Curriculum Intent
At St. Mary’s, we aim to provide a PE curriculum that pupils from Reception to Year 6 not only enjoy but also allows them to experience a range of activities that help them to develop their health, fitness and wellbeing. We intend to offer a high-quality physical education curriculum that inspires all pupils to succeed and excel in competitive sport and other physically demanding activities. It provides opportunities for pupils to become physically confident in a way which supports their health and fitness. Opportunities to compete in sport and other activities build character and help to embed values such as fairness and respect. Through our teaching of PE, we will provide opportunities for pupils to develop values and transferrable life skills as well as providing them with opportunities to take part in a wide range of competitive sport.
It is our aim at St. Mary’s RC Primary School to develop and encourage:
- develop competence to excel in a broad range of physical activities
- are physically active for sustained periods of time
- engage in competitive sports and activities
- lead healthy, active lives
Curriculum Aims
| Whole School Aims | In PE… |
| To have Christ at the centre of everything we do. To provide opportunities for children to develop as independent, confident, resilient, successful & motivated learners with high aspirations who know how to make a positive and transformational contribution to their local community and wider global society. | PE at St Mary’s gives opportunities to all pupils to fulfil their own potential. We aim to provide an attitude of, ‘there is something out there for everyone’ through a range of games and sporting activity inside and outside of school. Within our curriculum the children are encouraged to be independent learners who develop their confidence in a range of disciplines including experiencing sporting competition. These opportunities for children to represent school help children gain values such as sportsmanship, resilience teamwork and fair play and we aim to make this a priority so that our children can go out into the world have an impact on transforming society. We also celebrate those children who play sports in the community. |
| To be firmly rooted in the principles of Catholic Social Teaching. Inspired by Pope Francis, St. Mary’s Curriculum encourages our pupils to grow in self-awareness and become advocates of social justice. | Through PE, we provide rules that fit in with rules and engagement of physical activity and sports but also rules that can be transferred to everyday life. These range from encouraging those around you to be the best that they can be and to inspire others as well as future pupils to find, take up and appreciate a range of activities and sports. |
| To challenge all pupils, regardless of disadvantages or special needs, to be the greatest example of themselves. Through experiences both inside and outside of the classroom, pupils are provided with a purpose and relevance for learning, which allows them to develop their own personal strengths and interests. | All children are challenged to fulfil their potential in PE irrespective of any disadvantage or special need. Through PE, we provide an attitude of everyone can succeed. Through skills and units of work such as tactics and strategies, children can problem solve and identify ways in which they can succeed through games. They also develop an understanding of that not everything works and sometimes a different strategy is necessary to bring about a desired response. This allows children to learn how to win or lose through the safety of PE but also allows them to understand how to win and lose in competitive sports, which builds character and resilience. This can be transferred across a wide range of sports and also be applied to everyday life and tasks. |
| St Mary’s Curriculum develops the key skills necessary for all our pupil and promotes high expectations of standards and enjoyment in Reading, Writing and Maths across all subject areas. | All key skills are promoted where possible in PE. Maths , in particular is reinforced through keeping scores measuring distances and recording times. With our children experiencing a minimum of 2 hours of structured PE per week, we know that this has an impact on mental health and wellbeing – and a positive mental health has an impact on all curriculum areas. |
| To develop pupils with a broad and lasting knowledge of subject specific vocabulary. | In PE, children are encouraged to use specific vocabulary linked to the skills and tactics necessary to succeed in whatever discipline of PE they are studying. These are built upon and reinforced each year in each area of PE. |
| To empower pupils to respect each other and themselves, show respect and understanding for people of all faiths, race and gender, and for all living things, promoting stewardship and to ensure all pupils are well prepared for life in a rapidly changing world. | At St Mary’s we aim to raise aspirations and personal pride by bringing in people from different sports and backgrounds to talk to children and staff about their role, how they’ve set their goals and how they maintain it. This inspires children and gives them a platform to aspire to. We also provide certificates and PE medals to children for excellent behaviour , attitude to learning and skill development during PE. Every PE lesson, in house competition and outside event is aimed at building character, including values such as fair play, respect for others and what is right and wrong. These are all skills that can be transferred into life skills needed to succeed in later life. |
Curriculum Implementation
At St. Mary’s, we know that P.E. is an integral part of our curriculum. We believe that the subject inspires all pupils to succeed and excel in physically demanding activities and helps them to become confident in a way which supports their health and fitness throughout their lives. Therefore, we believe that our children should be physically active every day, whether through daily physical activity, P.E. lessons, swimming lessons, lunchtimes or extra-curricular activities. We also believe that children should have the opportunity to compete in sport and other activities that build character and help to embed values such as teamwork, fairness and respect. Each class throughout the school will have at least 2 hours of PE per week
EYFS
As part of the EYFS statutory framework pupils are taught:
Physical development: involves providing opportunities for young children to be active and interactive; and to develop their co-ordination, control, and movement. Children must also be helped to understand the importance of physical activity, and to make healthy choices in relation to food.
Moving and handling: children show good control and co-ordination in large and small movements. They move confidently in a range of ways, safely negotiating space. They handle equipment and tools effectively.
Health and self-care: children know the importance for good health of physical exercise, and a healthy diet, and talk about ways to keep healthy and safe
Key stage 1
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. They can engage in competitive (both against self and against others) and co-operative physical activities, in a range of increasingly challenging situations. Pupils are 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 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 enjoy communicating, collaborating and competing. They develop an understanding of how to improve in different physical activities and sports and learn how to evaluate and recognise their own success.
Pupils are 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.
Teaching staff and TA’s use the PE passport planning to carefully plan and craft lessons that challenge and allow the children to make excellent progress. Lessons are taught by both teaching staff and TA’s confident at teaching the subject. Coaching is used to support teachers in the delivery of the curriculum. Assessment is completed both using formative and summative methods. There is a focus on children developing their skills but coupled with that is a more holistic approach to assessment where cognitive and affective domains are also looked at. We are introducing a ‘hands’, ‘heart’ and ‘head’ approach to supporting children in understanding the holistic approach to assessment.
Curriculum Impact
Each child in school receives good quality PE lessons with a lot of thought being given to our PESSPA offer. The lessons are predominantly taught by PE specialists with the rest being taught by teachers confident of teaching PE. The curriculum is broad and balanced so that the children get a range of activities supplemented by swimming tuition in years 4, 5 and 6. The children make good progress in PE and skills are built upon and where necessary showcased through external and internal sporting competitions. From pupil voice children enjoy lessons and have developed their skills in the curriculum area. The uptake of sporting after clubs shows the enthusiasm children have for PE and in understanding the need to be healthy.