Intent:

At St Patrick’s Primary School, we recognise the contribution of PE to the physical and mental health and well-being of all children. We believe that an innovative, varied PE curriculum combined with extra-curricular opportunities have a positive influence on the concentration, attitude and academic achievement of all our children. Our school aims to inspire all children to develop a love of physical activity and sport. Through good physical education, whole school values and a whole child approach, we aim to nurture confident, resilient children who will strive for their personal best. Our vision is to improve the health and wellbeing of all of our pupils and to provide a broad range of high quality physical education during the curriculum and out of school hours. We aim to provide PE lessons that are enjoyable and challenging within a safe environment. Our objectives are to promote an active participation in sport and physical activities and to create positive attitudes.

Implementation:

We are committed to ensure that all pupils receive a minimum of two hours of high quality PE per week delivered by confident and well trained teachers and qualified sports coaches. We offer this through a range of sports and activities using the Get Set for PE scheme of work. We aim to ensure that our delivery of physical education allows all children to have the skills and mindset to leave St. Patrick's with the capabilities to be successful in their sporting challenges and active lifestyles at secondary school and beyond. These well planned lessons provide a broad and balanced curriculum with opportunities for all children to be engaged in their learning in a fun and practical manner. Children are encouraged to be physically active for sustained periods of time during break and lunch times. We strive to educate both our children and families to develop a greater understanding on how to live healthy lifestyles and make healthy choices. We hold annual Year Group Sports Days where participation and competition is encouraged. Children are provided with opportunities to participate in both inter and intra school competitions throughout the academic year. We want to aid our children in obtaining the values and skills to celebrate and respect the success of others, as well as modestly celebrating their own successes.  

Impact:

Through the breadth and depth that our curriculum offers, children are given the tools and knowledge to lead healthy and active lifestyles and have developed the necessary fundamental skills to participate in a variety of sports and activities. As a result, we have a high uptake in the number of children choosing to partake in extra-curricular physical activity-based clubs. Our focus is aimed at encouraging all children within our school to become increasingly involved in clubs and be more physically active. 

We listen to our children's wants and needs and provide them with a range of active experiences and clubs. After asking all children within KS2 to complete a questionnaire, we discovered that...

Do you enjoy PE lessons?

90% of children enjoy doing PE.

What is your favourite activity to do in PE?

The top 3 most popular activities are football, gymnastics and dodgeball. 

When asked why a particular activity is their favourite, pupils responded with:

"I enjoy it" Year 6

"It is really fun to do because you learn different techniques" Year 5

"I like playing it with my class" Year 3

"I am good at it" Year 4

What other activities would you like to do in PE?

Lots of activities were suggested with the most popular being golf, basketball, running and cricket. 

If you could change one thing about PE lessons, what would it be?

A high percentage of children said that they would not change anything. Lots of children requested longer PE lessons taught outside with an element of games involved in the lesson. 

In KS1 and Reception, we spoke to a variety of children from each class on an individual basis and discovered that: 

All children questioned enjoy PE lessons and think that they are an important subject to do. The children understand what they are learning in PE lessons and feel they know how to be safe and supported in those lessons. All children like to do physical activities outside of their PE lessons but only some understand the effects that PE can have on physical and mental health. All children when asked know what behaviour is expected of them in PE. When asked what their favourite thing about PE lessons is, many of the children said:

It's fun! You run around! You play games! Gymnastics! The apparatus!

KS1 and Reception children would make PE lessons better by doing it outside more, doing it every day, having longer lessons and including more games in the lessons. 

Staying Active at Home: 

Please find links to a number of excellent resources below:

PDS Coaching.

As part of the PE Premium Grant that has been introduced by the Government, we decided at St Patricks that we would like to invest in providing a programme for the children in our school which would help them benefit from healthy exercise, active learning and competition. PDS Coaching provide quality coaching and training in a variety of sports . "PDS adopts a player centred approach'.  Using learning through games they the development of tactical skills, technical ability, teamwork, personal achievement and ethical participation. www.pdscoaching.co.uk

Sessions are designed to consist of enjoyment and fun as well as player development, and they make links to the PE National Curriculum. The children are given the opportunity to develop their sporting skills through a variety of sports including; football, tag rugby, cricket, handball and hockey. By providing pupils with increased opportunities to participate in a range of activities both in and out of school, we hope to provide a vehicle for young people to stay active, learn new skills, develop new friendships and develop a work ethic that can be used in other areas of life..