience the benefits and joy of play together.

The more you get stuck in, the more fun you will have!

Reception Information Sessions

As Reception children are at the beginning of their OPAL journey, we would like to invite Reception parents and carers to a dedicated information session on 20th October.

During this session, Susie Hodgson, Assistant Head, will introduce the OPAL Programme, explain the benefits of high-quality play, share our vision for outdoor play at our school and discuss the next steps as we move through the stages of introducing OPAL with our Reception.

Date: Tuesday 20th October
Time: 3:30pm in the main hall

You are welcome to join us with your children as we share the information. This session should last about 20 minutes.

How You Can Help

To support the continued development of our OPAL provision, we would be very grateful for donations of resources before the events. Many everyday items can provide fantastic opportunities for imaginative, creative and active play.

We are particularly looking for:

• Suitcases
• Mud kitchen utensils, pots and pans
• Hand trowels and gardening tools
• Cable drums
• Water butts
• Decking boards
• Brooms and brushes
• Pushchairs and prams
• Outdoor cushions
• Small-world toys such as animals, dinosaurs and figures
• Toy cars and vehicle tracks (including Magic Tracks)
• Walking aids such as zimmers and crutches

Please ensure that any donated items are clean, safe and in good condition. Donations can be brought to the school office or left at the designated collection point in the main office foyer.

Thank you for your continued support. Your donations help create rich, engaging play opportunities and make a real difference to our children's experiences at playtime.

We look forward to welcoming you to these events and sharing the exciting developments of our OPAL journey.

Kind regards,

Susie Hodgson
Assistant Headteacher