Subject Leader: Cheryl Spofforth

“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

What will our children learn and why?

Physical Education (PE) at Allanson Street will provide opportunities for children to become physically confident in a way which supports their health and fitness. Opportunities to compete in sport and other activities will be offered to all children in order to build character and help to embed all our school values such as resilience and respect. Through PE, we aim to develop the children’s knowledge, skills and understanding, so that they can perform with increasing confidence and competence in a range of physical activities. We aim to improve health and well-being, promote active participation and lifelong learning, and for each child to fulfil their potential. We aim to ensure that the children’s experience of PE is positive and motivating and that children’s attitudes to a healthy lifestyle are firmly embedded in our curriculum.

PE is not just what happens in the planned learning during timetabled curriculum time. A PESSPA approach is followed to include PE lessons, school games events and competitions, extra-curricular clubs and enrichments. This ensures Physical Education at Allanson Street is inclusive, holistic, accessible, and challenging.

Sport is just one aspect of PE and at Allanson Street we also strive to raise awareness of the benefits of exercise and healthy eating and encourage physical activity for all. Physical literacy is defined as: ‘the motivation, confidence, physical competence, knowledge and understanding that provides children with the movement foundation for lifelong participation in physical activity’. So, while not every child will necessarily enjoy the competitive or technical aspect of sports, our approach means all children will achieve physical competence and confidence through learning fundamental skills and developing those transferable skills and values essential for lifelong learning.

How will we ensure that our children leave us equipped with the knowledge and skills needed to flourish in the next stage of their learning journey and beyond?

As a school, we use ‘Complete PE’, an interactive Physical Education resource which is designed to support the implementation of a high-quality Physical Education curriculum. This is a progressive and sequential scheme of work which has allowed us to create a curriculum which has the needs of our children at its forefront; ensuring we can confidently adapt learning and challenge all children in their learning to develop the whole child.

In Nursery and Reception, children continuously have the opportunity to be physically active and develop their fundamental movement skills with free flow opportunities for indoor and outdoor play, alongside a focus on the prime curriculum area of Physical Development underpinning the whole EYFS curriculum.

For children in KS1, the focus is on the teaching of the fundamental skills and in KS2, the children apply these fundamental skills and develop their sporting skills to participate in a wide variety of sports.

Children in Years 4, 5 and 6 attend swimming lessons, where they are taught to swim competently, confidently and proficiently over a distance of 25m using a range of strokes and perform safe self-rescue in different water-based situations.

A further outdoor, physical activity we provide is Forest School. Reception children access forest school one afternoon a week while children in Years 1 to 6 have a full afternoon for a full half term each year. Forest School is great for developing physical motor skills, self-confidence and an emotional awareness in the natural world. Outdoor activities may also focus on a variety of other physical skills such as balancing, climbing and sensory skills.

At Allanson Street we are lucky to have some excellent indoor and outdoor facilities: the sports hall in the Thompson Centre, a large hall, the large field which includes a Forest School area, a large outdoor area for EYFS, and two playgrounds to enable us to provide and facilitate a broad and balanced programme of learning within physical education. We have a range of equipment available in school and our children enjoy different games and physical exercise at lunchtime and during after school clubs. As a school, we recognise the importance of being active and try to encourage physical movement in many lessons.

Coach Adam is our full-time Sports Coach, who, alongside our class teachers, teaches PE to our children in Year 1 through to Year 6. With the delivery of fun and engaging sporting activities, he helps ensure our children are prepared for the events and competitions that we enter as part of St Helens School Games.

Children are proud to represent our school at the many tournaments we attend as a school as part of the St Helens School Games. The three levels of participation (inspire, aspire and celebrate) allow all our children an opportunity to aspire to take part, to feel like they belong and to believe they can achieve. Our ‘Sportsperson of the week’ award celebrates children who display our school values during their PE lessons throughout the week.

Through the many opportunities offered to participate in school games, we provide opportunities beyond the curriculum to allow our children to aspire and believe. For example, inviting professional athletes, such as the Tongan International Rugby League team to meet and greet our pupils and specific sports coaching, by foundations such as the Lancashire Cricket Foundation, to teach sports, such as cricket, to our children. In addition, we forge links with local sports clubs to ensure these opportunities are open and available for our children. Our dance lessons throughout school are taken by a professional dance teacher.

We are proud to have achieved the Platinum Schools Games Mark for 2021/2022 – 2022/23.

How will our PE curriculum make a difference for our children?

We believe our children will:

· Have thoroughly enjoyed PE sessions, developing their knowledge of effective PE skills and an awareness of how to keep themselves safe and well during physical activity. Therefore, children will be encouraged to undertake new sporting experiences and to keep themselves fit and healthy now and in the future.

· Develop progressively as they move through the school, not only to enable them to meet the requirements of the National Curriculum but to prepare them to become competent sportspeople in secondary education and for life as an adult in the wider world.

We strive for every child to achieve their full potential in PE and develop curiosity and excitement for health and well-being. We want our lessons to involve each child, maintain high levels of activity and promote a healthy lifestyle. We want them to believe they belong, be ready for their next stage in learning and inspire aspirations for the future career paths.

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