Repton Manor Primary School

Opal Playtimes

We are an OPAL Platinum School.

Meet our Opal Working Group ...

If you want to speak to any of us about Opal play, please do find us … we are happy to answer any questions and to listen to any further ideas that you may have …

Nicki Pittam

Curricular Lead for Play

Hayley Mannering

Play Coordinator

Phil White

Estates Manager

Lauren Page

Opal Governor and Parent Rep

Evren Gursoy

Opal Governor and Parent Rep

Cath Prisk

Opal Mentor

Our Opal Vision

Opal's vision is that every child in every school has an amazing hour of high quality play every day – with no exceptions.

We completely endorse this vision - our aim is to ensure that all of our children experience at least an hour of high quality play every day.

Repton Manor Primary School - Our Opal Journey

We are embarking on a project to improve our playtimes for all children at Repton Manor Primary School. We have signed up to the Opal (Outdoor Play and Learning) programme in order to support us with this. We are now an OPAL Platinum School - but this doesn't mean that our play development stops - we will work hard to keep making our children's playtimes as good as they can be.

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.

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.

Three Year Opal Action-Plan

Look at the file below to see our 3 year Opal Action Plan...

Action Plan Opal

Opal Policy

We believe that our children's playtimes are incredibly important to their health and well-being. For this reason, we have written a policy dedicated to Opal Playtimes.

RM Opal Play Policy - September 2022

Opal Play Rangers

We have some trained Opal Play Rangers who have been elected after applying for the role.

Their job is to ensure that our playtimes run smoothly and to make sure that all children have someone to play with. They have certain allocated jobs and focus areas.

Please ask any of our Play Rangers for help if you need anything at all at playtime.

What do our children think of Opal playtimes?

I like the playground and the field, playtimes are really fun.

Year 1 Child

We love the large loose parts on the playground. We can build really cool obstacle courses.

Year 5 Child

I enjoy the climbing frame area.

Year 2 Child

The drawing area is lovely and quiet.

Year 4 Child

The V playground is a nice relaxed space and I like that there are no ball games on here so there is a lot of space.

Year 6 Child

I think the digging area is really good fun - we create new things. It's really busy with my class because we love it in there.

Year 3 Child

I play with my friends in the sandpit lots. There are great toys in there and lots to dig with.

Year R Child

Opal Communication Home

Opal Newsletters

Opal Newsletter: Term 2, November 2023

Opal Newsletter: Term 6, July 2023

Opal Newsletter: Term 5, April 2023

Opal Newsletter: Term 3, January 2023

Opal Newsletter: Term 2, November 2022

Opal Newsletter: Term 1, September 2022

Term 5, Week 3: Opal Progress

Term 5, Week 1: Opal Launch

To see other letters that we have sent home, which may include information about Opal Playtimes, please see our 'Letters Home' tab.

The Power of Playtimes: A Parent's Guide

Power of Playtime: A parents Guide

Opal Communications Board

See below posters for our latest Opal communications...

Do you have any donations that we may be able to use?

If so, please email Hayley Mannering, our Opal Play Coordinator, or call the school office (01233 666307) and ask to speak to Hayley and she will let you know if it is something that we can use.

Donations Needed.

New donations needed... Can you help?

We are looking for some fine motor/ sensory items for our next Opal project build which is being designed and made by some of our year 4 children.

We are currently collecting the following items. If you are able to donate any of these, please do contact one of us...

Suitcases (any size and type)
Fabric (sheets/saris/curtains)
Guttering
Cable drums
Plastic crates, bins or boxes (any size)
Noodles (the type you use in the swimming pool!)
Wooden pallets
Old keyboards/mobile phones/torches/ calculators/laptops/kettles
Buckets (any size)
Briefcases, especially hard cased ones
Anything made from foam (not polystyrene), e.g. foam sheets / body boards
Nets and ropes
Road signs and cones
Kitchen pots, pans, baking trays, worktables, wooden spoons, chopping boards
Pegs (to help to set up dens)
Tubes of various sizes and various materials
Tools like spades, trowels and brooms
Storage bins
Pushchairs
Sand pit toys and tools
Art easels
Landscaping scraps (wood stumps, cut branches, etc.)
Dressing up clothes and accessories
Small world toys (dinosaurs, lego, duplo, cars, etc)
Old tyres
Large cardboard tubes
Plastic piping tubes / PVC tubes
Wheels
Wood scraps
Pulleys
Tarps
Crutches
Large empty spools (used for wire, chain, rope)

Our Children