Physical Education (PE)
We believe that Physical Education, experienced in a safe and cooperative environment, is vital and unique in its contribution to a pupils’ physical and emotional development, as well as their health and well-being.
''Physical fitness is not only one of the most important keys to a healthy body, it is the basis of dynamic and creative intellectual activity'' - John F. Kennedy.
Intent
Curriculum
At St Gerard’s, our PE curriculum is designed to give pupils the opportunity to access a high quality education which inspires them to succeed and excel in both competitive sports and other physically demanding activities. We aim to provide children with opportunities to become physically confident and manage themselves successfully in a variety of situations. We believe that it is important to cater to the needs of individual pupils by providing a balance of individual, team, co-operative and competitive activities that suit the needs and abilities of our children. In addition to providing high quality teaching of physical development, it is also our intent to help pupils build character and develop a sense of key values including fair play, respect and sportsmanship. At St Gerard’s, we aim to develop our children’s understanding of the importance of leading healthy, active lives. We want our children to understand the benefits that leading a healthy, active lifestyle has for our mental health and wellbeing. We strive for our children to be the best that they can be.
Extra-Curricular
Offers maximum opportunity to children of all dispositions to enjoy clubs and initiatives outside of school hours. This allows pupils to develop themselves as a whole person, build a sound knowledge of basic skills and build a positive relationship with physical health.
Competition
Gives children an opportunity to develop a better sense of competition- either competing against themselves, others in a recognised environment (eg: PE lessons) or against an unrecognised opponent. Increased exposure to competition will allow pupils to better develop their relationship with physical health and its ability to build traits such as cooperation, passion, pride, competitiveness, self-belief, respect, honest, determination and teamwork.
Implement
Curriculum
Children are provided with 1 hour (EYFS) or 2 hours (KS1/KS2) of timetabled lessons each week, allowing pupils to develop themselves as a whole person, build a sound knowledge of basic skills, develop the values of PE in our school and build a positive relationship with physical health. We use the Get Set 4 PE scheme to deliver high quality PE lessons to our children.
At St Gerard’s, all children have the opportunity to be taught by our specialist sports coach, Mr Firkins, from Full of Beans. Our hall and outdoor space is timetabled in order to give each class an opportunity to access PE lessons. We make links to the School Games Values where appropriate in order to enhance children’s understanding of the values associated to physical health and sport. We have long term plans to support the planning of sessions and to view the overall journey for children in PE throughout the year.
Children are also provided with opportunities to work with outside agencies to develop their sporting abilities and engagement within the subject. We believe that it is important for our children to be provided with opportunities by specialist providers to ensure they receive the best possible PE education at St Gerard’s.
Extra-Curricular
After school sports clubs are run by our Sports Coach. They give children opportunities to develop their physical fitness as well as broaden their understanding of the theory around keeping fit and healthy. Clubs can vary, depending on the interests of our children.
Our Active Minutes
We encourage our children to be physically active for 15 minutes each day. This may be through the Daily Mile, a workout/physical activity or using Moki watches. This is an initiative to engage all children in extra-curricular sporting activities, increase their levels of fitness, help to reduce obesity levels and help children to develop greater resilience and determination.
Competition
Children are exposed to competitions during PE lessons through structured games and activities that cement their learning. All children will also be provided with the opportunity to represent their class during intra-school competitions. KS1 and KS2 can also represent the school through inter-school competitions where they come off site to compete against other schools and children. We are part of the School Games in Halton and access their competition calendar. Together, our Sports Coach and PE Coordinator timetable a list of events to attend throughout the year.
Impact
Curriculum
Within each PE lesson, children are assessed against the National Curriculum objectives and skills that are being taught in that session. We follow the scheme ‘Get Set 4 PE’ throughout the school. Evidence of children’s learning is recorded through photographs and notes. At the end of each topic, assessments are completed so that we are aware of where the children are at with their learning. These are then shared with Class Teachers and discussions take place to discuss ways to support those who are not performing to the expected standard for their year group. We intend for pupils to have an increased understanding of our objectives and feel that they have made progress in those areas. Through Pupil Questionnaires at different points of the year, we are able to see the impact that PE lessons are having on our children as well as developing a set of next steps to know how to develop teaching.
Extra-Curricular
Clubs are usually run by a highly skilled professional who use their own internal assessment and monitoring to ensure high quality provision is provided for all. After-school sports clubs are monitored in order to make sure that we are offering the best clubs that are being enjoyed by the children. We will listen to pupils and teacher feedback about clubs throughout the year and ensure that we use this feedback to provide the most suitable clubs for our children.
Competition
The impact from participation in competitions will be measured by listening to pupil and teacher feedback about pupil’s attitudes to competition throughout the year. We will also look at the results of the competitions that we attend and look to improve our results (both scores and relationships with events) throughout the year.
School Games Mark
We are delighted to have achieved the School Games Mark Silver Award for the 2021-22 academic year!
PE at Home:
Being physically active is crucial in supporting both children's mental and physical health! Further links are attached below for children to engage in PE and sports at home. We would love to see you getting involved- tag us on Twitter @StGerardsWidnes so that we can see what you have been getting up to!
Premier League Primary Stars- Weekly Challenges
Youth Sport Trust- Coronavirus Support and Resources
You can keep up to date with what we are doing in our PE lessons by searching #StGerardsPE on Twitter!
@StGerardsWidnes