Physical Education (PE)

PE

At St Mary’s we encourage all pupils to lead healthy and active lives. Through Physical Education (PE) we ensure pupils develop the confidence, knowledge and skills required to access different forms of physical activity.

We foster a life long love of physical activity by exposing pupils to a broad range of activities, roles and responsibilities within sport, through both the core and extended curriculum.

The PE curriculum at St. Mary’s is defined by the following objectives:

• To provide a well-structured and progressive core curriculum that ensures pupils develop skills required to reach their physical potential and have the opportunity to participate in a range of sports.
• To offer a broad and varied extended curriculum, that engages community clubs and develops the core curriculum, while also offering alternative activities, so that all pupils are encouraged to be physically active.
• To ensure pupils develop knowledge of the health benefits associated with exercise, rules, know how to participate safely, succeed in different sports and evaluate performance.
• To ensure pupils develop confidence by participating in a nurturing and collaborative learning environment, where the emphasis is on personal improvement.
• To provide a range of inclusive activities and competitive opportunities, that give pupils the opportunity to develop sporting values, fitness, leadership, coaching and officiating skills.
• To share learning and celebrate achievements, through displays about learning on the PE notice board, assemblies and within lessons.

The teaching of Physical Education

We follow the National Curriculum. KS1 and KS2 pupils participate in two hours of curricular PE each week. The school employs a qualified PE coach who, in conjunction with class teachers, plans and delivers lessons. Swimming instruction is offered to all Year 3 pupils during the spring term of each school year. When the children reach Year 6 they undertake a swimming and water safety assessment in the autumn term. Any child not meeting the requirements of this assessment are given extra instruction in the spring/summer terms.

Physical Education at the Early Years Foundation Stage

PE is planned in line with the ‘Physical’ area of the EYFS Framework 2014. It is taught in weekly sessions with the PE coach delivering to pupils in the first half of the week and the Class Teacher repeating this lesson with those attending in the second half of the week. Children are taught as a whole class with pupils sometimes breaking into smaller groups, for the delivery of more complex activities, led by support staff with the support of the teacher. All planning, resourcing and assessment is led by the PE coach in partnership with class teachers.

• Develop movement, balance and coordination through a range of activities in order to build confidence and skills.
• Provision is teacher-led and moves towards pupils beginning to lead their own work.
• Nursery and Reception pupils participate in an annual sports day, planned and led by Year 6 pupils, consisting of a carousel of activities that utilise skills developed through the year.
• Reception pupils participate in scooter training annually.

Resource provision

In order to provide a broad and varied curriculum we utilise a range of facilities. On site, gymnastics and dance lessons are delivered in our school hall. This is equipped with both portable and fixed apparatus and a music centre. For the teaching of games there is a large playground with two permanent climbing frames. Resources for outdoor activities can be found in the PE shed. Off site, swimming lessons take place at the swimming pool at Putney Leisure Centre while some athletics lessons are held at Barn Elms. All planning resources are saved to the school system.

Extra-curricular sports clubs

At St Mary’s pupils have access to the following extra-curricular sports clubs delivered by specialist sport coaches and teachers:

KS1:

Football Club

Cricket Club

Tennis Club

KS2:

Football Club

Cricket Club

Basketball Club

Netball Club

Tennis Club

Running Club

Tag Rugby Club

Table Tennis Club

Pupils are consulted on extra-curricular sports provision and clubs are offered accordingly. Additional extra-curricular opportunities are also provided to develop the skills, knowledge and confidence of key focus groups.

Competitions

Links are facilitated with local schools and community sports clubs to provide a range of sporting experiences. In addition we attend a variety of Putney Primary School Sports Association (PPSSA) events and Wandsworth School Games Competitions. Annually competition culminates with all pupils participating in KS1 and KS2 School Sports Days.

Further information

GOV.UK provides documents from the Department for Education relating to the National Curriculum’s statutory programmes of study for Physical Education (PE). Please click the link below to explore:

⇒ GOV.UK National Curriculum: Physical Education (PE)