Physical Education

At St. Andrew's, we know that all children are entitled to an excellent physical education and we believe that all children can develop the competence to excel in a broad range of physical activities. We understand the importance of a well-structured and ambitious PE curriculum in promoting life-long habits of physical activity with the potential to positively impact our children’s long term physical and mental health and wellbeing.

Physical Education provides opportunities for all our pupils to develop their ability to listen, co-operate and act responsibly and independently.

Our high quality Physical Education curriculum aims to engage and inspire pupils to develop both a love of being physically active and a confidence and competence to participate in a range of challenging physical activities.

As our pupils progress through our curriculum, we maintain a focus on ensuring children are able to engage in physical activity for increasingly sustained periods of time. We teach children to understand and appreciate the value of sustained cardiovascular exercise for their long-term physical and mental health. We also ensure that children are taught to swim competently, confidently and proficiently for at least 25 metres unaided by swimming instructors using a range of strokes. All children are taught safe self-rescue and are taught how to enjoy water safely.

Throughout our PE curriculum, we teach children of all levels of confidence and competence how to engage in competitive sports and activities. Children learn to participate positively in whichever team they are assigned to in a lesson, whilst maintaining a sense of belonging to their class team and therefore respecting and encouraging members of an opposing team in a match or activity.

We place a high value on what our children remember from their primary PE education. We regularly review prior learning to ensure that knowledge, understanding and skills build progressively over time. We also endeavour to ensure that every child leaves St. Andrew's with a positive memory of their experience in PE lessons so that they take with them a sense of motivation and confidence for the next steps in their physical education. We instil in each child a respect for their right to be healthy and active now and in their futures.

In the Early Years physical development is a prime area of learning. Through carefully planned indoor and outdoor opportunities in the continuous provision as well as group movement activities, children develop the strength, coordination, balance and agility needed to engage successfully with future physical education in KS1 and KS2. Children learn to safely and confidently use a range of large and small apparatus. They revise and refine the fundamental movement skills of rolling, walking, jumping, running, hopping, skipping and climbing and progress towards a more fluent style of moving, with developing control. In Reception, children begin to develop ball skills such as throwing, catching, kicking, passing, batting and aiming which are refined and built upon in KS1 and applied to a range of meaningful contexts.

As the children progress into Key Stage 1 and throughout Key Stage 2, each class has a weekly PE lesson taught by a specialist PE coach. High-quality resources from PE Planning support lesson planning and delivery. Procedural and declarative knowledge is revisited in lessons to secure the retention of key vocabulary and skills over time. Each lesson involves a dynamic warm up and a review of prior learning. In every PE lesson, children are taught to be physically competent in one or more relevant movement skills. They also develop their knowledge of strategies and tactics and their ability to participate in physical activity in a healthy and positive manner. Sustained physical activity is planned for in every lesson so that children develop and maintain their fitness and stamina over time.

At St. Andrew's, children engage in a rich and varied range of physical activities in half-termly units (or termly for swimming). Our curriculum includes three invasion games (basketball, football and hockey) which are taught in alternate year groups to ensure progression and retention over time. We also teach tennis and cricket as non-invasion sports, to develop children’s object control  in a different context with significant cultural significance.

In Key Stage 1, specific units are taught to develop the children’s  foundations in agility, balance and object control skills. Through KS1 and KS2, this learning is embedded and we build children’s competence in gymnastics, dance, and a range of athletic activities such as javelin throwing  and sprinting both as individuals and in team relays.

In KS2, children visit a local swimming pool for swimming lessons.  At our school we are committed to providing a range of opportunities for children of all levels of confidence and attainment to participate in healthy competition, through tournaments with local schools and a yearly whole-school sporting event.

Click here to view our PE CURRICULUM MAP