Twenty percent of the school day is spent on playtimes and lunchtimes. Over seven years at primary school, this equates to nearly one and half years! At St Stephen’s, we believe this is too valuable a resource to waste. We want our children to be inquisitive, playful, and creative and learn to manage risks through play. In June 2017 we were awarded an OPAL Platinum Award for our outstanding play provision.

The impact of OPAL has been significant across the school. Feedback from staff, children and parents is that our playground is a happy, exciting and rewarding place to be. We hold 'playdates' where parents and teachers are invited to come along and join the children in their play and below are some comments from parents about OPAL playtimes.