At St Thomas CE Primary School, we recognise the contribution that PE and sport makes to the health and well-being of children. We believe that a broad and balanced PE curriculum with a range of extracurricular activities and access to competitive sport can have a positive influence on the concentration, achievement, and attitude of all our children.
We recognise the contribution that PE and sport contributes to the health and well-being of our children. We believe that a broad and balanced PE curriculum with a range of extracurricular activities and access to competitive sport can have a positive influence on the concentration, achievement, and attitude of all our children. Our aim is to develop children into understanding what takes to live a healthy lifestyle through sport, active hobbies and gain a positive attitude.
Our curriculum is designed to expose our children to various sports and activities that help them build on their foundation skills, movement, and physical development. We cover some units of work several times to re-visit and progress skills further. We also introduce more complex skills, key vocabulary, and different sports as they work through the key stages.
Units of learning are broken down into 6 sessions that include skills (shown in our progression of skills map) and objectives to be learnt. These sessions are designed to build pupils confidence and skills to finally prepare our children to compete in School Games when they reach Key Stage 2.
Sports Initiative Week is a huge part of our school & PE curriculum. We access many different skills that help our children develop in an exciting opportunity which we find unique. In previous years we have had a Brazilian Martial art called ‘Capoeira’, proving successful with a club still running since its introduction. We have also had themes of ‘Gladiators’ (the old TV show), and ‘Urban Freestyle’ which enabled us to promote cycling and scooting to school. The theme for the week also links into other curriculum areas and our Sports Day always has a little twist to keep it fresh and exciting for our pupils. We consider the context of our school and make the theme of the week relative to our pupils.
Planning, assessment, and quality of teaching is of a high priority. The PE Lead ensures consistency of our PE and extended schools’ provision is of a high quality. We show progression and scaffolding for all students to make progress. We encourage children to enjoy their sport and ignite interests that will help them live a long and healthy life.
Members of staff are supported by the subject leader. This enables teachers to discuss and improve their knowledge in this subject. Assessments are carried out and discussed with the PE leader to create a ‘whole-school’ image. This helps support the mid-to-long term planning.
Additional support is offered to staff from external providers including Aspire. Team-teaching opportunities enable staff to deliver high-quality sessions with support, leading to delivery on their own.
Some units of work are revisited throughout the year. The planning enables children to recap on certain skills through different sports. This is when teachers can assess progress is being made and challenge children to progress further.
A ‘working assessment tool’ is used to measure the progress made by every child. With this information, plans can be put in place to support children during their PE lessons or further education outside normal school hours.
During lessons, class discussions are carried out in lessons that involve self-evaluation, peer assessment, and recap of previous lessons and skills. Teachers can use this to help assess children’s progress and develop their knowledge of where they are at and what they need to do to progress further.
Termly competitions for our Upper Key Stage 2 pupils allows children to be engaged in improving their skills to compete against other schools and prepare them for their next stage of their educational journey.