Physical Education

Intent

The national curriculum states:

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.

P.E. is considered a vital part of our pupil’s experience in school. As such, we intend to provide valuable opportunities to participate in a wide range of sports and physical activities. We aim to inspire our pupils to lead active, healthy lifestyles and encourage them to make active links with sports clubs within the local community and beyond. Instilling our values is another key aspect of what we deliver at St Nicholas. One of our core behavioural values is ‘being the best that we can be’, this is integral to PE at St Nicholas in terms of pupils aiming to perform at their best and in the way they conduct themselves to team mates or the opposition when competing. We intend to teach children at St Nicholas how eating a healthy balanced diet, combined with participating in sport or regular exercise leads to positive well- being.

Implementation

Sports

At St Nicholas we understand how important it is to deliver a high-quality curriculum where pupils are active during lessons and not sedentary for long periods. Pupils have 2 hours of PE each week- one hour taught by a specialist from Total Sports Coaching (TSC) and one hour taught by their class teacher. TSC provide high quality lessons with clear progression ensuring all pupils can access the curriculum and achieve their potential. ‘Our mission is to provide opportunities for people to reach their own individual potential through sport.’ (TSC) Within these lessons pupils learn tactics, skills and strategy in a wide range of sports. Lessons incorporate a mix of improving individual skills as well as partner work and teamwork.

Dance

At St Nicholas, teachers use imoves as a digital tool to provide engaging dance lessons that are well sequenced in terms of progression of skills and levels of difficulty. These lessons provide pupils with opportunities to develop individual dance skills and movements as well as partner and team work. Once pupils have learnt a variety of dance moves from a particular genre of dance, they then work in small groups to choreograph their own dances using the movements and skills taught within the unit. A mixture of teacher, self and peer evaluation/ assessment is key in these sessions and pupils learn how to adapt and improve their dance movements, timing and formations from listening to feedback. Pupils dance units are linked, were possible, to our Cornerstone curriculum, for example if pupils were learning about the Romans or the Egyptians in History, teachers use those dance units in their PE sessions. Imoves also provides ‘active blasts’ which are brain breaks for pupils that gets them up out of their seats for short bursts of activity which helps to refocus them and re-engage them with their learning.

Gymnastics

Gymnastics is taught by teachers using the Key Step Gymnastics Framework. This gymnastics curriculum is organised into a ‘Body Management’ section and a ‘Floor Exercise’ section. Key Step Gymnastics provides coaching notes for teachers and pupils to help them improve and achieve their potential. It is broken down into Key Stage One and lower and upper Key Stage Two expectations.

Intra-house Competitions

At the end of each half term, pupils participate in an inter-house competition in the sport that they have just been focusing on. The winning house goes on the PE display board in the sports hall. Other inter-house competitions happen throughout the year to provide pupils with further opportunities to compete in friendly matches, be active and most importantly have fun!

Inter-school Competitions

A portion of our Sport’s Premium money is spent on being members of Thanet Passport. Thanet Passport provides a calendar of sports events and inter-school competitions in a huge variety of sports, team events and individual events such as Cross Country. At St Nicholas, we pride ourselves on the number of events we compete in for a small school. Over the past few years we have competed in Football, Cross Country, Basketball, Mini Tennis, Kwik Cricket, Super 8 Cricket, Dodgeball, Rounders, Sports Hall Athletics, Multi-sports and Handball. Whilst at these events, St Nicholas pupils are encouraged to demonstrate the school values which coincide with the Passport Code of Conduct of fairness and respect. Parents often stay to spectate and cheer on their children during these events which helps our school build positive relationships with parents. Attending these events, often leads to our pupils becoming aware of local clubs and sports opportunities within the community. Our attendance at so many events has been one of the reasons why we have been awarded a Gold Sports Mark 6 times.

Swimming

Lots of our pupils live near the sea so we understand how vital it is to ensure pupils can swim safely and enjoy themselves. Pupils at St Nicholas use the pool at Joy Lane Primary School where they are taught through the STA School Swimming Academy Programme. This fantastic programme is specifically designed for primary school children and ensures the pupils work towards the National Curriculum requirements for strokes and distances. It also helps pupils develop water confidence, key lifesaving and water safety skills.

