Intent

At St Peter's CEP School, PE is a significant part of the children's learning journey. We aim to create a culture that encourages all of our children to be active and have positive attitudes towards physical activity and healthy lifestyles. High quality physical education enables our pupils to become physically confident as well as supporting their health, well-being and fitness, providing foundations for lifelong activity. We strive to inspire our pupils to be physically active every day providing opportunities through PE lessons; incorporation of active lessons across the curriculum; at break times and offer a range of extra-curricular clubs before and after school.  

Through the teaching of PE at St Peter's, we aim to encourage children to develop four key aspects: Physical skills, Social skills, Thinking skills and Health and Wellbeing. Within teach avenue children will develop the following:  

Implementation

Each child in Year 1-6 receives 2 hours of PE a week with specialist coaches or class teachers, while year R receive 1 hour of PE each week. These sessions are planned to cover a broad and full range of skills and activities. We offer a progressive curriculum in which children are given time to explore and practise these skills, revisiting them again in each year group. Children have equal opportunities to take part in a range of sports and physical activities within a supportive environment where effort as well as success is recognised. Below is a chart as to how we promote and implement PE practices across Physical Education, School Sport and Physical Activity.

Each year teachers are asked to complete a PE teaching audit based on the upcoming curriculum and input areas that they feel they could use support in. From this the PE coordinator will allocate a PE specialist teacher to work with the teacher to up-skill their PE knowledge in areas they feel they need support in. We work in partnership with Pure Sport Coaching (PSC) to provide Teacher upskilling in PE. Our specialist PE teacher works 1:1 with a teacher on a specific sport for a term, building the teachers’ confidence at delivering the PE curriculum of a specific knowledge pathway.

In Years 3-6 we offer swimming at Crowborough Leisure Centre, providing opportunities for all children to achieve the swimming requirements within the National Curriculum.

The children in Reception have regular opportunities to foster physical development including a daily outdoor child-initiated session; Bike-ability sessions as well as a teacher directed session of PE and games from Term 3. For the academic year 2023 – 2024 PE has been divided into 10 different knowledge pathways. Each are spread across all year groups to give a variety and broad curriculum experience. Opportunities for recapping prior learning is built into different knowledge pathways as different sports and activities use similar skills and knowledge.

In addition to the knowledge pathways taught, St Peter’s School participates in regular intra (in school) and inter-school (between other schools) competitions and leagues for football, netball, tag-rugby, cricket and athletics. Many are linked to each terms learning, in order to promote skill and game play in a competitive arena. Children are selected to take part in various competitions and leagues based on ability, performance and enjoyment of the sport.

Furthermore, there are many after school clubs for seasonal sports including: Football, Netball, Multi-Skills, Gymnastics, Dance, Judo and Sports Preparation Club. Some of these are run by school staff and others are run by outside providers. (See ‘Clubs’ section on the school website for more details.)

Impact

Children at St. Peter’s CEP School will aim to complete each key stage with a high proficiency in each aspect of PE, including:

• Understand the benefits of exercise on both physical and mental health.
• Have improved fitness levels.
• Have a positive and engaged attitude towards PE / physical activity.
• Have developed flexibility, strength, technique, control, agility, co-ordination and balance. They have mastered basic movements including: running, jumping, throwing and catching and are able to apply these to a range of sports.
• Have taken their interest and enthusiasm for a particular type of sport and continued to pursue it out of school.
• Have increased self-esteem through representing the school in competitions and festivals involving other schools.
• Leave us able to swim 25 metres and able to demonstrate safe self-rescue.

The children in Reception have regular opportunities to foster physical development including a daily outdoor child-initiated session; Balance-ability sessions as well as a teacher directed session of PE and games. In EYFS, PE is measured using the early learning goals. Concepts of PE therefore can broadly fit into 5 goals below:

Assessment of PE in EYFS is assessment with two options for a teacher to judge a child’s development at the end of the Reception year. Instead of the previous “exceeding” development, practitioners must now only decide whether a child is ‘meeting expected levels of development,’ or ‘not yet reaching expected levels (emerging)’.

Physical Education is the perfect vehicle through which to develop the crucial skills and attributes required for the modern world. Effective delivery of the National Curriculum Expectations will ensure that children develop into thinking physical beings and doing physical beings which impact on the behavioural change to equip them for lifelong participation. From year 1 to Year 6, assessment of PE is completed using the concept of Head (thinking) Hands (doing) and Heart (behavioural change), teachers can assess the children under each of these categories.

Assessment of skills using the Head, Hand, Heart approach is done each long season using teacher assessment and the following example grids. Data is then collated and added to Insight to track progress and attainment across year groups and key stages.

We also further measure impact of our PE curriculum using lesson observations, teach assessments, pupil voice and pupil questionnaires. The outcome of this work forms a basis for the coming years action plans, Sports funding spend and evaluation of impact.

Inclusion

At St. Peter’s all pupils have the opportunity to take part and develop their Physical Education. The school promotes equal opportunities and fairness of distribution of PE resources. Teachers are made aware of children in their class who have a specific learning need and actions are put in place to ensure that barriers to learning are minimised. Whether that is 1:1 support, specialist equipment or adaptations to the learning environment, every effort it made to allow for all children to gain in their understanding and knowledge needed for Physical Education and development.

Useful websites: 

• Association for Physical Education - www.afpe.org.uk/physical-education/
• Youth Sports Trust - www.youthsporttrust.org/
• School Games - www.yourschoolgames.com/