P.E. at Whitehouse Primary
Intent
Every child at Whitehouse Primary is recognised as a unique individual: we celebrate individuality and welcome difference within our school community.
It is our aim to provide our children with a curriculum that is aspirational for all with every child’s ability to learn underpinned by the good teaching of basic skills, knowledge, personal wellbeing, individual challenge and values that will prepare our children for life beyond primary school.
Physical education promotes an understanding in children of their bodies in action. It involves thinking, selecting and applying skills and promotes positive attitudes towards a healthy lifestyle. We want to enable our children to make informed choices about physical activities throughout their lives.
At Whitehouse, through our curriculum, we aim to provide all children with the opportunity to develop:
- Physical literacy by providing a skills-based, progressive and active curriculum
- Interpersonal skills, leadership qualities and values, build resilience and growth mindset qualities
- Introduce and inspire our children to try sporting experiences beyond the curriculum
- An understanding of the importance of being active on health and wellbeing
- Knowledge, skills and understanding, so that our children can perform with increasing competence and confidence in a range of physical activities
- Enjoyment of physical activity through using their creativity and imagination and enable them to work and play with others in a range of group situations
- Opportunity to attend sports festivals that develop and broaden the foundation learning that takes place within the curriculum and beyond.
Also, through our Sport’s Crew Leaders and Play Leaders/Buddies programme, we hope to promote and develop children who can:
- Take initiative and become excellent young leaders,
- Help with organising and officiating Schools Games’ Day, evaluating what needs to be done to improve,
- Motivate and instil excellent sporting attitudes in others
- Be positive sporting role models
Further information regarding our PE curriculum map can be found here. Our pupils are assessed against our Year Group End Points. This document can be found here.
Additional to our planned national curriculum, year 6 children enjoy an annual residential trip in the summer term where they undertake a series of outdoor and adventurous physical (and challenging) activities including: trekking, orienteering, bushcraft, high ropes, climbing, canoeing and weaselling.
During the Summer term, the children participate in a ‘School Games Day’ which is held for EYFS, KS1 and KS2 covers a range of non-competitive and competitive sporting activities; however the focus during these events is participation and team work.
As members of Stockton School Sports’ Partnership, pupils from EYFS to Year 6 have the opportunity to participate in variety of sporting festivals as well as School Games events held across the local authority, which introduce a more competitive element into sporting activities.
Implementation
Teaching of PE in the Foundation Stage:
Pupils within EYFS undertake daily physical exercise within a specialised external play area. They also participate in daily ‘wake up shake up’ sessions within class and have use of the school hall for structured activities. Cross-curricular links enable PE activities to take place during literacy and maths. PE lessons within the Foundation Stage are underpinned by the ‘GetSet4PE’ scheme of work and cover: The Lesson Outline, Key Questions and Vocabulary, Skills Development, Skills Practice and Application and Assessment against the Early Years Outcomes, particularly the Physical Development and Expressive Arts and Design areas of learning. Many of the outcomes are covered several times and throughout more than one unit in order for the children to demonstrate a secure level of skill or performance.
Teaching of PE in Key Stage 1 and 2:
All pupils from Year 1 to 6 have at least 2 hours’ worth of planned physical exercise each week following a cycle of lessons for each strand of PE, which carefully plans for progression and depth. End Points
Pupils from Year 1 to 6 also have the opportunity for physical activity during morning and lunchtime breaks on one of three well-equipped school yards, stocked with adventure equipment and sports’ resources. Staff and Play Leaders/Buddies (trained pupils from Year 5 and 6) are on duty to co-ordinate a range of active playground games. After school sports clubs are also on offer to pupils which include: football, cricket, athletics, dodgeball, dance, fitness, netball and multi-skills.
Active learning also takes place in lessons following guidance from the Youth Sport Trust 30:30 model. The Government Childhood Obesity Plan has set out the ambition for all children to achieve 60 minutes of physical activity every day, with schools being responsible for delivering 30 of these active minutes. Active 30:30 has been developed in our school to help reduce sedentary behaviour and increase physical activity in young people outside of timetabled curriculum PE. At Whitehouse, all staff are trained to provide our pupils with ‘active’ opportunities throughout the day which include: brain breaks, practical and physical tasks within core curriculum and foundation subjects, active times tables, TagTiv8 maths, Twinkl Move and Learn materials, regular outdoor run/walk/wheel times, active spellings and outdoor walk and talk sessions. We also promote the use of online active ideas from; BBS Supermovers (to consolidate key learning such as grammar, mathematical concepts, punctuation, etc), imoves, GoNoodle and Just Dance.
