Playtime

At Riverside, we put as much thought into our play times as we do our whole curriculum, as play is just as important to our amazing children as their learning and progress. We understand that a lot of learning happens during play! We also recognise that for some children, the playground can seem big, noisy and chaotic, and occasionally, they need a bit of help and structure to get 100% enjoyment out of their time at break.

We’re also continually investing in the playground, and in recent years have added outdoor table tennis tables, sandpits, Four Squares and much, much more to provide variety and fun for our brilliant children.

Have a read of some of the ways we also structure and support play at Riverside.

OPAL (www.outdoorplayandlearning.org.uk)

A big part of play across the Federation schools is our partnership with OPAL (Outdoor Learning and Play).

In 2018, OPAL won the best active schools’ programme in Europe award and has been cited in two parliamentary reports as delivering outstanding practice. OPAL is working closely with Sport England to promote more active childhoods, which is one of the many reasons we are improving our playtime, as well as to improve opportunities for socialisation, cooperation, coordination, resilience, creativity, imagination and enjoyment for your child.

We strongly believe that: “Play is freely chosen, personally directed, intrinsically motivated behaviour that actively engages the child. Play can be fun or serious. Through play children explore social, material and imaginary worlds and their relationship with them, elaborating all the while a flexible range of responses to the challenges they encounter. By playing, children learn and develop as individuals, and as members of the community.” (Children’s Play Council 2001).

To facilitate this project, we will need to buy some new resources, move some things around on the playground and require some loose parts. Loose parts are any materials that can be easily moved, combined, and incorporated into children's free play. The items we are looking for will enable us to enjoy a wider range of play experiences during playtime (see below for some examples):

● Suitcases of any size and type

● Anything on wheels/castors

● Plastic milk crates/supermarket delivery crates/plastic bread trays

● Briefcases, especially hard cased ones

● Road signs and cones

● Kitchen pots, pans, baking trays, work tables, wooden spoons, chopping boards

● Tools like small spades/shovels, trowels and brooms

● Tubes of various sizes and various materials

● Buckets

● Nets and thick ropes

● Keyboards/torches/laptops/calculators/mobile phones/desk phones/webcams/cameras that are no longer working

● Fabric (large sheets/brightly coloured fabric)