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Physical Education

Intent

Curriculum design at The Firs

In deciding on the intent behind the design of our curriculum it is our vision and values that are the starting point. See The Firs’ Curriculum Policy.

The key drivers behind the makeup of our curriculum are:

  • What we wanted to develop in a ‘Firs’ Mindset’ (which we defined as the values and approaches to life we wanted our children to live by and hold to).

  • The knowledge and skills we wished to develop in addition to those set out in the National Curriculum.

  • Any gaps in children’s knowledge, skills or awareness that we perceived, associated with the context of our local environment, location or general pupil characteristics.

  • Our understanding of what ‘Cultural Capital’ meant to us at The Firs and in each year group, how we could give children the chance to experience it.

All of the thinking behind these key drivers are set out in The Firs Scheme of Work.

We decided on an additional programme of learning, organised into a number of strands, that would complement the content from the National Curriculum. We have called these additional strands ‘The Firs’ Themes’.

The PE Curriculum at The Firs

We aim to promote and develop a greater understanding of the benefits of healthy living, including healthy exercise. Children need to practise skills on a daily basis to show commitment to keeping their bodies healthy.  This will promote long term healthy, active lifestyle choices. 

We will provide, ‘opportunities for children to compete in a wide range of sports and other activities in order to build character and help to embed values such as fairness and respect.’

We will ensure that; ‘pupils 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.’  As pupils move into KS2 they will ‘continue to apply and develop a broader range of skills, learning how to use them in different ways and to link them to actions and sequences of movement’

We will support the children in, ‘developing an understanding of how to improve physical activities and sports and learn how to evaluate and recognise their own success.’

We also aim to nurture confident, resilient children who strive to achieve their potential through a wealth of competitive experiences. We will encourage a positive attitude towards winning and an accepting approach towards losing within a wide range of sports. This way everyone can celebrate varying sports, skills and success in themselves and others in school. 

National Curriculum 2014

At The Firs, we believe that physical education, experienced in a safe and supportive environment, is vital and unique in its contribution to a child’s physical and emotional development and health. 

The physical education curriculum aims to provide for pupils’ increasing self-confidence through an ability to manage themselves successfully in a variety of situations. A balance of individual, team, co-operative and competitive activities aims to cater for individual pupil’s needs and abilities. The scheme of work is based on progressive learning objectives which, combined with varied and flexible teaching styles, endeavour to provide appropriate, stimulating, challenging and enjoyable learning situations for all pupils. 

The scheme aims to promote an understanding of the many benefits of exercise, through a balanced range of relevant activities. 

Aims of PE:

  • Provide learning situations in which all pupils will be able to develop their physical ability to the full

  • Acquire and develop skills, performing with increasing physical competence and confidence in a range of physical activities and contexts

  • Provide stimulating and challenging opportunities that help to promote physical development such as cardio-vascular health, flexibility, muscular strength and endurance

  • Enable pupils to understand the importance of Physical Education in respect of a healthy lifestyle. (Knowledge and understanding of fitness and health).

  • Develop positive attitudes towards participation in physical activity

  • Provide a safe learning environment for physical activity and an understanding of the need for safety

  • Provide pupils with opportunities to become aware and conform to the principles of fair play, demonstrating a good sporting behaviour.

  • Enable pupils to actively participate in a wide range of activities with confidence, developing self-esteem through achievement

  • Promote equal opportunities for all and value the contribution of other irrespective of gender, ability, social/cultural background

  • Solve problems and find alternative solutions to physical challenges on their own and with others

  • Learn how to select and apply skills, tactics and compositional ideas to suit activities that need different approaches and ways of thinking

  • Develop their ideas in a creative way

  • Set targets for themselves and compete against others, individually and as members of a team

  • Understand how (and be able) to persevere, succeed and acknowledge others' success

  • Take initiative, lead activities and focus on improving aspects of their own performance

  • Discover their own aptitudes and preferences for different activities

  • Make informed decisions about the importance (and value) of exercise in their lives

  • Be given a firm foundation for life-long participation in sporting activity

We aim to develop SMSC through our PE curriculum by:

  • Moral: Supporting children to focus on the moral dimension to competitive sport - for example - whilst discussing their participation, children are encouraged to reflect on fair play and how they showed sportsmanlike behaviour. (Y4 Spring 1, Striking and Fielding Lesson 6)

  • Social: encouraging pupils to think about the dynamics of effective teamwork and the key aspects such as cooperation, good communication and sportsmanship, for example, as part of the work in the ‘Brilliant Ball Skills’ work children learn about good teamwork and how it helps them to succeed . (Y1 Spring 2 Lesson 6)

  • Cultural: allowing children to experience key aspects of the sporting elements of our culture for example children learn to develop Tag Rugby skills and some children regularly take part in a local Rugby festival organised by the Redborne Sports Partnership (Y3 and Y4) .

Implementation

The Firs’ Scheme of Work section on PE, that sets out in detail what children in different year groups will be taught and the expectations at the end of each year.

  • Our school curriculum sets out the knowledge and skills that pupils will gain at each stage. It is clear what end points the curriculum is building towards each year and what children need to know and be able to do. 

  • All children have an opportunity for PE twice each week through gymnastics, games, athletics or dance/movement lessons. In dance the children have the opportunity to experience imaginative dance and dance from different ages and cultures. 

  • Children participate in a variety of individual and group based activities and also in competitive games. By providing activities to develop control, coordination and mobility, we aim to assist the children to develop an understanding, and awareness of their own capabilities and mastery of their body movements. 

  • Staff use the ‘Champions’ scheme to plan the PE experiences across the school. The scheme covers the curriculum appropriately whilst providing stimulating activities that meet our children’s needs well. The scheme also provides easy to follow plans that staff can interpret successfully.

  • Health and fitness are promoted by activities that extend the children physically and we hope to lay the foundations for the enjoyment of a variety of sporting activities throughout life.

  • In Y4, children participate in a series of swimming lessons delivered by the trained instructors based at Flitwick Leisure Centre. These sessions are important not only in terms of the development of physical stamina and swimming skills but also in the contribution they make to ensuring children’s safety and developing a key life skill.

Impact

In order to measure the impact of the PE curriculum, we use a range of formative and summative assessment in all lessons such as:

  • Questioning

  • Observations/learning walks/drop ins

  • Feedback from staff and children

  • Analysis of our assessment tool linked to Scheme of Work objectives/National Curriculum for each year

Assessment information is collected and analysed by the subject leader using the school PE Assessment template, for each year group, as part of our monitoring of teaching and learning. This process provides us with an understanding of the quality of education in geography as well as indicating areas for development.