Physical Education

PE is a vital part of school life and ultimately children’s future well-being. It is therefore our intent to provide an inclusive, broad and balanced PE curriculum that ensures ALL children will benefit, whether through enhancing existing skills, learning new skills or being introduced to new sports, clubs, teams and organisations.

It is our intent to ensure children understand the importance of leading a healthy lifestyle and to equip them with the tools to do so through health and well-being education. Children must understand how to take care of themselves both physically and mentally to be successful as adults.

Beyond merely a subject, we believe that participation in sporting activity is a key element of developing a school in which pupils are proud of the community in which they belong. Therefore, great emphasis is placed upon additional sporting opportunities beyond the lesson within after-school clubs, inter-school competition and festivals as well as directly trying to support the local clubs within the Meltham, Huddersfield or wider area. It another way in which we can positively engage with our local community and be active citizens within it.

We also believe that physical education can have a significant role in supporting our school’s values of aspiration, compassion, resilience, confidence and love of learning. We believe that all these values can be positively developed through good quality and varied physical education.

With our committed staff and specialist teachers the children will receive high quality PE lessons which are mapped out in broad and balanced blocks. All areas of the national curriculum are covered in all year groups (except swimming which happens in year 5 or 6)
We directly employ several professional sports coaches who deliver some PE lessons. These are always delivered alongside class teachers to further develop staff skills and experience. This enables us to ensure that physical education lessons are of the highest quality. These coaches rotate throughout the year to ensure all staff are developing their PE knowledge and ability.
We use the SPORTING AGE programme to develop and track the progress of our children’s FUNDAMENTAL skills in PE. As part of this programme, we undertake beginning and end of unit physical assessments which provide an individual and class average ‘Sporting Age’. This facilitates accurate differentiation, allowing each child to access stage appropriate learning. End of programme assessments demonstrate progress and identify appropriate pathways for the next stage of movement development.
Other areas of the physical education curriculum are supported using the Getset4PE scheme of work which provides high quality ideas, lesson plans and guidance on supporting and developing ALL children.
Each year group will receive a minimum of 2 hours of curriculum PE each week with additional sporting clubs running after school on several nights.
Our PE leader and other staff help to coordinate the Playground Leaders and Sports Leaders – pupils who provide additional sporting opportunities on the playgrounds several times a week. These playleaders who are made up of our older year 6 or year 5 pupils are also heavily involved in opportunities to lead and support in PE -such as leading sports day, supporting in KS1 PE lessons and leading sports themed days.
Swimming is taught in year 5 or 6 through which we aim to ensure that all children can swim competently, confidentlyand proficiently over a distance of at least 25m, use a range of strokes effectively and perform safe self-rescue in different water-based situations.
Children will have opportunities to participate in a wealth of competitions in school and through a large programme of inter-school competitions led by the Pennine school sports partnership. Children are always provided with coaching prior to competition, led by school staff or our specialist teachers, to ensure that they can compete at a good level and reach their potential.
Our talented children are identified, and specific challenge and targeted support is provided within lessons to develop their talents. These children are further developed through specific intervention groups led by our specialist teachers and through involvement and leadership roles in PE or sports teams. In addition, we ensure these children are signposted and encouraged to attend external sports groups where appropriate.
We strive to develop ALL children within PE at their own level. This happens through well planned PE lessons which allow all children to join in and make progress. We provide targeted intervention groups for identified children who may be disengaged or nervous about physical education, to support and encourage healthy lifestyles or whom need support to develop their gross motor skills. We regularly attend ‘Try it’ sessions run by the Pennine sports partnership which are external sessions planned to support and encourage those children who may be less engaged or confident in PE.
It is our aim that all KS2 children will attend at least one after school club, event, competition, or festival in every school year.
Our PE leader or SLT complete termly monitoring of PE provision which includes observations of PE lessons, pupil discussions and monitoring of extra-curricular provision and engagement.
The aim is that our extensive PE curriculum will impact greatly on our children’s ability to acquire the knowledge, skills and understanding needed to make appropriate choices about their physical and mental health. Children will demonstrate positive self-awareness as they become more physically competent. They will also demonstrate a healthy attitude towards competition, showing respect for individuals, teams, officials and coaches.
All children will be assessed and monitored through the Sporting Age profile which provides them each with a ‘sporting age’ at the beginning and end of each year. This is then used to identify target pupils and plan for future provision. End of year assessments are also made against the National Curriculum expectations.