“A high-quality physical education curriculum inspires all pupils to succeed and excel in competitive sport and other physically-demanding activities. It should provide opportunities for pupils to become physically confident in a way which supports their health and fitness. Opportunities to compete in sport and other activities build character and help to embed values such as fairness and respect.” The National Curriculum
Intent
What does PE look like at High Ercall Primary school?
At High Ercall Primary school we recognise that physical activity and sport are essential parts of a child’s everyday life and are a key factor in their future well-being. We want every child to find enjoyment in physical activity and aim to provide them with a wide range of opportunities so that they can discover the right kind of activity for themselves and experience the benefits that an active lifestyle can provide.
Our curriculum has been built to include our key curriculum drivers:
We aim to present them with opportunities to compete against themselves and others, work in partnerships and teams, build self-confidence, develop resilience and the real sense of achievement that this particular aspect of a child’s education can provide. A key part of this will be to engage their enthusiasm and provide them with the necessary skills and experiences in order for them to be in the best position possible to further engage in physical activity and sporting opportunities as their educational and life journey continues beyond this primary phase. Using our PE curriculum and our 5R values, our aim is to prepare and support pupils towards healthy and active lifestyle choices for their future mental and physical well-being.
High Ercall Primary School is committed to giving all of our pupils every equal opportunity in all aspects of school life. Our aim is to offer an inclusive curriculum that is relevant and adapted to the needs and abilities of all pupils. We ensure inclusive opportunities for raising self-esteem and celebrating success so that all learners can reach their true full potential. At our school we are committed to ensuring a diverse curriculum for all pupils, staff, parents and carers irrespective of race, religion, gender, disability, belief, sexual orientation, age or socio-economic background. We provide an environment which enables every pupil to feel safe, encourages good health and wellbeing, and promotes relationships that are trustful and respectful. It is our aim to continue to develop a culture of inclusion and diversity in which all those connected to the school feel proud of their identity, where all children have the ability to participate fully in school life, and where children are confident learners both for now and for their futures. We provide all our pupils with the opportunity to succeed and to reach the highest level of personal achievement. We work in partnership with parents, carers, staff, governors, sports partnership and local services within our community to prepare children from High Ercall Primary School for life in a diverse society.
In our curriculum we have also considered the journey of a child through the school, so that our curriculum is progressive, building on prior learning, and regularly revisiting taught concepts. Each class has a two-year rolling programme which has been designed specifically to match the needs of our school and the structure of our classes, ensuring all children meet the full programme of study outlined in the National Curriculum.
A key part of our aim is to provide the children with a broad and balanced curriculum within physical education and to provide the opportunities for the children to play in festivals and compete over a wide range of events. In doing so, we aim to teach the children to follow the conventions of fair play. The aims of Physical Education (PE) at our school are that all children:
- adopt an active lifestyle and understand the benefits it provides
- develop a range of sporting skills across the national curriculum, including swimming
- are physically active for sustained periods of time
- engage in a range of competitive sports and activities
- lead healthy, active lives
- understand the importance and effect of exercise and being healthy
- develop a sense of fair play and a sporting attitude
- enjoy sporting activities and have fun, developing resilience and perseverance
Implementation
How is the curriculum for PE organised?
At High Ercall Primary school, PE is taught for at least 2 hours per week. Through using the Complete PE scheme of work, units follow a sequential series, developing substantive and disciplinary concepts.
We teach lessons so that children:
- have fun, enjoy PE and being active
- learn, practice and secure a range of skills and tactics
- experience success and gain self-confidence
- develop good sporting attitudes
- understand basic rules and keep to them
- experience positive competition
- learn in a safe environment
- have a foundation for life-long physical activity, leaving primary school as
physically active
Long term plan
Our Long-Term Curriculum Plan identifies the breadth and depth of the activities delivered across the school to ensure coverage of the National Curriculum and to allow the children to experience a wide range of sporting and active opportunities. Additionally, within KS1 and KS2 core tasks are a key part of the learning process, ensuring children are given the opportunity to practise skills and build on from previous learning experiences.
Substantive knowledge in PE is based on deliberate practice and development of specific skills that can be used in a variety of disciplines, sports and games e.g:
- Running, jumping, throwing and catching
- Tactics within a team game (strategies for attacking and defending)
- Being able to perform specific actions, balances and movements in line with year group expectations
- Being able to swim confidently and competently over 25 metres
- Being able to perform a safe self-rescue in water.
Disciplinary knowledge in PE comes through opportunities for the children to choose and apply their own actions, balances, movements and skills. Once they have mastered the specific skills, they have opportunities to apply these within sports and games and therefore have to choose different strategies and the best way to approach different challenges. As they move through school, their skills and knowledge around tactics become more complex and they have to work collaboratively to make decisions. There are lots of opportunities for the children to evaluate their performances and reflect on how they will improve next time.
