Physical Education
Intent
Our PE curriculum offers well-planned schemes of work that allow all pupils to follow a progressive curriculum, in line with the National Curriculum and RF curriculum, but also focusing on their personal development. The key areas ensure that pupils experience opportunities to:
- develop competence in a broad and varied range of sports and physical activities;
- be physically active for sustained periods of time (suitable active opportunities in lessons);
- take part in competitive sports and activities that allow our pupils to experience the feelings that come from success and failures;
- understand and encouraged to lead healthy, active lifestyles.
Our PE curriculum is based on the National Curriculum but tailored to the needs of our pupils to allow them all to engage in lessons and be successful. The key areas of physical activity include:
- games
- dance
- gymnastics
- fitness
- athletics
- outdoor and adventurous activities
- swimming
In key stage 1 the pupils will develop fundamental movement skills, becoming increasingly competent and confident in a broad range of activities which extend their agility, balance and coordination, individually and with others. They will be able to engage in competitive (both against self and against others) and co-operative physical activities, in a range of increasingly challenging situations.
In key stage 2 the pupils will 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 will enjoy communicating, collaborating and competing with each other. The children will develop an understanding of how to improve in different physical activities and sports and learn how to evaluate and recognise their own success.
The RF curriculum is tailor made for our pupils with more complex needs who follow a programme of study around moving and handling in line with their sensory and physical needs (Development matters) This allows them to access PE in a way that best meets their needs. This is predominantly through the fundamentals of movement, movement patterns and spatial awareness. After stage 10, pupils progress to skill development, tactical awareness, performance evaluation and the knowledge and understanding of fitness and health.
At Romans Field School, it is our aim for our pupils to learn how to work with others through sportsmanship by participating in healthy, active lifestyles that they can maintain beyond school. We aim to provide a broad and varied curriculum that allows the children to participate in many physical sports and activities that allow them to develop a range of knowledge and skills including tactical awareness, performance analysis, reflective practice and a good understanding of the values of sport. We believe that it is important that pupils develop their interpersonal skills so that they can be effective communicators and work towards common goals as this will help them to improve their confidence and self-worth now and in the future. We aim to develop the pupils’ ability to peer coach and to support each other in order to achieve success in lessons.
Our children will be:
- motivated to engage in healthy, active lifestyles;
- able to show the good values of sportsmanship;
- reflective practitioners who can reflect on performances to achieve their personal best throughout their life.
At Romans Field we believe that all pupils should have the opportunity to be involved in extra-curricular sporting activities in order to learn new knowledge and skills and to consolidate those learned during PE lessons. A further aim of the extra-curricular sessions is to enable pupils to experience different sporting activities to those covered during PE lessons.
Implementation
At Romans Field all pupils have a 1 hour lesson of PE per week per class where lessons are taught by a PE specialist and are predominantly practical to ensure that the pupils are active. The fundamental knowledge and skills are learnt, practised and consolidated throughout the year with the pupils experiencing a wide range of sports and games. Lessons also provide pupils with the opportunity to reflect and evaluate their work through peer and self-assessment assessment during plenaries. Please see the full PE policy to specify what pupils at KS1 and KS2 will experience in PE.
To broaden the range of activities experienced, external coaches lead specific sports sessions. External coaches also provide opportunities for making links with clubs in the community. Swimming takes place at the local swimming baths.
We provide a broad and inclusive range of extra-curricular opportunities for our pupils at lunchtimes (due to pupil transport) and we provide a sports/exercise-based afterschool club every term. Our lunchtime sessions are based around a range of sports/activities which are popular with pupils.
Our sports premium is used to enhance the provision for PE and sport by enabling the employment of a PE sports specialist and the engagement of coaches in order to provide the pupils with a wide range of sporting activities which are led by experts in their field. It also provides opportunities for the children to undertake activities in specialist facilities i.e. a local gym and an outdoor pursuit centre. The funding is also used to support in-school activities such as Bikeability, coaching from Paramount Parkour and the Northampton Saints.
Planning for PE is initially shown in long term plans with a curriculum overview. Lesson plans show more detailed learning objectives and differentiated activities to ensure that all children are included and have access to learning in PE. In delivering high quality PE lessons our planning and delivery take account of a learning objective which outlines what the children will learn by the end of the lesson, work which reflects the learning objective, a dynamic risk assessment and safe working practices, warm up activities, the teaching of skills and techniques, the application and adaptation of learnt skills in game situations, modelling of the correct techniques, use of the correct and specific technical vocabulary, pupil performance and the evaluation of their own and each other’s work using peer and self-assessment, cool down activities and opportunities for the children to learn about the impact of PE on their bodies.
Impact
PE should allow all pupils to further progress in healthy, active lifestyles whether it be their next placement’s PE lessons or extra-curricular activities. Pupils should have the confidence to partake in a broad range of sports and activities based on the exposure to these they have experienced when with us. Through the promotion of personal development, pupils should also recognise their wider progress alongside their skill execution. In order to ensure a progressive curriculum each activity block is intentionally planned alongside the curriculum map, considering the needs and ages of the pupils, so that they all develop knowledge and skills ranging the breadth of the National PE curriculum. The curriculum progresses through each year group: increasing vocabulary, the depth of knowledge, the execution of skills, their awareness of tactics and reflecting on performances. Where appropriate, PE lessons promote cross-curricular links to ensure pupils develop links between different subjects and to ensure that learning is memorable. Attainment and progress is measured via target tracker and the class assessment sheets found in the PE subject folder.
Whole school and parental engagement are areas for development and will be improved through the use of staff CPD session, school house sports challenges and PE-specific home challenges.
Ultimately, pupils should leave RFS understanding the importance of exercise on their physical, mental and social health and hopefully look to seek additional opportunities (when/where possible) to practice this.
“Intelligence and skill can only function at the peak of their capacity when the body is healthy and strong.” – John F. Kennedy.
