OPAL update October | Jennett's Park
The verdict is in! Our children have told us that their playground is more fun, there’s more to do, and play has got even better over the last school year. This term, they’ve been busy enjoying the new climbing frame and gazebo and becoming rather impressive swingball experts!
But autumn has arrived, and winter isn’t far behind… 🍂❄️
Rain, wind and colder temperatures don’t automatically mean indoor play. We want our children outside, enjoying fresh air, moving, exploring and having fun whenever it is safe to do so. After all, wet play indoors is nowhere near as exciting as OPAL play!
So please help us by making sure your child is OPAL-weather ready:
🥾 Wellies, boots or shoes to change into
🧥 Warm, waterproof coat
🧢 Named hat
🧣 Named scarf
🧤 Named gloves
Please label everything clearly.
With the right clothing, we can keep the adventures going whatever the British weather throws at us!
No such thing as bad weather, just the wrong clothing!
Coming Soon: Our New Scooter Zone!
We’re very excited to share that our next OPAL playground development will be a brand-new Scooter Zone! Plans are already underway, and we hope to unveil and open the new zone between Christmas and February. We know the children will be excited to have another new way to play, develop their skills and enjoy our playground. Keep an eye out for more updates as our plans develop!
🧸 OPAL Donation Day: Can You Help?
Are you planning a clear-out before Father Christmas fills the house with new presents? If so, we would love to give some of your children’s preloved toys a new life on our playground!
We are looking for;
scooters, as well as
Dolls,
Home-corner toys,
Blocks,
Cars,
Dinosaurs,
Superhero figures
And any other toys that children enjoy when they have the freedom to explore their own play and imagination!
Our OPAL team will be outside with donation tables on Monday 9th November, ready to collect and sort your kind donations. We are asking families to please bring donations on this one day only, rather than throughout the term. This allows our team to complete one big sort, check everything and organise the resources ready for the children to enjoy.
Please pop the date in your diary and save those clear-out treasures for us! 🌈
June update OPAL
- Spades and shovels for our digging zone
- A water tray
- Watering cans for outdoor play
OPAL Exciting Playground Improvements Coming Next Week! | Jennett's Park
- The work zones will be clearly fenced off
- You may see builders’ vans within these fenced areas
- Certain parts of the playground will be inaccessible while work is underway
OPAL Update April | Jennett's Park
Our playground project is moving forward wonderfully, especially now we can enjoy some beautiful weather at playtimes. Recently, children have been painting, building car ramps, creating flower “soups” and grass “potions”, as well as enjoying tyre obstacles and field sports.
As the project continues, we will be adding dressing‑up clothes, more creative activities and further developing our quiet spaces. We also have plans for a sandpit, a digging zone and an exciting PTA donation — more news on that soon!
With sunnier weather comes a few uniform reminders. Please ensure your child brings a sunhat and has sun cream applied before school on warm days. Children may bring their own sun cream to reapply at lunchtime if they can do so independently. On particularly warm days, we will encourage shade, rest and regular water breaks. Thank you for supporting us in keeping children safe and comfortable outdoors.
We are hugely grateful for donations to support our OPAL project. On donation days, we welcome second‑hand items from home, garden or shed that children could use in their play, such as:
- Lego, Duplo or building blocks
- Dressing‑up clothes
- Fabrics for den building (duvet covers, sheets, blankets, rugs)
- Craft materials and paintbrushes
- Gardening tools, watering cans or pool noodles
If you would prefer to donate online, our OPAL Amazon Wishlist remains open, with many items under £5.
Thank you for your continued generosity and support.
Miss S and the OPAL Team
September OPAL Playtime | Jennett's Park
March Update
Exciting News!
Over the Easter break, two quiet cabins were built ready to add a ‘Book nook’ and ‘Crafty cabin’ to our playground experience. We had many children suggesting quiet places for reading and drawing through our OPAL assemblies and chats and so have listened! We now need your help to furnish and resource these through another generous OPAL donation day.
We would love donations of
- Beanbags,
- Outside rugs
- Cushions
- Blankets
- Pencils and pens
- Colouring and activity books
- Craft resources (lolly sticks, stickers, coloured papers etc..)
We will be painting the quiet spaces and making sure they are fully ready before we share them with the children. We look forward to the grand opening very soon!
We would love them to look a little like this when they are ready!
Other donations
We would also welcome donations of
- Dollies
- Cars
- Sand toys
- Building blocks
- Dinosaurs
- Action figures
- Guttering
- Unwanted decking boards
Please bring your donations to school on Thursday 7th May to be collected by the OPAL team.
Thank you!
OPAL | Jennett's Park- February 2026 update
OPAL Update
The better weather is on its way, and we’re getting excited for even more fantastic outdoor play!
Our OPAL journey continues to move forward, and we’re thrilled to share that we now have a brilliant new space to store our growing collection of play resources. This means we can begin gathering even more items to enrich the children’s play experiences.
Do you have any resources that could be used for creative outdoor play?
We’re on the lookout for items such as:
- Large cable reels
- Plastic crates
- Unused decking boards
- Guttering or tubes
- Sturdy baskets or storage tubs
- Pens and pencils
- Any toys no longer wanted at home!
- Unwanted colouring books
- Cushions, rugs, blankets and cuddly toys
Please bring these to the area outside the office doors to donate, or take a look at our Amazon wish list to support us further!
If you have anything similar at home, work, or know of a business that might be clearing out materials, we’d be incredibly grateful!
Carla Szadowski
Deputy Headteacher
September 2025
We are about to launch our exciting new project to make our playtimes even better, in conjunction with Outdoor Play and Learning (OPAL). OPAL works 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.
To understand why we are so passionate about our project, please watch this video!
The project will start slowly and is a long term change. Our hopes are that it will change the way we think and how we play together. 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.
We will be holding a collection on Wednesday 5th November for some of the items shown on our bingo cards (see images). Where possible, please do not bring your donations
in before or after this date as we will have nowhere to store them. If you have an item that you'd like to donate that is larger, such as guttering or other objects your child feels will contribute, please get in touch so that we can prepare space to store the objects until we are ready to get using them.
The children have been informed that if as a class achieve 15 items from the list on our donation day, they will receive an extra playtime that day.
Keep looking out for OPAL info, we hope to invite you in to play with us and learn more soon!
From the Play Team