Top marks awarded to school playground project

A primary school has been named among the very best in the country for the quality of its play provision.

Melton Primary School, near Woodbridge in Suffolk, achieved Platinum Award status from Outdoor Play and Learning (OPAL) in September.

The accreditation is awarded to schools demonstrating exceptional commitment to providing high quality outdoor play opportunities for pupils.

Playground activities at the school include outdoor theatre performances, a hair dressing salon, making dens and digging in areas of dirt and sand using old kitchen utensils.

Assistant headteacher Emma Mann said: "We are very proud to have won this award which we understand has only been given to five other schools in Suffolk.

"It puts us in the top 1% of UK primary schools in terms of the quality of our play offer.

"The project has helped children to develop team-working skills, work collaboratively, be productive and solve problems and all in their free time.

"We also have a loose parts zone which has lots of everyday items like pallets and poles and here the pupils create obstacle courses and dens. They come up with so many ways of playing with the items and there are many different year groups now interacting with each other which is very special.

"The team here have worked really hard on this project, including getting support from parents and our volunteer coordinator and everyone has really bought into this ethos."

The scheme was introduced at the school 18 months ago and it said offering different zones had helped every child find something they enjoy playing with and it had also helped all children being engaged in play during break times.

A spokesperson for OPAL, which is a community interest company providing mentor-supported school improvement programmes, said: "Children in British primary schools spend 20% or 1.4 years of their school attendance in play and yet many schools have no strategic or values-based approach to play across all ages.

"Research shows that play contributes to children’s physical and emotional health, well-being, approach to learning and enjoyment of school."

OPAL said it ran programmes in more than 500 schools throughout the UK and had recently expanded to Canada, France, Poland, New Zealand and Australia.

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