PE

Physical Education

Intent 

At St John’s Church of England Infant School, we believe that Physical Education (P.E.), experienced in a safe and supportive environment is essential to ensure children attain optimum physical and emotional development and good health. We intend to provide high-quality teaching and learning opportunities that inspire all children to succeed in physical education and in developing life skills.  We believe PE provides opportunities for pupils to become physically confident in a way which supports their health and fitness; leading to a healthier lifestyle. Opportunities to compete in sport builds character and helps to embed our core values such as kindness and respect.  We also want to teach children how to cooperate and collaborate with others as part of an effective team and understanding fairness of play. The curriculum aims to improve the wellbeing and fitness of all children at St John’s Church of England Infant School, not only through the sporting skills taught, but through the underpinning values and disciplines PE promotes.

At St John’s Church of England Infant School, we aim to provide a P.E. curriculum that pupils from Reception to Year 2 not only enjoy but also allows them to experience a range of activities that help them to develop their health, fitness and wellbeing.  Our P.E. curriculum aims to provide an engaging and challenging curriculum that allows all students to achieve beyond their expectations.  We aim to ensure that all pupils develop the fundamental skills and competence to excel in a wide range of physical activities by providing a broad and balanced curriculum with opportunities for all.  We encourage all our pupils to be active and engaged in our P.E. lessons to enable them to get the most out of their lessons and inspire them to reach their potential.   

We want all students to feel they belong as part of a team, believe in their healthy potential and become as physically, socially and emotionally well as they can be.  We do this by developing the attitudes, skills and knowledge required and provide memorable experiences throughout a child’s journey with Physical Education.

The national curriculum for P.E. aims to ensure that all pupils:

• develop competence to excel in a broad range of physical activities
• are physically active for sustained periods of time
• engage in competitive sports and activities
• lead healthy, active lives

Implementation 

P.E. is taught at St John’s Church of England Infant School as an area of learning in its own right, as well as being integrated where possible with other curriculum areas.  The curriculum is further enhanced by participation in a variety of sporting tournaments with other schools and after school clubs such as dance and athletics. Children develop their knowledge of games, dance and gymnastics. The skills in these areas are also therefore developed systematically, with the programme of study for each year group building on previous learning and preparing for subsequent years. 

We teach lessons so that children:

• develop fundamental movement skills, become increasingly competent and confident and access a broad range of opportunities to extend their agility, balance and coordination, individually and with others.
• engage in competitive (both against self and against others) and co-operative physical activities, in a range of increasingly challenging situations.
• apply and develop a broad range of skills, learning how to use them in different ways and to link them to make actions and sequences of movement.
• enjoy communicating, collaborating and competing with each other.
• develop an understanding of how to improve in different physical activities and sports and learn how to evaluate and recognise their own success.

Lessons are delivered to utilise cross curricular links, as well as the context of the school (including school and local grounds and access to facilities and community role models, such as sports coaches, with specialist skills). The varied curriculum is designed to enable all children to enjoy physical activity and to experience success in sport.  Extra-curricular provision also provides further challenge and access to a range of physical activity. All children have the opportunity to participate in P.E. at their own level of development, with teachers ensuring that lessons cater for individual needs. As well as securing and building on a range of skills, children develop knowledge of the basic rules of a range of games and activities. They experience positive competition and a strong focus is placed on developing good sporting attitudes. Children learn in a safe environment and have a foundation for lifelong physical activity, leaving infant school as physically active pupils.

Impact 

At St John’s Church of England Infant School, we believe that we help motivate children to participate in a variety of sports through quality teaching that is engaging and fun. From our lessons, our children learn to take responsibility for their own health and fitness, fostering an understanding that physical exercise plays a vital role in overall health and well-being. We equip our children with the necessary skills and a love for sport. They will hopefully grow up to live happy and healthy lives utilising the skills and knowledge acquired through P.E.