PE lessons at Whitehouse are delivered within a clear detailed structure, underpinned, in principle, by the ‘GetSet4PE’ scheme of work and adapted by staff using their knowledge of our PE intent and regular training to inform planning. We feel that this approach offers a progressive, skills-based and engaging curriculum that develops pupils’ motivation, competence and enjoyment whilst promoting their physical and mental wellbeing. Our key areas of coverage within lessons focus on: Knowledge and Understanding, Health and Fitness, Skills, Compete/Perform and Evaluate. Pupils are encouraged to work in a range of ways: as individuals, pairs, groups or as a whole class whilst the activities are clearly differentiated and assessed according to progression.
To ensure that our provision is consistent and seamless in delivery, we subscribe to the Stockton Sports Partnership on an annual basis. The SSP support Whitehouse to create opportunities for children to develop their physical, social and emotional skills through experiencing high quality PE, competition and sports leadership. The package they deliver aims to help us: engage our students in regular activity to kick start healthy & active lifestyles, increase the confidence, knowledge and skills of teachers and wider school staff in delivering PE & school sport, access a broader experience of a range of sports and activities for all students, encourage increased participation in competitive sport and use sport as a tool for whole school improvement.
In addition to a rich and balanced curriculum, Whitehouse Primary also holds a School Games Mark accreditation of ‘Gold’ and has been awarded this ranking since 2015. The School Games Mark is a government led awards scheme launched in 2012 to reward schools for their commitment to the development of competition across their school and into the community. Participating in this process allows Whitehouse to evaluate our PE provision and assists us in developing an action plan for future progress. It is an award applied for on a yearly basis that covers the basic topics of: Participation, Competition, Workforce and Clubs. Whitehouse Primary has achieved a ‘Gold’ ranking by demonstrating the key values that include:
Participation – Increasing Engagement by
- Providing all KS2 students with two hours of timetabled Physical Education per week (within the curriculum only) and have extra curriculum provision inclusive of physical activity in addition to this.
- Engaging at least 50% of KS2 pupils in extracurricular sporting and physical activity every week.
- Targeting provision for the least active young people in our school and achieve a minimum take up in sport of at least 15% from those identified as least active at the start of the academic year.
- Having a system in place to track young people’s participation in the School Games inclusive of physical activity.
- Providing tailored opportunities that attract less active young people to participate in physical activity.
- Having completed an ‘Inclusive Health Check’ within www.yourschoolgames.com.
- Having a PE coordinator who actively engages with their School Games Organiser
(SGO) as part of their Physical Activity and 60 Active Minutes CPD.
- Completing a method of tracking provision for physical activity across the school.
- Positioning ‘personal best’ as a key component of our School Games provision.
Competition – Developing Competitive Opportunities by
- Organising an annual School Games Day.
- Arranging a calendar that demonstrates opportunities for all young people with SEND and other targeted groups particular to our school, to take part in competitions and festivals.
- Promoting School Games activity using an in house notice board.
- Maximizing our school values to support the competition and festival experience for all young people.
- Using the School Games formats to provide the opportunity for both boys and girls to take part in the appropriate level of competition – 6 inter school competitions (school vs school), 8 intra school competitions (class vs class/team vs team) and at least 2 personal best challenges.
- Providing the opportunity through inter-school competition for both boys and girls to take part in 3, B and 1, C team standard competition.
- Promoting the School Games to parents and the local community through our school website, notice boards, blogs and newsletters.
Workforce – Broadening The Range Of Opportunities by
- Ensuring that every young person is provided the opportunity to learn to lead through curriculum PE as part of the lesson structure.
- Engaging a representative group of students in leading, managing and officiating in School Games activity.
- Recruiting a School Sports Crew who are able to influence provision.
- Completing an Activity Heatmap to demonstrate some of the principles of an active school.
- Utilising sports coaches, volunteers or other providers to support school sport and physical activity delivery that complements our School Games Organiser’s (SGO) provision.
- Training and engaging wider school staff in the delivery of school sport and physical activity.
Clubs – Increasing and Sustaining Participation by
- Having active links with at least five local community and pathways sport/physical activity and leisure providers (inclusive of two where the relationship is about the provider delivering taster sessions).
Impact (assessment and achievement)
At Whitehouse, we ensure that our PE provision is progressive (through structured, rigorous planning and delivery) and effective (though clear assessments and monitoring of staff and children).
Our School Games Mark awarding of a ‘Gold’ ranking is continually maintained by applying on an annual basis to verify the quality and breadth of the provision we offer.
An indication of our commitment to school sports can be seen in the values our pupils demonstrate at community, competitive events where they not only triumph in winning medals and trophies but also model our core school growth mindset values such as, perseverance, determination, teamwork and resilience. This can also be seen throughout our School Games Day where pupils enjoy supporting one another, leading activities and officiating the day.
