During the first 10 months of the financial year 2024-25, the CIC’s workload was scaled back significantly as the CIC’s main subcontractor, Director Julie Mountain, carried out an external, full-time, fixed-term contract for an independent health charity. As a result, the range of projects and the turnover for this financial year is reduced compared to previous years. Play Learning Life CIC’s activities in 2024-25 included: OPAL CIC - OUTDOOR PLAY AND LEARNING In January 2025, Play Learning Life CIC was invited to become a freelance partner of OPAL CIC, which delivers the UK’s leading school playtime improvement programme. PLL CIC director Julie Mountain began Mentor training to allow her to deliver OPAL programmes to schools around the South-East. Three schools signed up for PLL CIC delivered OPAL programmes before the year-end: Thornhill Primary School in Southampton, Frimley Junior School in Surrey, and William Byrd Primary School in London. These schools will be supported for the next two years, transforming their playtimes using the OPAL programme materials and process. Going forward, we anticipate working with up to 20 new schools a year. IMPACT Helping schools create inspirational outdoor spaces in which children and young people can thrive and connect with the natural world has always been the driving force of Play Learning Life CIC. We are proud to support the OPAL CIC programme in the south of England, which has proved over 10+ years, that better playtimes leads to better outcomes for children. For example, independent research has shown that in OPAL schools, there is a transformation in the equality and equity of children’s playtime experiences. Girls, children with additional needs, those on free school meals and non-sporty children consistently have better, more active and more enjoyable playtimes. TRAINING AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLL CIC Directors Julie Mountain and Felicity Robinson wrote monthly articles for the professional early years magazine, Nursery World. During 2024, the articles focused on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) outdoors; a new series began in January 2025 focusing more specifically on outdoor maths in the early years. The magazine is produced for early years practitioners and teachers and provides news and information as well as building new skills and encouraging professional development. The PLL articles inspire practitioners to develop their practice outdoors and they include illustrations from schools Play Learning Life CIC has worked with in recent years. Julie and Felicity also undertook a research study trip to Oxford to collect new case study material for the maths series. During 2024-25, two of our articles made the front cover of this monthly national magazine; a huge honour. PROMOTING THE VAUE OF OUTDOOR LEARNING AND PLAY Promoting the value of outdoor learning and play is not usually an income generating activity for Play Learning Life CIC, unless we are participating in conferences or webinars or writing for journals. Sharing what we know and learning from other outdoor and education professionals is a crucial part of the social enterprise’s ethos and without it, our ability to impact the lives of children and young people would be much less. Sector-wide collaborative programmes Mary Jackson, Julie Mountain and Felicity Robinson are members of the International School Grounds Alliance’s Leadership Council. Julie and Mary attended the ISGA conference leadership retreat in Belgium in April 2024, with Mary also presenting at the conference for Learning through Landscapes. Mary Jackson and Felicity Robinson are both closely involved in the Council for Learning outside the Classroom (Mary through her role at Learning through Landscapes) and use their 30+ years of experience and sector knowledge to help shape the Council’s policies and programmes. PLL Directors write for external publications and continue to provide webinars and online support, when requested. SOCIAL MEDIA As a micro-entity with no promotional budget, social media is the main way we share the CIC’s work and values. In 2024-25 we used Facebook, Linked In, Instagram and Twitter to promote the importance of outdoor learning and play. In addition to the CIC’s own named social media accounts, we also tweet / post under the International School Grounds Alliance (ISGA) banner; the ISGA is entirely volunteer run, and Julie and Mary are active in promoting the organisation on social media. PRO-BONO SERVICES Play Learning Life CIC provides a variety of services, advice and information Free of Charge, for children, schools, communities, organisations and the wider public, in support of its mission. Alongside regular volunteering in local schools to support outdoor learning initiatives, several more formal roles are carried out: Felicity Robinson represents independent practitioners on the Council for Learning outside the Classroom’s School Grounds Sector Group. Now retired, Peter Carne remains an Advisor for the Council for Learning Outside the Classroom. Julie Mountain is a school governor and volunteers at a local school, providing weekly outdoor learning sessions and co-ordinating school grounds maintenance volunteers. PLL director Mary Jackson (Learning through Landscapes’ Head of Education and Communities) is also an ISGA Leadership Council member. Mary is a Trustee of the Wildlife Gardening Forum.

Play Learning Life CIC's stakeholders are the schools, early years settings and families we work with and dialogue with children and adults is built into all of our programmes. Individual clients shape the project support they gain from Play Learning Life CIC and in turn, their knowledge and expertise informs our future programmes. Our auditing and evaluation tools help establish how children and young people want to play and learn in and out of school and we are influenced by the latest research and developments in this field. Our programme evaluations invite participants to reflect on their own learning journey as well as how Play Learning Life can continue to support them going forward.

No remuneration was received

No transfer of assets other than for full consideration