OPAL (Outdoor Play and Learning)

OPAL (Outdoor Play and Learning)

At Minet Infant and Nursery School, play is an important part of our curriculum and we have partnered with OPAL, an award winning programme, to strategically and sustainably improve our play provision.

High quality, child-led play opportunities have a critical role in supporting our aims at Minet Infant and Nursery school:

have the learning and social skills to succeed and contribute;
the confidence, enthusiasm and self-belief to achieve, create and participate;
the curiosity and passion to problem-solve, take risks and be ambitious;
a sense of social responsibility that makes them team players, great friends and active citizens.

Our children have access to a wide range of materials, which they can use in their play. These currently includes tyres, crates, wood, mud, wheeled toys and much more.

Through regular play assemblies, they are taught about dynamic risk assessments and playing co-operatively with others.

We follow advice from the Health and Safety Executive, who support active play in schools:

To find out more about OPAL click here: OPAL Outdoor Play and Learning

How can families help make OPAL even better?

We need a constant supply of ‘loose parts.’ ‘Loose parts’ allow children to play in many different ways and on many different levels. Any donations from parents/ carers of any of the ‘loose parts’ listed below would be gratefully received by the school. ‘Loose parts’ should be old and unwanted items and can be any size – big or small! We are also looking for small world toys such as cars, dinosaurs, farm animals or other small figures. Any donations of ‘loose parts’ can be given to your child’s class teacher. Please can you check all items before bringing them into school to ensure their safety, for example making sure pockets/ bags are emptied, cables are cut-off, there are no nails sticking out/ sharp edges. We cannot accept items made from glass or polystyrene or batteries.

Tesco Stronger Starts Campaign

It’s time to start shopping at Tesco!

We are delighted to let you know that our application to Tesco Stronger Starts has been successful and our project has been put forward to a customer vote in Tesco stores. Voting has now commenced in store and runs until the end of January 2025.

The project with the highest number of votes across the region will receive £1,500, the second placed project £1,000, and the third placed project £500.

And of course, we want Minet Infant and Nursery School to get the highest number of votes!

We are going to use the funding towards purchasing quality out door play resources for OPAL and make the playgrounds an awesome learning environment for the children.

To vote is simple. Do some shopping at one of our local Tesco shops (see the list below). Get as many tokens as possible and slot them into our section on the Stronger Starts campaign voting box.

Please share with as many friends and family as possible and let’s make sure Minet Infants comes out on top.

The list of participating stores are as follows:

2341 Cowley Express Small unit UB8 2HL
3083 Northwood Hills Exp Small unit HA5 2PA
3153 South Hayes Express Small unit UB3 4NE
3335 Uxbridge High Street Small unit UB8 1ND
3470 Yeading Extra Large unit UB4 9SQ
4540 Hillingdon Pield Rd Small unit UB8 3NJ
4824 Northwood Exp Small unit HA6 2XY
5077 South Ruislip Exp Small unit HA4 0QP
5561 Ruislip Manor Exp Small unit HA4 8NR
5787 Ickenham High Rd Exp Small unit UB10 8LB
6091 Ruislip High St Exp Small unit HA4 8LR
6142 Hayes Uxbridge Rd Exp Small unit UB4 0RU
6163 Yiewsley Large unit UB7 7FP
6170 Hayes Station Rd Exp Small unit UB3 4BH
6616 West Drayton Exp Small unit UB7 7SF

Tesco Stronger Starts Campaign

Playground Maps

East End Playground	West End Playground

OPAL Gallery

We all enjoy being outside all the year round, using all of our school grounds. OPAL allows us to be creative, to problem solve, to play with friends of all ages and most of all to have fun!