OPAL open day: Windrush Charlton Primary School, Greenwich

See for yourself what a fantastic playtime looks like at Windrush Charlton Primary School in Greenwich, a three-form entry school with a relatively tiny playground and an OPAL Platinum Award!

Join us and be inspired as you observe one of the best school playtimes in the country. Before the OPAL Primary Programme it was a loud concrete square. Now, children get muddy, build dens, take risks, explore, experiment and achieve every single day.

Join us at 11am to find out how to become an OPAL school. You will hear from the headteacher and the school team, as well as an OPAL mentor with experience in many different types of schools. You will then have the chance to join the lunchtime play and talk to children and lunchtime staff.

This session is also open to staff from new OPAL schools who want to better understand the process.

Join us to first observe playtime and then take part in a workshop with other current OPAL schools.

The workshop may be split into two groups: one for new OPAL schools and one for schools in their second year or beyond.

The workshop will be tailored to the key issues facing the schools attending, but is likely to cover increasing risk, managing outdoor play in heavy rain, and planning magic into your playground or playwork interventions.

11am–11:15am Arrival for non-OPAL schools

11:15am–12pm Introduction to OPAL

Hear from the headteacher and curricular lead as they share a summary of the impact OPAL has made. This will be followed by an introduction to the OPAL Primary Programme, led by an OPAL mentor alongside the curricular lead or headteacher. The session will outline how the programme works, the costs and challenges involved and how it can transform playtimes to be amazing for every child, every day.

12pm–1:15pm Playtime observation (current OPAL schools arrive 12:15pm)

Come and see a platinum OPAL playtime in action – ask the children about how they manage risk and the grown-ups about the changes they have seen. See the mud kitchen, wheeled play and creative play in action for all ages.

1:15pm–1:30pm Photo opportunities and questions

An opportunity to take photos and ask the staff questions. Non-OPAL schools leave.

1:30pm Refreshments

Tea and coffee will be provided; please bring your own lunch.

1:30pm–2:00pm Hear this school's journey, Q&A, challenges and solutions sharing

2:00pm - 2:45pm Focus on planning for restricted spaces and building sustainable systems

2:45pm Close

Times are subject to alterations of up to 30 minutes. The week before the event, attendees will receive an email confirming the times.

Windrush Charlton Primary School in Greenwich has been developing its amazing playtime over the last three years and achieved its OPAL Platinum Award in July 2025.

It is a three-form, inner-city primary school with a relatively small playground.

Originally, it had a small garden, a long thin covered area and high walls. The school has now added a sandpit, mud and digging areas, a scooter track, a climbing wall and lots of loose parts. The engineering activities, rough-and-tumble zones and the way they manage ball games are really impressive. They have introduced a lot more green and quiet areas, music and chalking, and made full use of an adjacent classroom to give children more space to move.

Starting with such a challenging playground, Windrush Charlton brilliantly showcases what can be achieved with a small area and a lot of imagination.

This primary school is a very typical London school, with over 50% of its children receiving pupil premium, over 50% being multilingual and almost half identified as SEND.

There are easy transport links and good cycle routes (mostly off road) to the school, but nearby parking is extremely limited. If you need to drive, let us know, as the school may have one or two spaces or we can try to help with transport. There are a number of steps around the site, but there is an accessible route through the school if you need it.

Tea and coffee will be provided.

Please dress appropriately, we will be outside whatever the weather.

The OPAL Primary Programme is an award-winning mentor-supported school improvement programme that addresses all the areas that schools must plan for if they want to strategically and sustainably improve the quality of their play opportunities.

There are over 2,000 OPAL schools across the UK and around the world, over 250 of them are in London and the South East of England.

Find out more: www.outdoorplayandlearning.org.uk

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