PE
PE is a key priority both at Shaw Cross and nationally, as reflected by the emphasis provided through the Sports Premium Funding. Over the last few years we have worked particularly hard to develop our provision and quality of teaching to capture the interest and engagement of our children from the very start of their school life. In a world that is seen to be ‘slowing down’, as a school we provide a vital role in instilling the importance of a healthy, active lifestyle and in developing a life-long love and habit for being physically active.
INTENT
As Physical Education, School Sport and Physical Activity forms part of our teaching and learning and is underpinned by our core values. It has a unique role in being able to develop the ‘whole child’ and not just a focus on the academic. As a school, our mission is to ‘work together valuing and nurturing children’ to become ‘Respectful, Resilient and Reflective’ learners. The nature of PE as a subject lends itself fully to this in embedding the EYFS Characteristics of Effective Learning, and Key Stage 1 ‘Secrets of Success’ through everything we do. We focus on the importance of the approach to learning and the process of learning and not just the end product. We want our pupils to leave with skills, knowledge and attributes that will equip them for life and it is our intent that PE can facilitate this through the ‘head, heart, hands approach’ to learning as set out by AfPE (Association for Physical Education). Pupils can acquire these essential life skills through PE but then apply them in wider life across a range of contexts.
Head: To develop thinking skills by being analytical and becoming confident in making decisions in how to work and how to improve. Children need to reflect on what they have learned in order to be creative in the choice of skills and tactics needed in their movement, activities and sequences.
Heart: To demonstrate interest and engagement in being physically active both in curriculum, general school sport and the wider community. To show confidence in their approach to physical education and engage in both competitive (against self and others) and cooperative activities in a range of increasingly challenging situations. Children need to persevere and show resilience in order to master these skills, and rise to additional challenges that they are given.
Hands: To access a broad range of opportunities which enable pupils to develop their competence in fundamental movement skills. To enhance agility, balance and coordination skills both individually and with others whilst engaging in cooperative and competitive physical activities and embedding qualities such as fairness and respect. This is particularly important in demonstrating good sportsmanship.
Throughout all of their work in PE and school sport, children are encouraged to discuss their knowledge, skills and understanding of what they are doing as a way of developing their learning. This facilitates the development and use of appropriate vocabulary, particularly linked with science (body parts and functions), explanation of specific skills and tactics and equipment/resources.
We intend to promote the national 30:30 agenda with the intention of promoting health, life long habits. We strive to facilitate 30 minutes of daily physical exercise in school, and encourage 30 minutes outside of school. We understand that in order or do this we need to work in partnership with families as reflected in our mission statement of ‘working together to value and nurture children’. As a school we are striving to meet this through the following means:
Physical Education – The planned, progressive learning that takes place through the delivery of the timetabled curriculum. This involves pupils both ‘learning to move’ (becoming more physically competent) and ‘moving to learn’ (a range of skills beyond physical such as co-operation, respect, leadership). These are taught through a broad range of physical contexts such as games, gymnastics and dance. By using sport coaches, we intent to ensure this is high quality and is sustainable through applying this to staff CPD.
School Sport - The learning that takes place beyond the curriculum through structured out of hours learning during after school clubs and lunchtime games groups/sessions. The intention of these being to enable pupils to develop and broaden the learning that has taken place through the physical education curriculum time offer. We monitor this closely and actively seek for all children to have access to at least one block of additional learning within each year during key stage 1. It also forms a vital link in extending to community sport. This is particularly relevant during our annual ‘Be Active’ week in which we promote local club links that are relevant and easily accessible to our pupils.
Physical Activity – This is a broad term related to all forms of physical activity involved in using energy to develop bodily movement, posture and balance. Whilst this can be promoted through Physical Education, it is also inclusive of indoor and outdoor related play, work related activity/active blasts of a physical nature within lessons, and outdoor adventurous activity. The promotion of active travel and routine, habitual activities such as climbing stairs, gardening etc also come under the umbrella of physical activity. We involving families in event days which incorporate physical activity with the intention of engaging whole families and promote the 30:30 agenda beyond the school.
We deliver Physical Education within our school by providing a breath and balance of experiences with the intention of meeting the statutory requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage Framework and the Key Stage One National Curriculum as a minimum offer. We believe this is of vital importance in enabling our children to become physically literate so they are ready for their next stage in learning, whether this is moving to a next phase within their school life, or in being ‘world ready’. We want our pupils to make positive life-long choices which will impact of their physical and mental wellbeing both now and in the future. By doing this it is our intent that we have high aspirations of all our pupils and facilitate their learning in a way that provides them with all the tools to be educated, successful citizens in their community. This is supported by our involvement in the North Kirklees Sport Partnership in accessing coaching expertise to deliver high quality sessions and develop staff expertise. This upskilling of staff, particularly ECT teachers enables us to build capacity for the future sustainability of the subject. As part of our curriculum offer the sports partnership also enables children to use amenities further afield from school, such as, Batley Sports and Tennis Centre, Shaw Cross Rugby Club and other local schools.
