Active Play at St Bernadette's

Why is play so important?

Did you know that for children:

• Average screen time per day 5 hours
• Average outdoor play time per week 5 hours
• Percentage of UK children who only play outdoors with other children at school 56%

Incredibly, children in British primary schools spend 20% (the equivalent of 1.4 years) of their time at school in play, so it’s a really important part of the school day. Through their play, all children encounter, explore and make sense of the world and their place within it. We know that the opportunity to play will improve a child’s:

• health and wellbeing
• cognitive development
• social development
• understanding of risk and challenge
• resilience and character.

When they are really playing, children will use their entire body and exercise every part of their mind.

From September 2026 we are engaging with the OPAL play programme to enhance our provision at playtime and before and after school.

The OPAL programme rationale is that “…better, more active and creative playtimes can mean happier and healthier children. Having happier, healthier, more active children usually results in a more positive attitude to learning in school, with more effective classroom lessons, less staff time spent resolving unnecessary behavioural problems, fewer playtime accidents, happier staff and a healthier attitude to life.”

We are really excited to be working with OPAL to enhance our provision for children as an integral part of their day.

Break time & Lunch Time Provision

At St Bernadette we are committed to increasing the level of physical activity at lunchtimes and a variety of activities are on offer for pupils. We talked to our children to find out what they wanted at lunchtime and we acted on their recommendations. Our playground is zoned to ensure a wide variety of activities are available. 

Regular lunchtime activities include (activities are rotated to ensure activities don’t become stale): Football, Badminton, Basketball, 4 square, Table Tennis, Adventure Playground, Dodgeball, Creative Area. We also have a quiet zone for those times when the children want to chill out and relax.

Play Leader Scheme

The play leader scheme allows the year 5 and 6 children to facilitate activities for the younger children in the school. They deliver a broad range of activities, some of which are sport specific and some that are solely to get the children more active at lunchtime.  Not only has this scheme added to the structure of lunchtime activities, it has given the year 5 and 6s invaluable experiences and provides them with responsibility to deliver high quality activities.