Physical Education at All Souls' CE
Physical Education Curriculum Rationale
At All Souls’ CE Primary, we are all athletes! We want our pupils to appreciate Physical Education and sport. We want them to have no limits to what their ambitions are and grow up wanting to be personal trainers, nutritionists, sport journalists or gold medal winners! We want them to embody our Christian core values. We all embrace the school motto of: “we are a place to grow’ – this is both spiritually and academically. The Physical Education curriculum has been carefully designed so that our pupils develop their Physical Education knowledge and capital. We want all our pupils to remember their Physical Education learning in our school, to cherish these experiences and embrace the opportunities they are presented with.
Curriculum Intent
The Physical Education curriculum promotes curiosity and a love and thirst for learning. It is ambitious and empowers our pupils to become independent and resilient.
We want to equip pupils with ambition beyond the minimum statutory requirements of the Physical Education National Curriculum and prepare them for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life. The curriculum is meticulously planned with the intention to address social disadvantage and ensure that all pupils - including those with SEND – have an opportunity to engage with a challenging curriculum and achieve success. Any gaps in pupils’ knowledge and skills are quickly identified and addressed to ensure that pupils are supported to meet the ambitious intended end points of the curriculum in Physical Education. We use the scheme ‘Get Set for P.E.’ to deliver the curriculum and meet the needs of our pupils in our context.
The Physical Education curriculum is focused upon the development of fitness, health and exercise, including mental health and physical health. Physical Education is progressively sequenced to ensure that pupils gain appreciation and understanding of areas such as healthy living, caring for your body, and the fundamentals of sports and rules of games. The theoretical aspect of Physical Education is developed through discovery of the systems and component knowledge. Through practical work, the pupils learn the discipline of the subject and apply their knowledge and skills to think and work as an athlete. We are proud of our children and their participation in sport, we promote walking to school and ‘The Daily Mile’ children are eager to join in and look forward to meeting end points. Within the local cluster schools work together to compete and share expertise, skills and competitive sport.
We want our pupils to use the vibrancy of our great town and wider city to learn from other cultures, respect diversity, co-operate with one another and appreciate what they have. We achieve this by providing a strong local contextual links where possible. For example, recently a group of pupils participated in a pupil led tournament established by Manchester United Football Club. Pupils had the opportunity to be managers of the game, they developed leadership skills and essential attributes. They had the opportunity to represent school to showcase their management skills and compete against other schools. We firmly believe that it is not just about what happens in the classroom, it is about the added value we offer to really inspire our children.
British Values and our core values are placed at the heart of everything we do. This often feeds into the Physical Education curriculum. Cultural capital development is addressed through visits to other schools, local competitions and learning about sport throughout history. Children enjoy learning about, participating in and watching sport. We enrich pupils’ time in our school with memorable, unforgettable experiences and provide opportunities to engender an appreciation of human creativity and achievement.
Curriculum Implementation
We effectively develop and invest in our teaching staff to ensure that they are fully equipped with expert subject knowledge in order to support the delivery of the exceptional Physical Education curriculum. All staff can access unit and year group specific training from the scheme. Teaching is highly effective for all pupils. Teachers present the curriculum content clearly through composite and component parts supported by lesson plans which break the unit knowledge, concepts and skills down for each lesson in each year group.
The curriculum is delivered through a subject specific approach which supports pupils to develop the key concepts and knowledge of the Physical Education curriculum. Each lesson within a unit of work is carefully crafted and builds upon what has been previously taught from one year to the next.
Frequent audits of the Physical Education curriculum take place. Following the findings from these audits, the Physical Education curriculum is adapted to build upon the learning opportunities and assessment end points for each year group and ensures progression and repetition in terms of embedding key learning, knowledge and skills.
Pupils take inspiration from athletes throughout history as well as modern pioneers of sport to help generate ideas for their work and to underpin the foundations of learning. The way each discipline is taught is revisited in each phase, at a progressively deeper level. All classes use the same scheme of work, this provides a consistency and allows for planning progression to be sequenced.
