OPAL 2020 - 2021

OPAL allows children to use the field all year round. At St Mary's we recognise that play is about learning and is such an important part of school life.

The children develop their language, learn how to share, improve skills and develop friendships.

                         They also get very muddy!

Donations!

To facilitate this project we will need to buy some new resources and we will also require some
donated loose parts. Loose parts are any materials that can be easily moved, combined, and
incorporated into children's free play. To launch the project, we are looking for donations of the
following used items to enable us to enjoy a wider range of play experiences:

• Kitchen pots, pans, baking trays, work tables, wooden spoons, chopping boards
• Small world items (waterproof, e.g., plastic dinosaurs, small metal cars)
• Clothes to dress up in (child or adult – children love adult clothes!)
• Crates and Trays
• Watering cans and buckets
• Tools like spades (excluding forks), trowels, home paintbrushes and brooms
•  Gardening gloves
• Outgrown wellies
• Fabric (large sheets/brightly coloured fabric)
•  Pegs (to help to set up dens)

Please don’t buy anything especially, or donate precious items – these items will be very well
used and will get muddy!

We will start collecting donations from the start of Term 3, which begins in January 2020. Please
leave any donations in the area by the bike shed, next to the green PTFA container. We will
check each item against risk criteria to ensure they are safe enough to be played with. The
sooner we do this, the sooner the children will be able to play with the items!

• Suitcases of any size and type
• Anything on wheels/castors (including scooters!)
• Briefcases, especially hard cased ones
• Road signs and cones
• Foam sheets / body boards
• Wooden pallets
• Metal frames
• Cable drums
• Guttering
• Noodles (from the swimming pool!)
• Nets and ropes
• Old computer keyboards