'Do your little bit of good where you are. It's those bits of good put together that overwhelm the world' - Archbishop Desmond Tutu

“The sky has no limits. Neither should you.” Usain Bolt

Intent.

‘Healthy bodies, healthy minds’ - this key driver sits at the heart of our Physical Education curriculum at St. George’s. It is our aim to develop the knowledge, skills and capabilities necessary for the mental, emotional, social and physical wellbeing of our children. We want them to ‘Reach for the Stars’ - both now and in their future. Physical fitness is an important part of leading a healthier lifestyle, which can enable us to engage with and enjoy ‘The World around Us’.

It is our intent to teach children life skills that will positively impact on their future. We aim to deliver high-quality teaching and learning opportunities that inspire all children to succeed in physical activities. We want to teach children how to cooperate and collaborate with others, as part of a team, understanding fairness and equity of play to embed life-long values. Our children should feel successful in life and have the resilience to face challenges with confidence and positivity. We believe that PE is one of the key areas of learning for these skills to develop. It teaches self-discipline and that to be successful you must work hard, show resilience and have the determination to believe that anything can be achieved.

Implementation.

Pupils at St George’s participate in two high quality PE lessons a week, using high quality schemes of work created by both teachers and outside Sports Providers (Premier Education). These PE schemes are based on the school’s progression of skills documents and incorporate a variety of sports to ensure all children develop the confidence, tolerance and the appreciation of their own and others’ strengths and weaknesses. Our school PE curriculum uses an inclusive approach which endeavours to encourage not only physical development but also well-being including self-confidence and self-esteem. We provide opportunities for all children to engage in extra-curricular activities before, during and after school, in addition to competitive sporting events. We have various sports clubs on offer throughout the year for children to try new skills and develop ones that they already possess. These high-quality clubs are offered by both teaching staff and outside providers (Premier Education, Coach Sharon and Coach Tom). In addition to this we have Coaches Ross, Izzy and Richard from Gainsborough Trinity who work with groups at lunchtime to develop their sports skills and attitudes. For two afternoons a week Coach Ross supports specific children in their learning both in and out of the classroom.

Our community also involves children taking part in competitive sports through intra and inter competitions held throughout the year. This gives our children the opportunity to take part in competitions within school (through our house challenges and sports day events) and against other children from local schools in the area. Competitions may include; football, netball, Tag-rugby, cross country,  tennis, field and track athletics. Over the last few years, the school have been successful in their application for ‘School Games’ awards at both Bronze (2017-2018) and Silver (2018-2019) level. This shows that we have an embedded culture of successful competitive sports here at St. George’s.

We offer our children the opportunity to learn to swim at the local leisure centre. Our school’s programme of study gives children in year 4 and 5 weekly swimming lessons for part of the year. Year 6 children will have additional lessons in the summer term if required. The school is committed to giving children the best opportunity to swim a distance of 25m as expected by the government.

Children in KS2 are also given the opportunity to attend adventure camp residential trips which will allow them to take part in other outdoor pursuits such as wall climbing and abseiling, archery and rafting, along with many others not available in the school environment. In addition to this they participate in orienteering days held in school three times a year by Premier Sport coaches.

Throughout the year we hold whole school WOW days which involve teaching the children new sports they suggest or have never tried. In the last year we had golf, fencing, cricket and Taekwondo enhancing and developing our children’s knowledge and skills in a different sport.

Early Years Foundation Stage

The EYFS follows the ‘Development Matters’ (2021) guidance which aims for all children in reception to understand ‘physical; personal, social and emotional development’ by the end of the academic year. The children will learn new skills, knowledge and attitudes in the seven areas of the EYFS Framework. Their learning and development within these seven areas will be nurtured and challenged in the following ways.

• Continuous provision that stimulates investigation and questioning through an enabling environment,
• Child-initiated play where children can select resources for their own learning,
• Adult modelling provides a framework for role-play and activities the children can then recreate and develop independently,
• Adult led activities which will focus on direct teaching and guided learning.

Impact

Our PE Curriculum is high-quality, well thought out and planned to demonstrate progression. If children are keeping up with the curriculum, they are deemed to be making good or better progress. Outcomes in PE sessions and pupil interviews evidence a broad and balanced curriculum. In addition, we measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods:

• Reflecting on standards achieved against the planned outcomes (teacher reflections and ‘deep dive’ sessions);
• Children retaining knowledge that is pertinent to PE (pupil interviews and session observations);
• Children’s enjoyment of PE lessons and keenness to find out more about the past (pupil interviews);
• The school’s prominence in competitive sports is known in the local community (pupil interviews and competitions);
• Successful communication with outside providers of sports – Premier Education, Coach Sharon, Coach Tom and Gainsborough Trinity (communication logs, emails, conversations, observations);
• SLT are kept informed through feedback from moderations, subject reports and annual subject action plans.

All of these aspects of monitoring are designed to give the subject leader a clear picture of the PE curriculum within school.