PE

Quotes that guide us:

‘Every winner was once a beginner.’

‘A healthy mind in a healthy body.’ famous Latin quotation

Why is it important to teach PE? (Intent)

A high-quality Physical Education curriculum inspires all pupils to succeed and excel in competitive sport and other physically demanding activities. It should provide 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. (National Curriculum for PE 2014)

We believe that it is important for children to understand and embrace the links between physical activity and mental wellbeing. Children are encouraged to take part in regular physical activity, which lay the foundation for a healthy and active lifestyle. Alongside the physical benefits of a high-quality physical education curriculum, we recognise the positive impact it has on children’s social and cognitive skills. Through a broad, well-taught curriculum, pupils will develop skills in decision making, analysis, resilience and collaboration.

Key Concepts:

•        Promoting the importance of exercise and physical activity
•        Sport and physical activity is for everyone
•        Develop competence to excel in a broad range of physical activities
•        Competition is an important part of sport and we all need to learn to win and to lose
•        That skills in sport are transferrable to other sports but also other areas in life
•        Working as part of a team is important in sport and in life
•        Physical activity also supports our mental health and helps us to be happy
•        That physical movement can bring us joy
•        It is important to understand how our body works and how we can keep it healthy

Curriculum Design (Implementation)

All three schools within Discovery Multi-Academy Trust use Cambridgeshire Scheme of Work for Physical Education, which is a has been produced to support the planning and delivery of National Curriculum Physical Education as a response to the 2014 review. It is about teaching PE in a way that engages and challenges EVERY child in primary school.  Cambridgeshire SoW involves both ‘learning to move’ (i.e. becoming more physically competent) and ‘moving to learn’ (e.g. learning through movement, a range of skills and understandings beyond physical activity, such as co-operating with others). The context for the learning is physical activity, with children experiencing a broad range of activities, including recognisable sporting applications, swimming, OAA and dance.

The notion of ‘learning to move; moving to learn’ underpins a high-quality Physical Education curriculum and aims to support staff to deliver consistently high-quality Physical Education lessons.

What we do well as a Trust (Impact)

Our curriculum is designed so that children are taught a variety of activities throughout their Key Stage and there is a progression journey through all of these. All three schools follow the same PE scheme, which gives consistency across the MAT. Children in all three schools, have the opportunity to take part in extra-curricular activities and demonstrate their new skills in intra and inter sport competitions through the Plymouth Schools Sport Partnership. The partnership also offers CPD opportunities for staff to improve PE teaching. In addition to this, pupils across the MAT have swimming lessons to achieve the National Curriculum objective to be able to swim 25 metres unaided and use a range of strokes effectively. They are also taught about water safety.