Play makes up 20% of school life. That’s equivalent to 1.4 years of a child’s primary school life. At Wareham St Mary we understand that play is amazing, important, fun and good for children in so many ways. As well as learning through excellent teaching, children also learn when they play.

We are one of hundreds of schools implementing the OPAL – Outdoor Play and Learning – programme to improve opportunities for physical activity, socialisation, co-operation, coordination, resilience, creativity and enjoyment through improved play.

We’ve created a variety of zones with different equipment and activities on offer, which means the opportunities for play and imagination are limitless. There’s den building, scooters, playing with dinosaurs or toy cars, dancing to music, creating a course with tyres, wood and crates or drawing with giant chalks. Every playtime really is incredible. 

There are many proven benefits for schools that carry out the award-winning OPAL Primary Programme – improved wellbeing, a greater love of school with a positive impact on attendance, less teaching time lost to resolving disputes between children, fewer accidents and greatly improved behaviour.

OPAL has been developed in over 800 schools throughout the UK and around the world and results from over 20 years of testing and development.