PE | St William’s Catholic Academy

Rationale

At St William’s we recognise the important role that Physical Education plays in the social, physical, and cognitive development of children. It provides the foundation of a healthy lifestyle and contributes to the all-round development of the child. Therefore, children at St. William’s School will enjoy a variety of experiences in Physical Education. Opportunities will be provided which will enable them to plan, participate in and evaluate work appropriate to their age and their needs. Additionally, we will encourage everyone in our care to adopt a lifelong commitment to a healthy, active, and enjoyable lifestyle.

Aims:

To develop physical competence and to promote physical development and develop a range of motor skills.
To develop skilful use of the body, the ability to remember, repeat and refine actions and to perform them with increasing control, coordination and fluency.
To develop an increasing ability to select, link and apply skills, tactics and compositional ideas.
To recognise through experience, the benefits of participation in physical activities in an enjoyable, safe and challenging way and relate exercise to a healthy lifestyle.
To develop observation skills and show an appreciation of skilful and creative physical performances across the areas of activity.
To use their observations to make judgements about their own and others work to improve their performance.
To contribute towards the development of problem-solving skills, e.g. making up and refining their own games.
To develop the ability to work independently and to develop inter-personal and leadership skills through working with others in group or team exercise.
To develop the personal qualities of commitment, fairness and enthusiasm through making decisions and selecting, refining, judging and adapting movements.
To develop a positive attitude towards hard work, fair play, honest competition and good sporting behaviour.
To understand and cope with a variety of outcomes, including success and failure.
To become confident in water and demonstrate self-rescue abilities

Coverage

Physical Education is a vital component in the range of experiences offered to children in this school. This importance is reflected in the commitment to provide children with up to two hours of Physical Education per week. The school ‘curriculum map’ guides the way in which the Physical Education programme is organised and the National Curriculum expects the following coverage:

Key stage 1

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.

Key stage 2

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.

The examples in square brackets are guidance only. There are no statutory sports in the National Curriculum.

Teachers use a resource called 'PE Planning' as their reference for planning, this is shown in our curriculum map. The Early Years Foundation Stage use the Physical Development aspects of the Early Learning Goals, as well as teaching fundamental movements through story linked games (Move with Max).

St. William’s we are committed to improving the health and wellbeing of our pupils, and therefore pledge to the ‘Active 30’ campaign. Through this we aim to ensure each of our pupils participates in 30 minutes of activity a day, where their heart rates are in the moderate to vigorous categories. This can be made up of, PE lessons, active brain breaks in class, organised games at play times and lunch times by sports leaders and PE apprentice or active elements of other lessons.

Inclusion

PE is taught within the guidelines of the school’s Equal Opportunities policy, ensuring all our children have the opportunity to achieve and develop, regardless of gender, race, class, physical or intellectual ability. Throughout every activity within the Physical Education curriculum, children will have the opportunity to participate, and in so doing, develop their personal skills, knowledge, and enjoyment. Every attempt will be made to ensure that all children experience the richness and breadth of a full Physical Education curriculum. Teachers will ensure lessons are differentiated to provide adequate stretch and challenge for more able pupils and support for those who need it.

Resources, Equipment and Facilities

We have use of the school hall for indoor PE. It must be remembered that the hall is multi-functional (used as both a dining hall and area for learning), therefore footwear should be worn at all times, unless performing on mats.

We have use of both school playgrounds for outdoor PE. In fair weather, the school field may also be used.

A wide range of PE equipment is available and located within the PE cupboard in the school hall:

Gymnastics – 12 mats (4 can be attached together to provide a larger performing area), springboard, benches, 2 A-frames and 2 metal bar boxes.

Athletics - Foam Javelins, howlers and batons,

Games - hockey sticks, tennis rackets and balls, tag rugby belts and balls, footballs and nets, basketballs, kwik cricket sets and netballs and netball hoops

General - cones, spots, range of lightweight balls, rubber quoits, skipping ropes, bean bags, hoops and bibs.

Dress for Physical Education

Children – PE kit is a white t-shirt and dark shorts. Plimsoles are preferred for indoor PE, however trainers may be worn for outdoor PE. Swimming costumes must be one piece and children must also wear a swimming hat. A towel is also required. No item of jewellery (including watches) or hard hair accessories are to be worn during Physical Education sessions.

Staff - Wherever possible staff should change into appropriate clothing and footwear so that they may teach safely and provide a positive role model for the children.