What is PE?
Intent
Through our Physical Education (PE) programme, we keep four words in mind: fun, fitness, fundamentals and friendship. We aim to ensure our pupils have fun, improve their fitness, increase fundamentals skills and expand their friendships. We believe that if children experience a real enjoyment of learning physical skills while working in different environments with exciting equipment alongside their peers, they are more likely to become lifelong active citizens. We need to equip our pupils with the skills, knowledge and aptitudes they require to lead healthy active lives and to fill the gaps created by the pandemic and other current lifestyle behaviours. We want to instil in our pupils the importance of self-improvement and the understanding that a personal best is a real achievement in any area of activity. We also aim to teach children how to co-operate and collaborate with others as part of an effective team, understanding fairness and equity of play to embed the values and disciplines PE promotes. By the time our pupils leave Phillimore, every child will have the confidence to represent the school in competitions and other physically-demanding activities and know what it feels like to be part of a team and to win (or lose) with grace.
Implementation
The PE curriculum is mapped out from EYFS to Y6 using the GetSet4PE scheme of work which is in-line with the National Curriculum and is used to aid teaching staff in their subject knowledge and planning of PE. Teachers are able to adjust and change lessons to suit the needs of their classes but the scheme provides clear and progressive expectations for each year group. Each child has access to two hours of high quality PE every week taught by a class teacher. The curriculum is deliberately broad and balanced to ensure it appeals to all pupils while covering the skills, knowledge and understanding required at each stage. Throughout KS1 and KS2, class teachers follow the ‘PE Progression of Skills and Knowledge’ document which guides their understanding of sequences of learning and on-going assessment. There is clear progression of skills throughout the journey through school. Lessons start with a vigorous warm up using a fitness focus, challenges and acknowledgement of improvement in personal bests to motivate pupils. Every term, all pupils take part in Fit4School assessment activities which provide data on individual levels of fitness. Pupils can be tracked and interventions offered while active play, active classroom based lessons, the ‘Daily Mile’ and active travel are encouraged as further ways to increase fitness and help meet the government’s target of at least 60 minutes active per day. Staff CPD is regularly updated either through external experts or in-house ensuring that quality first teaching is witnessed in PE lessons where all children make progress regardless of ability. Pupils are encouraged to attend our many after school and lunchtime clubs to extend their learning of skills and knowledge. These clubs are paid for by school and provide pupils with access to a wide range of sporting activities. Activities are chosen by pupils through class votes and ‘Pupil Voice’ to ensure the clubs are successful and popular. A tracking system is in place to ensure all pupils have the opportunity to represent the school by the time they leave Y6. Pupils know how to keep themselves safe through learning about life skills. Y4s have a full year of swimming (one lesson per week) and discrete water safety lessons back at school. We run a whole school biking programme starting in FS2 with balance ability and progressing through to assessment of biking skills in KS2, providing Learn to Ride sessions, Bike Ability and Bike Adventures for our most able pupils. We take part in Speedway Cycle competitions and provide bike maintenance to ensure bikes are in safe working order. We are part of a School Sports Partnership network and are never short of festivals and competitions to offer our pupils including those specifically aimed at SEND pupils. This ensures that every single pupil will be presented with a certificate/medal in assembly at some point during their time at Phillimore. Our PE lessons also cover life skills such as team work, independence and resilience. Y6 undertake a unit of work as part of the PE curriculum on ‘Sports Leadership’ and are invited to become Sports Leaders at the KS1 Sports Day which entails running the whole event.
Impact
Our pupils tell us through ‘Pupil Voice’ that they either ‘love’ (95%) or ‘like’ (5%) their PE lessons. They can also tell us what they are good at and what they need to improve on. They have the knowledge and confidence to voice their opinions on what sports and activities they would like to learn about whether through PE lessons or clubs. Pupils enjoy being active at playtimes and our clubs and competitions are well attended despite the interruptions of the pandemic and other commitments pupils have after school (attendance at mosque). Pupils take pride in remembering and improving on their personal bests during PE warm ups. Our school has always been recognised both locally within Sheffield and nationally for aspects of the PE, School Sport and Physical Activity curriculum (our main awards since 2012 are evident on the school website). However, recently we have been awarded as Sheffield Active Schools’ ‘Inclusive PE for All’ 2022; 2016 we were ‘National Primary School of the Year for Swimming’; 2022 we were ‘National Primary School of the Year for Active Travel’ which including a 30% decrease in car journeys to school. Last year’s our Fit4School data demonstrated whole school fitness levels improved by 35.23%. The breakdown included: KS1 by 44%, KS2 by 31.36%, Girls by 34.48%, Boys by 34.44%, SEND by 36.49%, EAL by 35.23%. Our internal PE assessment also shows progress within the ‘Healthy Behaviours’ category. All children are able to discuss the importance of a healthy lifestyle and how this is achieved. We currently achieve the Gold Standard in the Schools Games Mark and Silver in Sheffield’s KS1 mark. 2022 during the Y6 residential to Scarborough, the RNLI commented that our pupils were the most knowledgeable they had ever come across in term of how to keep themselves safe near and in water.
PE at Phillimore
Our vision at Phillimore is to ensure that every child has the opportunity to be the best they can in their PE lessons, sport and active playtimes. Through physical education and sport we aim to teach our pupils new skills and show them how to improve in a fun, safe and stimulating environment. By providing a wide variety of opportunities both in school and off site, our pupils will become healthy, confident and active young people ready for the next stage of their lives. Physical activities based on the Olympic and Paralympic values of determination, respect, friendship, courage, equality, inspiration and excellence will positively impact on whole school improvements in all areas of school life. We will endeavor to keep the legacy of 2012 alive at Phillimore.
This Vision Statement was created with the help of pupils, parents and staff. (February 2014)
National curriculum and Essentials curriculum links
https://www.chrisquigley.co.uk/resources/books/essentials-full-spectrum-curriculum/