At Joseph Turner we are committed to ensuring quality play opportunities are available to all our children. We believe that play is essential for physical, emotional, social, spiritual and intellectual development of each child. Most of our best childhood memories are from playing outdoors, climbing trees and exploring the wide world around us. OPAL gives us the opportunity to give those memories to your children. OPAL (Outdoor Play and Learning) is all about using naturally and man made resources to allow children to be inspired and creative at playtime. Children from Reception to Year 6 play together to enjoy an hour of playtime at lunch.

WHAT IS THE OPAL APPROACH TO PLAY?

An OPAL approach promotes a more inclusive play environment in which all children can feel comfortable to express themselves. Our OPAL journey began in autumn 2024 when we joined the programme. We have been working towards transforming our outdoor environment and playtimes. We launched OPAL playtimes at the end of April 2025 and children and enjoying the outdoors so much more already. OPAL offers an exciting alternative to the standard playground activities.

See below for some examples of how we have started our OPAL journey. Thank you for all of the donations for OPAL Bingo that we have received so far, they are greatly appreciated and all make for a better playtime for our children.