Outdoor Play And Learning
'Play is our brain's favourite way of learning.' Diane Ackerman
Playtimes at Biddick Primary School
Did you know?
Play makes up 20% of school life… That means per year you spend: 231 hours playing = 37 days = 7.4 weeks
At Biddick, we want playtimes to be fun!
Our mission is for every child to have an amazing playtime, every day … no exceptions!
- It keeps us active and healthy.
- It helps us to build positive friendships.
- It helps us to become resilient.
- It allows us to take risks.
- It helps us to become imaginative and creative.
- It makes us happy and is good for our wellbeing.
We have listened very carefully to our children, parents and staff about how to improve our playtimes in school and have created some exciting spaces for our children to enjoy. These include:
- Den building
- Sensory Garden
- Lego and small world
- Water play
- Sand Play
- Scooter Track
- Trim Trail
- Tree and Rope Swings
- Active playground
- Stage, music and dress up
At Biddick we enjoy getting ‘messy’ and always have suitable footwear for our outdoor play, even in the rain and mud! We have wellies and waterproofs to wear in muddy areas and wear muddy sports kits too. They will use more of the grounds, for more of the year and your children may get a bit messier, be exposed to more challenges, manage risks for themselves and have greater freedoms to play where, with whom and how they like. As we continue to improve play opportunities for your children, you may find that we are asking you for resources and is making changes about how the children use the school grounds.
Our OPAL Play Assemblies have helped everyone to understand how to have fun, take risks and play safely. In KS1 we have appointed an ‘OPAL Play team’ and ‘Play Leaders’ - you can spot them in their hi-vis vests. Our PE Curriculum Champions work alongside our OPAL Leaders to ensure that outside time is always safe and fun!
We were thrilled to achieve the OPAL Gold Award in July 2023 but there is always more to do. Our children work really hard in lessons; let’s give them the BEST playtimes!
You can find out more about all of the above on the OPAL website -https://outdoorplayandlearning.org.uk/