Intent- Physical Education at Parkfield

Recent research used to inform practice: Government guidelines recommend that children and young people should get 30 minutes of their daily physical activity in the school day and 30 minutes outside of school. The figures show that 57.2% (up 4.6%) of children are doing 30 minutes or more of physical activity outside of school, compared to 40.4% at school. At the other end of the scale, 2.1 million children and young people (29.0%) are doing fewer than 30 minutes of physical activity a day, and while that number is down (by 3.9% over the last year) it's a reminder of how much more needs to be done. Active children are happier, more resilient and more trusting of others and there is a positive association between being active and higher levels of mental wellbeing, individual development and community development. (Sport England 2019) Moreover, the Association for Physical Education (AfPE) recommends 2 hours of timetabled PE per week; as of March 2023, the government is also asking schools to offer a minimum of 2 hours curriculum PE time. (Levelling the playing field: the physical education subject report 2023)

Our intent is to deliver a two-hour physical activity session per week. Which will include an hour of PE delivered by a PE specialist, alongside a combination of formal and informal physical activity sessions, lead by PE specialists, class teachers and sports leaders during lunchtime, afternoon team building sessions and after school clubs. In addition, we will provide swimming lessons and water safety sessions, to Year 5 pupils to enable them to swim competently, confidently and proficiently over a distance of at least 25m using a range of strokes effectively and perform safe self-rescue in different water-based situations.

Our aim is to provide opportunities to compete in sport and other activities, which will build character, help to embed values such as fairness and respect and ensure children are leading active and healthy lifestyles.

Implementation

We have employed a specialist PE coach to deliver our PE curriculum at Parkfield. We put great emphasis on the importance of fundamental movement skills from EYFS-Year 6 as these are the building blocks for more complex movements and are heavily relied on for successful participation in a variety of physical activities. (Ofsted Research Review 2022)

We have sequenced our curriculum into three key concepts each term: ‘Acquiring Fundamental Movement, Tactical Thinking & Introduction to Competition’; ‘Developing Fundamental Movements, Developing Sequences, Creativity & Collaboration’ and ‘Embedding Fundamental Movements & Tactical Thinking, Group Collaboration & Competition’.

Acquiring Fundamental Movement, Tactical Thinking & Introduction to Competition is covered in the Autumn term, where Fundamental movement skills are taught initially and applied in Multi skills for EYFS & KS1 and then Netwall and Invasion Games both independently and in small groups in KS1 and KS2.  In the Spring term, pupils cover Developing Fundamental Movements, Developing Sequences, Creativity & Collaboration, by using and applying fundamental movement skills in the Autumn term to Gymnastics and Dance in small groups. By the Summer, pupils will move onto, ‘Embedding Fundamental Movements & Tactical Thinking, Group Collaboration & Competition’ in strike and field and athletics in both individual and larger groups.

Our PE curriculum has been coherently sequenced to secure pupils’ declarative and procedural knowledge before they move on to more complex knowledge and is delivered through a thematic and subject specific approach.  (Levelling the playing field: the physical education subject report: September 2023) We value the importance PE plays in forming positive relationships, opportunities to collaborate and inform pupils about leading active and healthy lifestyles. We have taken on the approach of Head, Hands, Heart, where children develop their thinking ‘physical beings’ and doing ‘physical beings’ which impacts on their behaviour. Throughout their time at Parkfield, they will revisit Health and Fitness and how they can be involved and engaged, grow socially and emotionally, build character and values and lead a healthy active lifestyle. In addition to, evaluating and improving through being a ‘Thinking Physical Being’, where they will work on decision marking, thinking analytically and being confident and creative.

This is what a typical lesson looks like:

Swimming

Every Year 5 child will take part in a term and a half of swimming lessons at King’s College, Taunton. They will work towards swimming 25 metres and how to be safe in the water.

SEND

Most SEND children will be taught the same curriculum, with support and adaptations in class and the most important declarative and procedural knowledge for pupils with SEND to know and be able to do in readiness for future learning is outlined on planning. The SENDCo has discussions with the PE coach to ensure that any specific need is addressed in PE lessons i.e if a child has weak core stability- this could be more of a focus for that child.

Developing Cultural Capital

We pride ourselves in offering equal and equitable opportunities, both in school and during after school club provision. We offer a range of activities to develop cultural capital, which include: 

• SEND and Vulnerable Children

Weekly Mindfulness Yoga, Occupational Therapy Sessions to increase core stability and an extra PE session for SEND children and other children who may benefit.

• Outdoor Provision

EYFS have an outdoor provision where they can play and explore on a range of different levels in both the Secret Garden and the play area.

All year groups can also access the adventure playground.

• Lunchtime

Premiere Sport’s Coaches deliver various lunchtime clubs for children who wish to participate, which includes: Boccia, Invasion Games, Striking and Fielding, Multiskills and Athletics. 

The Sports Leaders in UPKS2 deliver lunchtime activities to KS1 children, which involve various games and sports- overseen by a lunchtime supervisor.

• After School Clubs

Each term there are a range of sports clubs children can attend, which include: football, hockey, multi sports, gymnastics, netball, cricket, rounders and athletics.  

• Our partnership with SASP (Somerset Activity & Sports Partnership) ensures that pupils can participate in traditional competitive sports including football, tag rugby, hockey, athletics, mini tennis, cricket and netball, as well as others such as basketball, dodgeball, catchball, gymnastics, table tennis and cross-country.
• Pupil Premium: We offer our Pupil Premium Children a place to join a club of their choice for 12 weeks during the academic year as part of our Pupil Premium offer.

Fixtures & Festivals

SASP also organise year group festivals where our pupils are given coaching on strike and field sports, athletics and orienteering.

A huge benefit of our partnership with SASP is that they provide inclusive opportunities for all age ranges and abilities whether they are “friendly” events, “Can Do” events or competitions including those aimed at SEN pupils.  We also have opportunities to compete at sport galas (football, netball and swimming) at both Taunton School and Queens College where pupils can enjoy first class facilities in friendly competitions with other local primary schools.  The school continues to explore the opportunities to compete at less mainstream sports such as trampolining where pupils have qualified for both area and regional finals in collaboration with a local club.  

Swimming

Year 5 Swimming lessons at Kings College- every child has a term and a half of tuition.

Water Safety

RNLI water safety visits during Safety Week for all children

Health Week

Children are taught about leading healthy lifestyles through being active, staying safe and how to look after their physical and mental well-being.

Awards

We are delighted to announce that we have achieved the School Games GOLD Mark Award for the 2023/24 academic year. The School Games Mark is a Government-led award scheme launched in 2012, facilitated by the Youth Sport Trust to reward schools for their commitment to the development of competition across their school and into the community, and we are delighted to have been recognised for our success.

How we do we assess?  

• We have set out the building blocks of declarative and procedural knowledge necessary for pupils to build competence in the activity.
• Formative assessment:
• Elicitation of declarative and procedural knowledge referring back to prior learning, to ensure children are starting at the right point. In ‘practise’ time, teachers respond to the misconceptions or gaps in pupils’ knowledge that they had identified.
• Oral mini quiz at the beginning of each session to ascertain prior learning and keep knowledge ‘sticky’. 
• Opportunities for peer and self-assessment, as well as teacher feedback on specific knowledge and skills learned or how to improve upon them.
• Use success criteria to support children.

Impact

By the end of their time at Parkfield, as athletes, the children will be: 

• Successful learners who are inspired to succeed and excel in sport and other physically demanding activities.   
• Confident individuals who compete in sport and other activities, that build character and help to embed values such as fairness and respect.  
• Responsible citizens who continue to lead healthy and active lives.