• Twitter
  • Twitter

Tanfield Lea Community Primary School

Tanfield Lea, Stanley, Co Durham, DH9 9LU

 Tanfield Lea Community Primary School
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Meet The Staff
    • Our Governing Body
    • Our School Day
    • Job Vacancies
  • Key Information
    • School Admissions
    • Ethos and Values
    • Early Years
    • Equalities
    • Safeguarding
    • School Policies
    • School Performance
    • Premium Allocations
    • Financial Information
  • Curriculum
  • Parents
    • School Holidays
    • School Newsletters
    • Letters to Parents
    • School Uniform
    • School Lunches
    • Meet the Teacher
    • Questionnaires
    • Assessment
    • Wellbeing
    • Childcare Provision
    • Online Safety
    • Useful Links
  • Children
    • Children’s Charter
    • eSchools
    • Growth Mindset
    • Accelerated Reader – Pupils
    • School Council
    • School Newspaper
    • In It Together
    • Anti-bullying Champions
    • Residential Visits
    • OPAL – Outdoor Play and Learning
  • SEND
    • SEN Information Report
    • Disability & Accessibility
  • Community
    • Pathways to Sports Club
    • Friends of the School
  • Contact Us
Home / Children / OPAL – Outdoor Play and Learning

OPAL – Outdoor Play and Learning

View our Grounds

OPAL at Tanfield Lea Primary

OPAL – Outdoor Play and Learning

Children spend 20% of their time at school playing. With this in mind we have engaged with the OPAL Primary Programme (Outside Play and Learning) to support us in promoting freedom for children to explore play in their own imaginative ways, using found and gathered resources in the natural outdoor environment.

Opal 5We are lucky to have such a great area for our children to play in but this was significantly underused, particularly in the winter /spring months when the fields became inaccessible due to them being wet, and due to the fact that a lot of the play was orientated around sport, due to the resources on offer, rather than creative play.

Following a term of planning and then carrying out building work we introduced the first phase of OPAL to our children in January 2016. Since then we have gone from strength the strength, securing the highest award for OPAL, the Platinum Award, in 2017.

It has been a great success – more children are loving being outside, no matter what the weather, as there is now so much more to do.

Whether it is playing with tyres and planks, digging in the sand pit, enjoying imaginative play in the small world area riding scooters or balance bikes, or playing with a wide range of loose parts, OPAL is offering a creative and exciting alternative to the regular activities on the yard.

Through this kind of play not only are children more active at lunchtime they are also having the opportunity to further develop life skills such as cooperation, team work and problem solving. They are becoming motivated and enthusiastic builders, engineers, explorers and designers.

In this section

  • Children’s Charter
  • eSchools
  • Growth Mindset
  • Mathletics
  • School Council
  • School Newspaper
  • Anti-bullying Champions
  • In It Together
  • Residential Visits
  • OPAL – Outdoor Play and Learning
    • Opal Newsletters
The Local Offer
Quality Mark logo
Healthy School logo
FMSIS
Investing in Children
international school 12-15
Activemark 2007
Ofsted good school

Copyright © 2022 Tanfield Lea Community Primary School

Tanfield Lea

Stanley

County Durham

DH9 9LU

Tel 01207 234500 · Email tanfieldlea@durhamlearning.net


Legal Information | Website Login

Powered by Durham County Council.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.OkRead more