Physical Education

Physical Education at Aylesham Primary School

Aylesham is committed to developing excellence in Physical Education and achieves the target of 2hrs of physical activity each week. Our aim is to give every child, every chance to be active and informed about the importance of living a healthy life.

Aylesham Primary School offers a varied Physical Education and School Sport programme for every child. Incorporated within our PE curriculum are chances for pupils to develop creativity, flexibility, strength, balance, control, competitiveness and co-operation skills through challenges in teams and as individuals. 

The main changes to PE include:

• Children should be able to engage in competitive (both against self and others) and co-operative physical activities, in a range of increasingly challenging situations.
• Children should develop an understanding of how to succeed in different activities and sports and learn how to evaluate and recognize their own success.
• More emphasis is now being placed on swimming.
• Strands covered  - balance, performance, catching and throwing, running, agility, co-ordination, team games, jumping, attacking and defending.

Through delivery of the PE curriculum, we will ensure that we: eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations. 

Rationale

Through Physical Education we endeavour to promote our Core Values and for the children to achieve:

• Teamwork, Creativity, Flying High and Resilience
• Co-operation
• Realistic and positive self-image
• Practical knowledge about exercise
• Satisfaction and enjoyment
• Healthy exercise
• Range of transferable skills
• Effective body management
• Confidence

The Child and the Learning Process

Aims and Purposes

PE offers opportunities for children to:

• Become skilled and intelligent performers.
• Acquire and develop skills, performing with increasing physical competence and confidence, in a range of physical activities and contexts.
• Learn how to select and apply skills, tactics and compositional ideas to suit activities that need different approaches and ways of thinking.
• Develop their ideas in a creative way.
• Set targets for themselves and compete against others, individually and as team members.
• Understand what it takes to persevere, succeed and acknowledge other’s success.
• Respond to a variety of challenges in a range of physical contexts and environments.
• Take the initiative, lead activities and focus on improving aspects of their own performances.
• Discover their own aptitudes and preferences for different activities.
• Make informed decisions about the importance of exercise in their lives.
• Develop positive attitudes to participation in physical activity.

Curriculum

The PE curriculum is mapped out for every class and is wide-ranging and builds upon previous learning from year to year.  It is accessible to, and aims to meet the needs and interests of all pupils. Children enjoy lessons in gymnastics, dance, competitive games (sport specific), skills of throwing caching jumping and running, athletics, OAA, swimming and alternative sports such as Ultimate Frisbee and Tchoukball.

Links within other areas of the curriculum

The school’s scheme of work should contribute to the development of literacy, numeracy, ICT, DT, Music, key skills, personal, social, PSHE and citizenship and thinking skills.

Teachers are encouraged to find ways to link PE in creative cross curricular ways with the rest of the learning areas.

Learning and Communication

Children have the opportunity to develop their language skills through working with others to plan and evaluate work, use correct terminology to pass information on to others, read diagrams, maps and instructions, and extract information about techniques and skills that they can use. Children can extract information from the internet about where they can get involved in physical activities and sport.

PSHE and Citizenship

Children have the opportunities to work closely with others, cooperate and collaborate with others, develop an understanding of fair play and fairness through knowing and applying rules and conventions, develop a positive attitude towards the environments and their own health, learn to recognize and value physical differences.

Core Values

The following Values are promoted throughout our curriculum and all learning experiences: Teamwork; Resilience; Creativity and flying High.

Equal Opportunities and Race Relations

Aylesham Primary School adopts an equal opportunities policy. Our aim is to ensure that all our pupils participate in PE lessons and extra-curricular activities regardless of race, gender, class and ability.

Special Needs

Special needs may be a result of:

• Sensory difficulty
• Physical difficulty
• Cognitive Limitations
• Emotional Disorders
• Behavioral Disorders

Aylesham Primary School believes that all children should be included and given the opportunity to participate. It is important to focus on the pupil’s abilities and needs. This emphasis aims to improve their movement skills and helps to change feelings of disaffection, under achievement and low self-esteem.  Lessons are planned to include all pupils on a sound knowledge of their abilities.  This involves breaking down an activity into a series of small achievable steps. The pupil should make gradual progress at each stage to overall success as the whole skill is learned.

Assessment

We assess our pupils’ development through paired evaluation and we offer positive feedback from teacher, partner and whole class.

• Watching children work, talking to them about what they are doing and listening to them describe their work generates useful assessment information.
• The approaches to teaching PE lessons should help teachers acquire knowledge of their children’s needs, their rate of progression and standard of attainment.
• Learning outcomes indicate what the children have learnt and feedback during lessons will help teachers set appropriate targets for individuals.
• Significant achievements or weakness may be noted to serve as a basis for planning appropriate challenges or to form part of the annual report on progress.
• Staff use these key phrases:
  “By the end of this lesson, I would like to see you do…….”
  “You will be successful at the end of this lesson if you can choose, see the difference and be as efficient as possible”
• Pupil’s progression in PE is monitored and levelled through Classroom Monitor.

Levels of learning in PE

Step one: Observe, Copy, Vocab, Name Actions

Step two: Observe, Copy, Remember, Describe

Step three: Pathways, Explore and control, Choice (clear options available), see differences

Step four: Link actions, choose criteria: speed, direction, shape or degree of difficulty. Answer task

Competitions

Throughout the year pupils take part in competitive sport within school and outside of school.  Examples are:

• Each year group has teams selected to participate in the Samphire Learning Hub competitions.

• We have a school football team who take part in league and cup matches throughout the year for Dover Deal and Sandwich.

• On sports day inter house teams compete against each other throughout all year groups.

• In July we take 4 hockey teams from KS2 to Polo Farm to represent the school in a intra-school Hockey tournament.

Facilities and Resources

Planning resources, posters, visual aids and information books are available from the PE technician. Teachers share the PE resources and the technician ensures that there is sufficient material to use and will order more when needed. New resources are made available to the staff at central locations.  PE resources are stored in the hall and outdoor pods. The PE equipment is available to the whole school.

The PE technician takes stock of equipment on a regular basis and makes any further necessary orders for new equipment.

Sporting facilities available to Aylesham Primary School pupils:

• Field – Running track, Football pitch, Rounders pitch
• Playground x2– including a quiet area/games area /adventure play area/ netball court/tennis court
• School hall x1 – including gymnastics equipment and resources for various sports.
• Simon Langton Boys Grammar School (SLBGS) Swimming pool

Health and Safety

Aylesham Primary School has a cross-curricular Health and Safety Policy. This policy is being adhered to throughout all PE and extra-curricular activities and follows the BALPE Safe Practise document.

Gifted and Talented

We have a number of pupils who excel in PE and school sport and opportunities are provided to them throughout the year to aid with running, coaching and leading activities. Our Gifted and Talented pupils also meet up with other GT pupils from the Samphire Learning Hub and have yearly enrichment programmes. We develop and nurture our gifted and talented pupils and once in year 6 they become sports leaders for the school and assist with the running of school sport and competitions in all year groups.