A Derbyshire primary school where children benefit from endless play opportunities, has received a national award, placing it among top schools across the country.

Staveley Junior School has been awarded with the highly regarded national Platinum OPAL play award for providing children with excellent play opportunities.

This means the primary, located at College Avenue in Staveley, falls into the top 1% of schools in the country with respect to delivering excellence in play.

OPAL (Outdoor Play and Learning), a national programme endorsed and supported by Sport England, aims to improve the play time at schools across the UK.

The success comes after the school previously received Platinum OPAL award two years ago, highlighting the primary’s commitment to support pupils’ wellbeing.

The headteacher Sue Parkes said: “OPAL has become such a central part of the school.

“I was outside on lunch duty this week and there is so much joy.

“Some children are in the enormous sand pit, some children have full waterproofs and are sliding down the mud bank.

“My favourite was the group of children who had raided the dressing up box and informed me they were grannies and aunties – complete with walking sticks!”

These are just a few examples of Staveley Junior School pupils making the best of a variety of different play activities offered to them every single day.

A walk around the grounds finds children engaging in all sorts of different play from den building and tree climbing through to the chance to roll across the grass in a giant tractor tyre.

Some children are dressing up and engaging in imaginative play, some are busily creating in the mud kitchen while others are teaching themselves to balance on the large cable reels that have been donated to school.

Research shows that play builds connection, wellbeing, confidence, activity and resilience in children and also supports many skills for life, including cognitive, problem solving, creative and communication skills. It underpins every child’s physical and mental health, the headteacher explained.

She added: “Children are building important skills around understanding and managing risk and knowing their own limitations so they can keep themselves safe both inside and outside of school.

“They will happily talk visitors through the risk assessments around different activities and take it very seriously!”