EYFS
We recognise the importance of physical development in the Early Years Foundation Stage as a key area of learning. There are two strands under Physical Development:
- Moving and Handling and Health
- Self-care
Children in the EYFS access time and space to enjoy energetic play daily in the outdoor learning area. The children also access specific physical development through timetabled PE lessons in Class 1 which gives the children the opportunity to learn and practice fundamental movement skills. They participate in activities where they can practice locomotion in different ways and at different speeds; balancing; rolling; throwing balls and bean bags; developing hand eye coordination and working with control with both hands and feet. Alongside two PE lessons pupils in Reception have the opportunity to develop physical skills on balance bikes, tricycles and scooters for an additional 30 minutes per week.
Key Stage 1
Within Key Stage One pupils develop their fundamental movement skills through a range of activities and opportunities, where children work individually in pairs or in groups. We cover key aspects such as gymnastics, dance, games and athletics.
When children leave Key Stage 1, we expect them to be able to:
- master basic movements including running, jumping, throwing and catching, as well as developing balance, agility and co-ordination, and begin to apply these in a range of activities
- participate in team games, developing simple tactics for attacking and defending
- perform dances using simple movement patterns.
Key Stage 2
Within Key Stage 2. Children continue to apply and develop a range of skills, learning how to use them in different ways and to link them to make actions and sequences of movements. They continue to use the skills individually but also develop cooperation through games. This will include a further focus on choices and tactics within a game. We explore a wide range of sports and activities such as dance, gymnastics, athletics, O.A.A. and a range of games skills. Children also learn to swim while in Key Stage 2.
When children leave Key Stage 2 we expect them to be able to:
- use running, jumping, throwing and catching in isolation and in combination
- play competitive games, modified where appropriate, and apply basic principles suitable for attacking and defending
- develop flexibility, strength, technique, control and balance
- perform dances using a range of movement patterns
- take part in outdoor and adventurous activity challenges both individually and within a team
- compare their performances with previous ones and demonstrate improvement to achieve their personal best.
In addition, we have the key swimming targets:
- swim competently, confidently and proficiently over a distance of at least 25 metres
- use a range of strokes effectively
- perform safe self-rescue in different water-based situations.
How do we support our SEND learners?
Adapting lessons for individuals is based on the S.T.E.P. principles i.e. making changes to SPACE, TASK/TIME, EQUIPMENT and PEOPLE taking account of:
- The size of the area in which a pupil works, smaller spaces until pupils develop spatial awareness and control over themselves and equipment, larger spaces to challenge more able pupils.
- Pupil activity, e.g. different task, different roles and responsibilities, different allocations of time and variations of pace within the lesson to meet needs of different levels of ability.
- Resources, e.g. different equipment for different levels of ability across the key stages.
- Pupil groupings, e.g. ability or mixed ability groups; or group, paired or individual activities, the opportunity to work with adult support where needed.
Children in upper Key Stage Two are given opportunities to take on leadership and coaching roles.
Impact
All our staff, senior leaders and governors are involved in measuring the impact of our PE curriculum in differing ways. This is planned through the School Development Plan, using our annual monitoring cycle and termly development plan to map out monitoring and review over the year.
Sally Jordan is our PE Subject Leader. There is a clear monitoring cycle in place which evaluates PE teaching and learning, outcomes, pupil and parent voice. These outcomes feed into action planning to continually evaluate and improve our teaching and learning in PE.
Recent pupil voice carried out by the subject leader (June 23) has found that:
Children enjoy PE.
Children feel they have a good range of sports and skills taught especially in KS2.
Lower KS2 children have enjoyed accessing Sports with the Sports Partnership.
Female Football Fridays are very popular and the girls really enjoy this along with football club sessions.
After school sports clubs are fun.
Using proper hockey sticks was great.
Children would like more time to practice and develop skills at the end of block units.
How do we review and assess learning in PE?
Throughout each unit taught, teachers carefully assess the children’s knowledge and application of knowledge in various contexts, adapting lessons where necessary so that the key knowledge and skills can not only be applied in the unit of work but can also in different sporting contexts. Increasingly, we make use of Seesaw to assess progress throughout a unit where core tasks are documented at the start and end of the blocks to measure progress. These videos can be viewed when pupils revisit this sporting application, not only to evidence the progression across the unit but also the whole school.
A range of after-school activities are offered outside of the curriculum to all ages throughout school. Some of these are led by school staff while others are led by visiting coaches. We look to provide a wide range of sporting opportunities and experiences and recognise the value this has in promoting healthy lifestyle choices. We also see this as a key goal in providing the opportunity for children to explore different sports and finding the sports and activities which appeal to them. As part of the Government bid to encourage children to be active for at least 60 minutes a day we provide playground markings for active games, equipment boxes and our Year 6 pupils use their leadership skills to deliver physical activities to all other children.
The school, at times, uses coaches to provide extra-curricular opportunities and to team-teach in lessons (helping to up-skill and support teachers). All coaches are DBS checked as well as having their sporting qualifications checked by the school.
The school takes part in a range of competitions and festivals through the Sport’s Partnership. We do look to provide as many competitive/sporting opportunities as possible as we see the value in introducing the children to a wide range of different sports and sporting experiences.