Physical Education| How we do it

At Willows, we develop active learners from the minute they walk through the door and this is no different in PE. Fundamental skills are taught throughout the Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 to ensure children have the basic skills needed to access and enjoy any sport. These are covered many times, in a range of different ways, so that all children have the chance to master them. Without these fundamental skills, children would become unengaged and frustrated in PE which is where a dislike for PE starts to develop. So, by concentrating on these skills it gives all the children the basics to develop and adapt to a range of games/sports in Key Stage 2.

The PE curriculum at Willows is taught through Get Set 4 PE which is in line with the National Curriculum, and has been adapted so it takes into consideration the experiences of our children. Our long term plan guides teachers through what area of PE need to be taught and when, and has been designed so that the children (and teachers) can build on prior learning. The long term plan gives the children many opportunities to apply skills taught in a range of settings, not only in each individual year group, but across year groups allowing a teaching to mastery approach throughout school. Different skills are recapped throughout and built upon across the years; allowing children to know more and remember more. Each class has access to two hours of high quality PE lessons every week. These are either taught by the class teacher or by our HLTA Sports Coach who has received the relevant training and support. Year 4 receive an intense swimming course in the Spring Term where they swim for 45minutes every day for 2/3 weeks. They are in small groups of 10 children so this means that children have the best opportunity to meet the swimming requirements. They are learning every day and can retrieval the skills needed easily.

A PE lesson at Willows, no matter what year group, is no different to any other lesson and the expectations of the children are also no different. All children need to be active for sustained periods and should be moving/learning within 2 minutes. Whilst there can be occasions when this may not happen due to a specific focus, throughout the duration of the unit it should be acknowledged and aspired to. All lessons are designed to be exciting, interesting and challenging. Lessons are broken down into four key areas: warm up, main focus, application/competition and cool down. This format not only allows the children to understand the importance of getting their bodies ready for exercise ,but also the chance to apply the skills they have learnt in a competitive way. We also believe that being a good sports person is just important as being competitive. So, in Key Stage 2 children are also taught how to control games, plan them and teach them. All units will have some form of application whether that be a competition, performance or tournament.

We offer a wide range of sporting after school clubs run by a range of our own teaching staff which are free for all children and run every night of the week. These clubs change on a termly basis depending on what School Games competitions are coming up, and what interests the children have at the time; all cater to a range of abilities. A range of inter and intra events run throughout the school year, giving children opportunities to take part in competitive sports at different levels. These competitions also allow the children to gain an understanding of wider competition and how to compete on a wider stage.

Assessments are based on our sports coach’s half termly assessment on Get Set 4 PE which is they used alongside our teachers’ judgements and recorded on O Track – our whole school assessment system. Our teachers access the children against ‘Whole Child’ objectives as well as skill based objectives as we want our children to develop in a well-rounded, healthy way. These areas are assessed at the end of each unit and in turn so what progress has been made by the end of the year.  Children are aware of and are involved in the assessment process so they understand the progress they are making. Pupils are also given time to reflect on their learning and take part in self, peer and group feedback within the lesson.

When leaving Willows, we want our children to be well-rounded children that have the skills and initiative to tackle any problem. PE is no different. We want our children to have developed a love of sport and exercise, have the basic skills to be able to attempt any sporting challenge, not to be afraid to try something new and to have a wide range of experiences behind them that they can draw on moving forward. We also ensure that the children have a good understanding of the world around them in terms of sport and sporting culture, this includes gaining an understanding of ‘the Greats’ of sport and people they can aspire to be. Throughout their time at Willows, we want our children to have developed their own style of competing, whether that be with themselves or in a team, know when to compete, how to win and how to lose, but ultimately how to better themselves and develop themselves through PE and sport.