Physical Education & Sport

 We started our curriculum development with a series of meetings with our partner secondary school PE department and a more detailed consideration of what substantive and disciplinary knowledge was needed for an effective transition to KS3.  PE teachers told us that year 7 children often had experience of key sports but lacked the physical and athletic skills to progress as fast as the KS3 curriculum demands.  Year 7 teachers were finding they had to spend additional time working on key skills such as agility, balance, coordination etc that were needed to play the sports children were used to at a higher level.  KS3 teachers wanted us to focus on getting children up to a secure level in these areas and felt that key sports would follow on more naturally from this approach.

We therefore chose the Real PE curriculum for our school as the real PE approach is built around learning behaviours and Fundamental Movement Skills.  As opposed to being activity or sport lead, the core Real PE programme  uses what would typically be described as a multi-skill curriculum to develop disciplinary knowledge which includes a significant amount of what would be described as athletics, including static and dynamic balance, footwork, jumping and landing and agility.  We see these as transferable fundamental skills that will support the children to access a range of activities and sports as they develop. These are explored and developed through a range of individual challenges, Personal Best activities, cooperative and competitive games and activities.

Although we reduced the amount of curriculum time spent on key sports, we were still keen for children to experience these because we recognise that knowledge and experience of these sports are part of the sporting community and give children really valuable shared experiences, role models and community links.  We devote one hour of PE a week to sport and we utilise a range of visiting coaches in order to do this.

We also teach swimming and follow the ASA school swimming charter and awards system.  Children currently receive a term of swimming lessons for every year they are in school and they travel by coach each week to the local pool. 

The Real PE curriculum is based on fundamental skills which return as part of a spiral curriculum approach.  This means that children are given the opportunity to become really familiar with the skills and ‘up-level’ them every time they get to the next key point in their learning.  Teachers give learners the opportunity to recall fundamental skills (FUNS) before moving on and there is also plenty of opportunity to apply skills in a range of different contexts, including the sport PE lessons.  Our coaches are aware of the FUNS and are able to make appropriate links in their own teaching.

Real PE is designed to allow children to compete not only in traditional sporting situations but also against their own personal best.  The design of the curriculum encourages learners to record their own scores and times and to track their own progress.  We have an emphasis on self-evaluation and use technology (video) to support this.

Access and inclusion in PE is really important to us.  We have chosen a curriculum which focuses on personal best in order to include and give a positive experience to those who find physical challenges ore difficult.  It is important to us to give equal access to sporting opportunities and invite and encourage a range of children to take part.

We are part of a local small schools sports league as well as attending tournaments in the wider local area for a range of sports, including football, tag rugby, orienteering, multi skills.  We also have our own football and dance clubs as well as ‘pop-up’ tennis and cricket with local coaches.  We have invested in a range of high quality sports equipment and kit and are currently waiting to appoint a midday activities organiser to increase the amount of physical activity for children every day.