Intent:
At Ashton St Peter’s Primary School we aim to inspire all pupils to succeed and excel in competitive sport and other physically-demanding activities, through our teaching of physical skills, linked to a range of sports. Through our explicit demonstration and pupils’ practise of physical skills and techniques, children will develop greater control over their own bodies and apply these new competencies to a range of activities and sports. It is important to us that we inspire children to lead an active lifestyle and have the motivation to take part in physical activity, both in and out of school. Children’s health and fitness is supported through opportunities to become physically active and confident during P.E lesson time, playtimes and extra-curricular activities. We ensure that all of our P.E lessons are fully inclusive and children of every ability feel a sense of pride and achievement. With concerns about children’s mental health currently being so prevalent, we aim to use P.E as a tool to support the children’s physical and mental wellbeing. Sportsmanship and the school values are embedded in all areas of the P.E curriculum to develop children into well-rounded individuals.
Implementation:
Our P.E. curriculum has been designed and organised so that children build upon and develop skills which have previously been taught. These skills are revisited through different activities in each key stage, so they are exposed to a range of sports throughout their time at the school. We feel that it is important to develop children’s fundamental skills, which they can apply to a range of sports. This is why we use a spiral curriculum to structure our whole-school long-term plans. We also ensure that children revisit and develop these skills throughout the year, so they are secure in their understanding and application of them; ready for the next academic year. We feel this helps children to make sustained progress in P.E. throughout their time in school. When planning the sequence of topics, we considered factors which could affect the learning outcomes. Topics such as dance and gymnastics take place during the winter months, when weather may be adverse and less conducive to rapid progress being made. Ball games have been carefully selected in each year group to promote enjoyment of different sports and to inspire the children to take part in clubs and activities outside of the P.E. lessons. Athletics has been planned for the summer term in order to prepare children for sports day and increase their awareness and enthusiasm for the Olympic games.
Outcomes for each unit are easily relatable to the children, and teachers have a good understanding of expectations; in particular, the level of skill children are expected to demonstrate. This in turn helps to inform termly assessment judgements and subject leader reports, which aids evaluations of and improvements to the implementation of P.E. Planning is informed by and aligned with the national curriculum and teachers use planning from ‘Primary P.E. Planning. A sports coach from Pro Sports Academy delivers the initial lesson each week and the second lesson, taught by the class teacher, builds on and develops the skills from this through a different sport or activity. This allows skills taught in the first lesson to be consolidated and targeted activities will be provided to support and extend children, depending on their progress in the previous lesson. It also exposes children to a wide range of sports and activities throughout the year.
At the beginning of each topic, teachers ascertain the children’s ability and use this to inform their decisions about where to pitch the lessons to best achieve the outcomes and how children’s learning can be supported or extended in order to demonstrate a greater depth of understanding.
The school is part of the Dunstable and Houghton Regis cluster group and participates in a range of intra and inter school competitions. Children of all ages and abilities are encouraged to engage in these activities and have the opportunity to access a range of extra-curricular clubs.
Impact:
Our P.E curriculum has been carefully based on a spiral curriculum; revisiting similar skills throughout their school journey, with each encounter increasing in complexity and reinforcing previous learning. This ensures children continually build upon the knowledge and skills throughout the units in the year and as they progress through the school. At the end of each unit, children will have the opportunity to demonstrate their progress and evaluate their learning. This could be through matches and competitions or by producing a final performance which showcases their knowledge, understanding and skills. Outcomes are closely linked to the objective statements and if children are reaching these by the end of the unit, then they are considered to be in-line with or above age-related expectations. Children develop their fundamental movement skills, which they can apply to a wide range of activities, choose and refine movements and actions for particular purposes and styles and constructively evaluate their performances. In addition, they are enthused to be active individuals, which will help them lead physically and mentally healthy lives.