{"id":78,"date":"2024-11-21T08:55:22","date_gmt":"2024-11-21T08:55:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/outdoorplayandlearning.org.uk\/?page_id=78"},"modified":"2025-08-30T13:05:33","modified_gmt":"2025-08-30T13:05:33","slug":"research-and-evidence","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/dev.webwisehosting.co.uk\/opal\/evidence\/research-and-evidence\/","title":{"rendered":"Research &amp; evidence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t<h2>Proven benefits of the OPAL programme<\/h2>\n\t<h3>Each of the 2,000 schools we have helped has taught us something new. The OPAL Primary Programme is action-research led, meaning we are always always improving the programme and our support for our customers.<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/dev.webwisehosting.co.uk\/opal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image.png\" alt=\"image\" itemprop=\"image\" title=\"image\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\n\t<h3>The OPAL programme is the result of ongoing research, evaluation and improvement.<\/h3>\n<p>Just as OPAL works with schools to strive to continually evaluate and improve their play offer, we do the same with our programme.<\/p>\n<p>The first <a href=\"http:\/\/dev.webwisehosting.co.uk\/opal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/supporting-school-improvement-through-play-1.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">large-scale evaluation<\/a> was carried out by the University of Gloucestershire and published by the National Children&#8217;s Bureau.<\/p>\n<p>The University of Exeter is currently conducting a seven year academic research project into the impact of OPAL on children&#8217;s mental health and wellbeing.<\/p>\n\t<h3>Key findings<\/h3>\n<p>Considerable proven benefits have been gained from participating in the OPAL Primary Programme. These include:<\/p>\n\t<h3>OPAL schools have all found that play is an amazing way to build stronger links with parents and the wider community. Out of over 15,000 parents surveyed, 99% supported better play in school.<\/h3>\n\t<h3>Published reports<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t<a href=\"http:\/\/dev.webwisehosting.co.uk\/opal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/supporting-school-improvement-through-play-1.pdf\"  target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"  itemprop=\"url\">\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/dev.webwisehosting.co.uk\/opal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Report-Cover.png\" alt=\"Report-Cover\" itemprop=\"image\" title=\"Report-Cover\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t<h5>Supporting school improvement through play<\/h5>\n<p>Independent evaluation of the OPAL Primary Programme led by Gloucestershire University and published by the National Children&#8217;s Bureau.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/transformlab.torontomu.ca\/portfolio-item\/outdoor-play-and-learning-opal-in-school-communities-results-from-the-pilot-programming-in-toronto\/\"  target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"  itemprop=\"url\">\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/dev.webwisehosting.co.uk\/opal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Ryerson-report-1.png\" alt=\"Ryerson-report-1\" itemprop=\"image\" title=\"Ryerson-report-1\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t<h5>Outdoor play and learning (OPAL) in school communities<\/h5>\n<p>First stage research report into the impact of OPAL&#8217;s Canadian programme by Ryerson University.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/outdoorplayandlearning.org.uk\/toronto-report-2\/\"  target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"  itemprop=\"url\">\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/dev.webwisehosting.co.uk\/opal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Ryerson-2.png\" alt=\"Ryerson-2\" itemprop=\"image\" title=\"Ryerson-2\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t<h5>Outdoor play and learning (OPAL) in school communities<\/h5>\n<p>The final report into the impact of the OPAL Primary Programme in Toronto schools by Ryerson University.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<a href=\"http:\/\/dev.webwisehosting.co.uk\/opal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/play_-_a_report_by_the_all-party_parlimentary_group_on_fit_and_healthy_childhood_corrected_1.pdf\"  target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"  itemprop=\"url\">\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/dev.webwisehosting.co.uk\/opal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/APPG.png\" alt=\"APPG\" itemprop=\"image\" title=\"APPG\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t<h5>Play<\/h5>\n<p>The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Fit and Health Childhood&#8217;s report on play, citing OPAL.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/dev.webwisehosting.co.uk\/opal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/red-curve-w-beige-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"red-curve-w-beige\" itemprop=\"image\" title=\"red-curve-w-beige\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\n\t<h3>The Case for Play in Schools<\/h3>\n<p>The first-ever comprehensive review of the academic and literary research evidence supporting the case for better play in primary schools.<\/p>\n<p>This report, sponsored by Sport England and carried out in association with Gloucester University, will provide decision-makers with the evidence they need to improve the policy, strategic planning and funding support for play in UK primary schools.<\/p>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"http:\/\/dev.webwisehosting.co.uk\/opal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/The-Case-For-Play-In-Schools-web-1-1.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDownload the report\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/dev.webwisehosting.co.uk\/opal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Case-for-Play-in-School2s-2-portrait-9ea97d7e25464b69791569dd7856ac8e-geml302iwpd4.png\" alt=\"Case-for-Play-in-School2s-2-portrait-9ea97d7e25464b69791569dd7856ac8e-geml302iwpd4\" itemprop=\"image\" title=\"Case-for-Play-in-School2s-2-portrait-9ea97d7e25464b69791569dd7856ac8e-geml302iwpd4\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\n\t<h3>Join the OPAL community<\/h3>\n<p>Hundreds of new schools each year are discovering the many benefits of the OPAL Primary Programme. Through our online platform OPAL College, free monthly online meetings, newsletters and interschool visits, we are building an international community of schools.<\/p>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/outdoorplayandlearning.org.uk\/get-started\/\" target=\"_self\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJoin today\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Proven benefits of the OPAL programme Each of the 2,000 schools we have helped has taught us something new. The OPAL Primary Programme is action-research led, meaning we are always always improving the programme and our support for our customers. The OPAL programme is the result of ongoing research, evaluation and improvement. Just as OPAL [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":74,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-full-width.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-78","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Research &amp; evidence - Outdoor Play and Learning<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/outdoorplayandlearning.org.uk\/evidence\/research-and-evidence\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Research &amp; evidence - Outdoor Play and Learning\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Proven benefits of the OPAL programme Each of the 2,000 schools we have helped has taught us something new. 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