Daily Mile

We have the daily mile footprints and arrows marked out around our school. Classes participate in the daily mile which goes towards their active 60 minutes.

Assessment

Assessment is ongoing during lessons in both TSC and class teacher led lessons so that teaching points and skills can be reinforced and improved in the moment and in the context of mini games etc. Pupils are awarded a Bronze, Silver and or Gold Certificate by TSC at the end of a unit.

The PE Lead is also making ongoing informal assessments during lessons, clubs and competitions. She observes teachers throughout the year to ensure lessons are being delivered as agreed and to provide support to teachers were necessary. Any lesson observations are carried out in a supportive manner and would often involve some team teaching.

Parents receive feedback on their pupils P.E. during parents evenings and on their formal school report. Further informal, often encouraging feedback is provided to parents by the PE Lead who has accompanied pupils to events or led clubs.

Resources

P.E. equipment is stored safely in the locked P.E. shed in the KS2 building. The Sports Lead is responsible for liaising with the head teacher and the office if new resources or equipment are required.

Health and Safety

Before lessons, it is expected that teachers will have checked the playground or field area for any potential hazards. Separate risk assessments are carried out for attending Passport events at other schools. Rings and necklaces should not be worn. If earrings are not removed then they should be covered up with appropriate tape. During the summer, pupils should have access to shade and should wear sun cream when doing P.E. outside in sunny weather. Pupils should have access to regular water breaks were appropriate during hot weather. Equipment is regularly checked by the PE leader and teachers are well aware of safe distances when pupils are using equipment. During gymnastics, mats and using the correct technique for movements such as forward rolls are all taken into consideration.

Equal opportunities

All pupils will have an equality of access to a broad and balanced P.E. curriculum irrespective of gender, ethnicity or special educational needs.

Additional Educational Needs/Special Educational Needs

All pupils will have access to the full National Curriculum for P.E. Pupils with specific learning difficulties and disabled pupils will be provided with modified learning programmes, resources and equipment appropriate to their needs. For most pupils, curriculum access will be enabled through the use of modified teaching methods, modified equipment and the deployment of learning support assistants. Our subscription to imoves also provides movement cards so that if pupils need movement breaks they can select one and do this outside their room, then return to class more ready to focus.

Impact

PE is a key subject for demonstrating school values. These values of honesty, courage, resilience and kindness are demonstrated within sport at St Nicholas. They radiate through the rest of the school and beyond when pupils compete in front of their families or within their community. Our school receives feedback from parents on their children’s sporting involvement and achievements. This is celebrated in worship through sharing certificates and medals. In addition, sporting news is shared with the school community in our weekly newsletters. Pupils at St Nicholas experience a broad, well planned and varied sports curriculum which enables them to develop their physical skills and mental resilience. Our curriculum provides a balance between pupils developing skills and having opportunities to compete in competition to implement these skills. When our pupils participate in intra-house events or attend inter-school competitions; they show ‘the St Nicholas Way’ by how they compete and conduct themselves before, during and after the matches. Our pupils understand the benefits of eating a healthy diet and how, through sport and exercise, they can achieve a healthy lifestyle and maintain positive wellbeing. Many of our pupils are involved in community sports and local clubs. Some compete at district level in football. Our school has been awarded a Gold Sports Mark for our promotion of sport within our school, our inclusivity, our sports leaders and for the vast number of different sports we compete in against other schools.

Subject leaders evaluate the impact of our PE curriculum through dedicated 'Subject Weeks'. During these weeks, leaders engage in a comprehensive examination of their subjects, which includes book scrutiny, observing teaching, tracking planning, and conducting pupil conferencing. This thorough approach enables leaders to ascertain the effectiveness of the planned curriculum in enhancing pupils' knowledge, understanding and outcomes in line with the endpoints. The process provides a 360-degree perspective on the intent behind the curriculum, allowing leaders to make informed decisions and strategically plan for subsequent steps to optimise educational outcomes for all students.