Curriculum statement

Physical Education

St Katherine’s Church of England Primary School

 

At St. Katherine’s Church of England Primary School, our vision for Physical Education (PE) is that every child has the opportunity to take part in regular, physical activity. We believe that the subject should inspire all pupils to succeed and excel in physically demanding activities. We celebrate diversity so therefore provide the opportunity for all children to be successful. We hope that, through these sporting activities and opportunities, children will develop a love for sport, which continues through their school and later lives.

 

Intent:

 

St Katherine’s Primary School recognises the value of PE and this is imbedded within our intent for the subject. We aim to develop a fun, high-quality PE curriculum that inspires all children to succeed and excel. St. Katherine’s believe that PE learning should be experienced in a safe and supportive environment, enabling children to reach their full potential. PE is an imperative part of the curriculum, which helps to develop healthy life styles, a balanced diet, a positive growth mind-set and the resilience to persevere with activities that may be once have felt too difficult. We are passionate about the need to teach children how to collaborate with others and understand the fairness of play.

 

PE offers the opportunity for many possibilities, including the opportunity to compete in sport and other activities that build character and help to embed our Christian Values such as, Koinonia when working in a team and courage to try something new and believe in themselves. As a school, we participate in a range of sporting events across the year, both in school as an inter-school competition and outside of school – attending festivals, competitions and more. We also ensure each year group has the opportunity to attend at least one sporting even or competition, such as Winter Games in Year 1 and the Dance festival in Year 4.

 

Implementation:

 

We believe that the children of St. Katherine’s should be active every day, whether this is during our daily 10 minute run, active play at break times or lunch times and active lessons. Children in key stages 1 and 2 will have two focused PE lessons each week. We aim to provide the children with at least 2 hours of fun, exciting and active PE lessons every week to keep the children healthy, following guidelines that “children should undertake at least 30 minutes of physical activity a day in school.” In addition, children are encouraged to participate in the varied range of extra-curricular activities. Lunchtime sports clubs are available each week and children can attend after school sport clubs.

 

The long-term plan sets out the PE units, which are to be taught throughout the year and ensures that the requirements of the National Curriculum are fully met. PE at St. Katherine’s provides challenging and enjoyable learning through a range of sporting activities including: Early Years – Introduction to PE, dance, gymnastics, fundamentals, ball skills and games.

 

In Early Years and the Foundation stage, children have the opportunity to take part in a variety of daily activities that enable them to develop their moving and handling skills, this includes the development of both control and coordination in large and small body parts. – As well as this, developing both fine and growth motor through active leaning and lessons in order to develop and eventually improve handwriting. The children also have at least one hour of a focused PE lesson each week to develop a wide range of sporting activities. Competitive values are introduced at this age.

 

KS1 – Balls skills, invasion games, gymnastics, dance, striking and fielding, sending and receiving, athletics and outdoor & adventure.

 

KS2 – Tag rugby, gymnastics, dance, yoga, fitness, dodgeball, netball, cricket, tennis, football, basketball, fitness, volleyball, rounders, athletics and outdoor adventure activities.

 

At St. Katherine’s, we understand that lunchtimes are a fantastic time to keep children active and also a great opportunity to use sport as a tool for whole school improvement. To ensure lunchtimes are as beneficial as possible, we work with the Midday team. The MDAs are trained to lead games that help to develop skills and to provide the opportunity for safe, competitive sports. The equipment that the MDAs and children use is updated regularly, again, working with the MDA’s to gain their knowledge of what the children enjoy and also what they would like more of. As previously mentioned, it is our overall aim that every child has the opportunity to take part in regular, physical activity. To implement this, we have ensured that where possible, children with additional needs who require support with physical activity and socialising are supported during break times, lunch times and extracurricular clubs.

 

As mentioned previously, children are invited to attend competitive sporting events within the local area. This is an inclusive approach, which endeavours to encourage not only physical development but also mental well-being. These events develop teamwork and leadership skills. As well as this, they focus on developing friendship (which is one of our Christian values). The children support one-another constantly, giving each other feedback and cheering on their friends. The events are very much enjoyed by the children.

 

As a school, we aim to ensure that we implement a timetable full of diverse visitors to visit St. Katherine’s school. This ensures that the children are able to interact with a range of sporting individuals/groups and ask any questions about their job or role. The purpose of this is to inspire the children, raise the profile of sport and excite them about the particular activity and to continuously introduce them to a range of sports. As well as the sporting benefits, inviting visitors to the school gives the children another opportunity to learn about different cultures and for the teachers and children to make cross-curricular links when learning.

 

We aim to teach children skills that help to keep them safe, for example, being able to swim. In Year 4, the children take part in swimming lessons, taught by qualified instructors. During their lessons, they are taught to swim confidently and proficiently over a distance of at least 25 meters using a range of strokes (for example, front crawl, backstroke and breaststroke) effectively. Additionally, they learn to perform safe self-rescue in different water-based situations.

 

Impact:

 

PE is taught as a basis for lifelong learning, therefore learning takes place not only in the school environment but outside during sporting events, swimming lessons and competitions at other schools. The children have access to a wide range of activities in the belief that when taught and with the opportunity to succeed, this will impact their life as they will continue to lead a physically active lifestyle. At St. Katherine’s we build spirituality into learning though motivation and encouraging children to participate in a variety of sports through quality teaching that is engaging and fun. A high-quality physical education curriculum inspires all children to succeed and excel. From our PE lessons, activities and competitions, the children learn to take responsibility for their own health and fitness. We have found that from this, many of the children are enjoying and succeeding within competitive sports.

 

By providing the children with opportunities to experience what it is like to live a healthy life-style (through workshops, visitors and festivals), they are more likely to continue this in later life. As well as taking up different sports or active opportunities both inside and outside of school.

 

We equip our children with the necessary skills and a love for sport, hoping they will grow up to love happy and healthy lifestyles – utilising the knowledge and skills gained from PE.