Mayfield Primary SchoolPhysical Education: Vision
PHYSICAL EDUCATION LEADER
Mr Baer
'ALWAYS START WITH WHY'
What is Physical Education?
Performing and thinking like a sportsperson.
We have set out in these two website pages how we consider this question and statemet with our children by mapping out and delivering a clear, consistent and challenging curriculum for our children to meet their needs. You can download copies of every central document at the base of the relevant pages (VISION or CURRICULUM OVERVIEW) in PDF format. The subject guide and policy itself can be found at the base of this page.
To take a look at our curriculum overview page CLICK HERE.
Our Vision For Physical Education
At Mayfield, we know that all children are entitled to an excellent physical education and we believe that all children can develop the competence to perform in a broad range of physical activities. We understand the importance of a well-structured PE curriculum in promoting life-long habits of physical activity with the potential to positively impact our children’s long term physical and mental health and wellbeing. Our Physical Education curriculum aims to engage and inspire pupils to develop both a love of being physically active and a confidence and competence to participate in a range of challenging physical activities.
As our pupils progress through our curriculum, we maintain a focus on ensuring children are able to engage in physical activity for increasingly sustained periods of time. We teach children to understand and appreciate the value of sustained cardiovascular exercise for their long-term physical and mental health. We also ensure that children are taught to swim competently, confidently and proficiently for at least 25 metres unaided by swimming instructors using a range of strokes. All children are taught safe self-rescue and are taught how to enjoy water safely.
Throughout our PE curriculum, we teach children of all levels of confidence and competence how to engage in competitive sports and activities. We expect everyone to participate in a safe and respectful manner, giving their best at all times. Our emphasis on a team ethos is key and we promote this through our Mini League system. Children learn to participate positively in whichever team they are assigned to, whilst maintaining a sense of respect and encouragement towards members of an opposing team in a match or activity.
We place a high value on what our children remember from their primary PE education. We regularly review prior learning to ensure that knowledge, understanding and skills build progressively over time. We also aspire to our children leaving Mayfield with a positive memory of their experience in PE lessons so that they take with them a sense of motivation and confidence for the next steps in their physical education.
How We Plan For, And Teach, Physical Education
In the Early Years physical development is a valued part of every-day learning. Through carefully planned indoor and outdoor opportunities in the continuous provision as well as group movement activities, children develop the strength, coordination, balance and agility needed to engage successfully with future physical education in KS1 and KS2. Children learn to safely and confidently use a range of apparatus. They revise and refine the fundamental skills of rolling, walking, jumping, running, hopping, skipping and climbing and progress towards a more fluent style of moving, with developing control. Children begin to develop ball skills such as throwing, catching, kicking, passing, batting and aiming which are refined and built upon in KS1 and applied to a range of meaningful contexts. As the children progress into Key Stage 1 and throughout Key Stage 2, each session involves a dynamic warm up and a review of prior learning. In every PE session, children are taught to be physically competent in one or more relevant movement skills (locomotor, manipulation and stability skills). They also develop their knowledge of strategies and tactics and their ability to participate in physical activity in a healthy and positive manner. Sustained physical activity is planned for in every session so that children develop and maintain their fitness and stamina over time. At Mayfield, children engage in a rich and varied range of physical activities in often half-termly units (or termly for swimming). Our curriculum includes three core competitive sports (netball, football and cricket) which form the recurring basis for our curriculum and extra-curricular offer to ensure progression and retention over time - without attempting to cover too many sports in too little detail. Cricket is our non-invasion sport, whilst football and netball provide our invasion sports. These allow our children to develop children’s manipulation and locomotor skills in a different contexts. Specific units such as Hit, Catch and Run and Run, Jump and Throw are designed to lay firm foundations in children’s agility, balance and object control skills and are increasingly placed and embedded into their sporting context. We build children’s competence in gymnastics, dance, OAA and a range of athletic activities such as long jump, javelin, shot put, discus and sprinting (both as individuals and in team relays). In KS2, children visit a local swimming pool for swimming lessons. At our school we are committed to providing a range of opportunities for children of all levels of confidence and attainment to participate in healthy competition, through regular tournaments at intra-school level and also inter-school level and hold a yearly whole-school athletic sporting event. Our Mini Leagues are unique and allow for weekly competition for children within school to play school mates and develop confidence in a team environment before testing themselves externally. This is right for our children, as few compete regularly for teams elsewhere therefore building this confidence and experience is essential to a positive experience that can empower rather than create long-term aversion to a team sport. Football Mini League, Academy Football Mini League, Netball Mini League and Cricket Super 8s take place across the year and form the basis of our extra-curricular sporting offer. This is supplemented by clubs offered by external sporting partners. Each of our core sports take part in a bespoke arenas/stadia built to hold weekly events and create an additional layer of significance. These leagues and their stadia maintain a high presence for physical education within school and are supported by our Subject Champions, Subject Celebrations and Subject Displays. All of which ensure that the promotion of physical education and sport is never far from the mind of our children.
How We Assess Physical Education Learning
Our teachers regularly assesses children’s progress in PE. In each lesson, children are observed carefully and receive formative feedback to aid progress. In each unit/project, children are observed completing key tasks which indicate whether they have achieved the objectives. On completion of the unit/project of work, our teachers uses our Key Milestones Document to consider a current working position for the children in relation to whether each child is working at the expected standard. Children are also involved in peer and self-assessment opportunities against specific criteria and are taught to analyse their performance to draw out areas of strength and next steps
Summative judgements are also made using the Key Milestones Document at the end of the year to make a judgement as to whether each child is working at the expected standard. The most frequently used strategy to support ongoing assessment and knowledge retention is Brain Gym. This aims to strengthen the connections between what the children learn and such recall then frees that working memory for the next level of input to come. Our pupils leave Mayfield equipped with a range of knowledge and skills that enable them to succeed in their secondary education and be active, alert participants in their own physical and sporting development.
How We Adapt Learning, And Record Outcomes, In Physical Education
The detailed Medium/Termly Planning act as a central support for short-term lesson preparation and are supported by practical ideas training sessions aimed to enhance the specific knowledge requirements of this subject - most notably to less confident colleagues. As a result, they provide a spine of ideas, for teachers and supporting adults, that can then be personalised, adapted and differentiated to meet the starting point needs of the children in each class undertaking their physical education.
Ways of demonstrating progress and outcomes must be adaptable to suit the needs of learners and the requirements of the subject. Therefore each subject has its own bespoke way of gathering evidence from learners. Otherwise recording work becomes a barrier to learning rather than a chance to celebrate children’s achievements and specialist skills and knowledge in areas where they may otherwise excel.
In Physical Education, children’s work is gathered:
Digitally through film and photos where possible and observational evidence recorded by the adult lead.
**************************
A Physical Education Vocabulary
A core Physical Education Vocabulary has been created for the children across school. The vocabulary is progressive from EYFS onwards and at all times retains vocabulary previously introduced. We have chosen this language based upon the perspective of being a sportsperson considering the broader knowledge and skills required. The vocabulary is present around the Gymnasium. The core Physical Education Vocabulary can be found on the Termly Planning Documents.
*************************
Physical Education Enrichment Opportunities:
Our Mini Leagues running across the year.
*************************
My latest work as Physical Education Leader...
1) I have been revising and updating the medium term planning during the last twelve months.
2) I have been supporting colleagues with subject knowledge relating to practical drills and routines to embed motor confidence in each year group.
3) Continuing to establish the Cricket Super 8s as part of our enrichment offer.