Physical Education subject specific characteristics, which we expect the pupils to demonstrate, have been developed and shared with all stakeholders. These characteristics underpin all work in Physical Education and form a focal point for display areas and provide a common subject specific vocabulary for staff and pupils. These characteristics are:
- develop physical confidence in a way which supports fitness and health
- compete in sport and other activities to build character and help to embed values such as fairness and respect
- develop competence to excel in a broad range of activities
- be physically active for a sustained period of time
- engage in competitive sports and activities
- lead healthy and active lives
- communicate, collaborate and compete with one another
- work both individually and within a team
- understand how to improve in different physical activity and sport and learn how to recognise and evaluate their own success
The teaching of the Physical Education curriculum is planned and delivered to support pupils to transfer key knowledge into their long-term memory and therefore improve the progress they make. Essential vocabulary is identified within each lesson and unit of work to ensure that our pupils can discuss and evaluate the Physical Education content effectively.
Whilst delivering the curriculum, teachers are constantly checking to ensure that pupils are learning the necessary knowledge and identifying and addressing misunderstandings. Assessment is used as a tool to support pupil learning. The Physical Education curriculum is research evidence informed in relation to the content, delivery and process of learning.
Curriculum Impact
We gather a range of assessment information in Physical Education. Assessment informs learning to ensure that all pupils including disadvantage and those with SEND achieve highly and acquire the knowledge and cultural capital they need to succeed in life. Staff use assessment information to inform their short-term planning and address misconceptions. This helps us provide the best possible support for all of our pupils. The end points for each phase have been carefully mapped out and further broken down. This means that the essential knowledge, skills and concepts in Physical Education are progressive and build year on year.
Our well-constructed curriculum in Physical Education leads to pupil’s successful learning. This is evidenced in the outcomes demonstrated in Physical Education lessons and the extracurricular activities pupils participate in. Pupils enjoy representing the school and comment positively on the wide range of activities offered to them. Pupils are well prepared for the next steps and stages of their learning due to the progressive and well sequenced curriculum. As a result, pupils make excellent progress they know more and remember more as they move through the Physical Education curriculum at All Souls’ CE Primary.
At All Souls' CE Primary School, we are
ATHLETES!
Key Documents
Physical Education programmes of study:
Key Stages 1 and 2
Purpose of study
A high-quality physical education curriculum inspires all pupils to succeed and excel in competitive sport and other physically-demanding activities. It should provide opportunities for pupils to become physically confident in a way which supports their health and fitness. Opportunities to compete in sport and other activities build character and help to embed values such as fairness and respect.
Aims
The national curriculum for physical education aims to ensure that all pupils::
- develop competence to excel in a broad range of physical activities
- are physically active for sustained periods of time
- engage in competitive sports and activities
- lead healthy, active lives.
Attainment targets
By the end of each key stage, pupils are expected to know, apply and understand the matters, skills and processes specified in the relevant programme of study.
Schools are not required by law to teach the example content in [square brackets].
Subject content – Key stage 1
Pupils should develop fundamental movement skills, become increasingly competent and confident and access a broad range of opportunities to extend their agility, balance and coordination, individually and with others. They should be able to engage in competitive (both against self and against others) and co-operative physical activities, in a range of increasingly challenging situations.
Pupils should be taught to:
- master basic movements including running, jumping, throwing and catching, as well as developing balance, agility and co-ordination, and begin to apply these in a range of activities
- participate in team games, developing simple tactics for attacking and defending
- perform dances using simple movement patterns.
Subject Content – Key Stage 2
Pupils should continue to apply and develop a broader range of skills, learning how to use them in different ways and to link them to make actions and sequences of movement. They should enjoy communicating, collaborating and competing with each other. They should develop an understanding of how to improve in different physical activities and sports and learn how to evaluate and recognise their own success.
Pupils should be taught to:
- use running, jumping, throwing and catching in isolation and in combination
- play competitive games, modified where appropriate [for example, badminton, basketball, cricket, football, hockey, netball, rounders and tennis], and apply basic principles suitable for attacking and defending
- develop flexibility, strength, technique, control and balance [for example, through athletics and gymnastics]
- perform dances using a range of movement patterns
- take part in outdoor and adventurous activity challenges both individually and within a team
- compare their performances with previous ones and demonstrate improvement to achieve their personal best.
Swimming and water safety
All schools must provide swimming instruction either in key stage 1 or key stage 2.
In particular, pupils should be taught to:
- swim competently, confidently and proficiently over a distance of at least 25 metres
- use a range of strokes effectively [for example, front crawl, backstroke and breaststroke]
- perform safe self-rescue in different water-based situations.