IMPLEMENTATION
In the Foundation Stage, physical education comes under the umbrella of Physical Development. As well as a weekly hall session for physical activity in nursery, and a discrete PE lesson weekly in reception, children also have access to outdoor provision for a large part of the sessions. Both Nursery and Reception have age appropriate outdoor equipment such as climbing frames, an adventure trail, bicycles and scooters, bats and balls to help them to develop motor skills and develop a love of physical activity and meet the requirements of the EYFS framework. We have also worked hard to enhance our provision and equipment to develop general gross motor skills across the curriculum with a view to developing core strength and have a wider impact in improving writing e.g. gardening tools, large brushes for painting. More recently, this has been extended into year 1, where children also have access to outdoor provision on a daily basis and are able to engage in increasingly physically demanding activities as they move through school.
We use the school hall, playground and the school field (weather permitting) for P.E in Key Stage 1. We are constantly evolving our PE curriculum to provide greater breadth and depth of learning and maximise the engagement of our pupils and meet the statutory requirements of the National Curriculum. This is set within the framework of ‘head, heart, hands’ in which we look carefully at how we can deliver thinking skills, behaviours/attitudes and fundamental movement skills (agility, balance and co-ordination) that provide the foundation stones for all physical education across the curriculum and beyond. Whilst games, gymnastics and dance still form the basis of our provision, we are also striving to widen experiences with access to activities such as balance bikes, dance mats, yoga, and a climbing wall, either within a block of lessons or as an ‘experience day/week’. On the whole class teachers deliver our PE lessons. However, the sports premium funding has enabled us to enhance the delivery of PE through the use of high-quality sport specific coaches working alongside our class teachers across all areas of the PE curriculum. These links enable us to upskill our school staff in delivering curriculum PE.
Lunchtime and after-school clubs form a key part of our enhanced physical education offer and enable children to be energic, physical and fulfil to requirements of the 30:30 agenda, as well as encourage pupils to develop a life-long love for a healthy, active lifestyle. These are led by experienced school staff or external coaches. Where possible we ensure this provision spans a range of activities but still deliver our core values and curriculum intent at the heart of all we do.
Strong links with the North Kirklees Partnership enables us to access high quality coaches and also form strong links with other schools within our geographical area. Within their time at Shaw Cross, our pupils are given the opportunity to participate in festivals and competition either virtually, or where possible as live events. These provide our pupils with experiences way beyond the physical and open them up to developing all the characteristics of effective learning, and our secrets of success whilst broadening their horizons. Whether in good communication, social skills or leadership, but also having chances to excel to be the best that they can be. To have opportunities to experience the feel of competition. and to learn to manage success and failure that they can then apply to wider aspects of their life. It also opens our pupils to setting aspirations for their future, maybe as an elite performer, a coach, a teacher, a leader or volunteer.
IMPACT
Our Physical education, school sport and physical activity delivery is designed to have specific impacts on the lives of our pupils as set out by our curriculum intent. The key elements of these being measured and considered through the ability of our pupils to;
- Demonstrate thinking skills, being confident in making decisions of how to approach experiences and in making improvements. Being creative in the choice of skills and tactics. (head)
- Show an interest and engagement in physical activity in both curriculum, general school sport and the wider community. Working in increasing challenging situations showing key attributes of fairness, respect, communication, reliance etc whilst taking part in work that is both cooperative and competitive (heart)
- Have acquired physical education knowledge and skills to make improvements in the fundamentals of agility, balance and coordination across a broad range of contexts both individually and with others (hands)
This links with our focus on the characteristics of effective learning (EYFS) and our secrets of success (KS1) that underpin our whole curriculum. We use formative assessments within lessons, as well as feedback from coaches to measure the success of our pupils, and of our curriculum across all three strands of head, heart and hands. In terms of competition, we use results and observations of our pupils to measure the level of knowledge, skill and attributes that they have acquired. In some cases, this involves set performance indicators with numerical outcomes, and outcomes from competitions.
We also measure the impact of our intent and implementation through reviewing whether our pupils have accessed high quality teaching and learning and have been physically active towards meeting the 30:30 agenda, particularly in that which is delivered through school. This measurable outcome helps us to review and adapt our curriculum. Our child know what that they need to do to have a healthy, active lifestyle. They also know that they need to practise in order to improve and then ultimately excel.
We also look at the success of our offer in whether all of our pupils have accessed the full curriculum set out in the EYFS Framework and in the National Curriculum for Key Stage 1 as a minimum offer. We consider whether our physical education curriculum has breadth and balance and promote a life-long understanding of the benefits of health and fitness to physical health and wellbeing. If our curriculum has the desired impact then our pupils will have met benchmark indicators for their phase and have a readiness for their next stage in their learning on their journey to being ‘world ready’.
We ensure all children have access to the content of the EYFS curriculum and the National Curriculum for physical activity and school sport.
Click here for the EYFS curriculum.
Click here for the Key Stage 1 curriculum (Year 1 and 2).
Click here for links to the Sport Premium Funding.