Udston Primary School is celebrating achieving its Outdoor Play and Learning (OPAL) Award. This is the first OPAL Award achieved in Scotland!
Udston Primary School started their OPAL journey with Play Scotland at the beginning of 2022. They decided to start the program after learning that pupils spend up 20% of the school day at playtime.
The Headteacher at Udston Primary is emphatic about the benefits of this school improvement programme. “We are over the moon to be the first school in Scotland to achieve our OPAL Award. It has been one of the most powerful improvement changes that we’ve made”
Play Scotland encourages a focus on non-curricular play in schools. We want to give playtime the prestige of key curricular areas of school life such as Literacy and Numeracy.
Benefits of OPAL
By changing the culture of play in a school and then developing the playground environment OPAL not only makes playtimes ‘amazing’ but has impacts in other measurable ways:
- Behaviour improves
- Accidents reduce
- Children settle faster and are ‘ready to learn’ earlier, squeezing more teaching time into the day
- Children develop social skills and learning things that ‘can’t be taught’
- Supervisory staff stop being ambulance drivers and police officers and become playworkers. They enjoy their work more too
- School leaders spend less time resolving difficult behaviours and can thus focus more on what is important
- The benefits can be experienced in a disproportionate way by ASN children.
Success Story
Marguerite Hunter Blair, CEO of Play Scotland said: “Udston Primary’s success in achieving a prestigious OPAL Award is a huge cause for celebration in Scotland. I hope this will be the first of many OPAL Awards in Scotland. We hope it will inspire and encourage other schools to explore the benefits of improving children’s play experiences at playtime. Children have a right to play, and Scotland’s Play Strategy calls for every child in Scotland to have access to quality everyday play experiences in learning environments.”
Michael Follet, Founder and CEO of OPAL added: “The OPAL programme delivers impactful change for schools. Providing children with high quality play opportunities at playtime leads to an 80% drop in reported behaviour and first aid incidents, as well as generating 20% more afternoon teaching time”.
More schools join the programme
Udston Primary has led the way for many other schools in South Lanarkshire, with Heathery Knowe Primary in East Kilbride recently becoming the second school in Scotland to achieve OPAL.
Play Scotland is expanding its delivery of OPAL and is now delivering to 8 local authorities. Each school is unique and has a bespoke programme developed around their own needs and resources. To find out more about bringing OPAL to your school click here.
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