"The game is never more important than the people you play it with." Debra Demaline Maxted

“A healthy active lifestyle not only changes your body, it changes your mind, your attitude and your mood for the better.” – Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Subject Leader - Miss Morgen Kent

Intent

Our vision at St Dennis is to provide high quality physical education and school sport that leads to enjoyment, confidence and positive attitudes towards a healthy lifestyle now and in later life. We want to enable all abilities to acquire new knowledge and skills in PE that they are confident to use and that lead to strong mental, emotional, social and physical wellbeing.

In line with the National Curriculum, our curriculum is customised, designed and personalised for the pupils in our school and aims to develop competence to excel in a broad range of physical activities, challenge children to engage in competitive sports and activities. We want to enable children to be active for sustained periods of time and lead healthy, active lives – helping them to develop their personal fitness and a healthy sense of competition and also learn important life skills such as oracy, teamwork, leadership, organisation, honesty, perseverance, resilience and fair play.

Through outdoor and adventurous activities, we aim to foster a sense of responsibility towards the environment and community, encouraging teamwork and respect for shared spaces. By exploring local sporting opportunities and engaging with community resources, pupils will understand how to participate in physical activity beyond the school setting through real-life experiences, promoting lifelong engagement and a sense of belonging.

Implementation

We follow the breadth of the programmes of study of the National Curriculum for physical education.

All children take part in two hours of exciting and active PE every week, both indoors and outdoors, using a wide variety of equipment. 

For our weekly PE lessons, we use REAL PE, which focuses on agility, balance, coordination, healthy competition and cooperative learning. This emphasises a child-centred approach that includes challenge and support for every child. It also develops physical literacy, knowledge, emotional and thinking skills for life.

For our weekly sport lessons, we use PE Planning, which focuses on the progression of skills in a range of sports through active and engaging learning. 

SEND

Our PE curriculum is ambitious for all pupils.  The emphasis on physical literacy and support for each child to achieve the lesson aims in Real PE and the use of a range of equipment and visual aids in Sport lessons, ensures all children can access lessons effectively and at an appropriate level of challenge.

We also consider ways of minimising and reducing barriers so that all pupils are included and achieve. The areas where we consider varying approaches and adaptations include: providing visual aids for skills and rules within each sport and lesson, using social stories and visual timetables so all children are prepared for changes of environment or routine, using additional adults and ensuring appropriate scaffolding for tasks with possible changes of equipment or space.

Impact

We assess our pupils using the Jasmine PE Wheel. There are nine areas of assessment: applying physical skills, agility, balance, co-ordination, swimming, health and fitness, creative, social and personal.

This assessment links closely to areas taught in PSHE and science, providing a cross-curricular scope of study that is progressive, engaging and ambitious for all pupils. 

How does PE promote British Values?

Democracy - Children learn about socially acceptable behaviour through PE. They work individually and in teams to make informed choices and through this learn about different roles including being a leader and a team player.

Rule of law - Children understand the need for rules, adhere to and develop them for activities that they create, including those within competition. They also adhere to and understand the rules of safety. They demonstrate good social skills and can solve problems on their own or with others.

Individual liberty – Children respect individual differences and are confident to express their opinions and respect views of others. They are also able to make judgements about their own and others’ performances. Children feel safe in curricular and extracurricular activities and during off site fixture visits.

Mutual respect - Children know the values of the school and PE contribute to their development and accept rewards and sanctions. Children can access competition within and outside of the school and demonstrate appropriate behaviour and regard for rules and regulations.

Tolerance – Children know, understand and be able to articulate different styles of dance and the historical aspects of various activities whilst avoiding stereotyping groups and articulating their own beliefs. Children respect PE equipment, the school facilities and other venues at off-site fixtures.

How does PE promote spiritual, moral, social and cultural development?

Energetic and inspiring REAL PE lessons include teamwork, self-reflection, aspirations to improve performance, rules, sportsmanship and etiquette along with an appreciation of sports from all around the world. Through dance and gymnastics pupils are encouraged to be creative and respectful by expressing feelings and emotions in their dance and gymnastic performances. In games and outdoor adventurous activities, pupils are encouraged and inspired to design and create their own small team games and tasks. Pupils empathise with others and show support in challenging activities, remaining positive and rallying others to succeed.

PE teaches children about codes of conduct, rules, etiquette and fair play through unwritten rules. Throughout various games, pupils are encouraged to make choices regarding rules, sportsmanship and decisions including teams, tactics and positions. Competitive games and playground leader training provide our team players and Year 5/6 students with leadership opportunities. They develop the ability to know the difference between right and wrong through fair play in lessons, events and participating in other competitive situations. PE lessons encourage children to be understanding of the ability of others and the need to be supportive rather than critical when playing as part of a team. Children are encouraged to show integrity and commitment when taking part, supporting their fellow team mates and class mates.

Problem solving skills and teamwork are fundamental to PE through creative thinking, discussion, performance of, and the explanation and presentation of ideas. All pupils of all abilities are encouraged to develop their reasoning and decision-making skills, communicating with others and explaining concepts with each other. Through Clay and County competitive fixtures and competitions, pupils are encouraged to work with, socialise and lead a variety of other children from different year groups. Dance, games, gymnastics, athletics, swimming and outdoor and adventurous activities all allow pupils to develop the necessary skills to work in teams or pairs as the majority of activities are based around team games or creating sequences in groups. In PE lessons, extra-curricular clubs, competitive fixtures and as playground leaders, children are given the opportunity to develop communication, leadership and mediation skills in such roles as leaders, coaches, captains, umpires or referees.

Through participation in local and county sporting festivals and competitions, children are exposed to a wider range of backgrounds that may differ from that of their own, helping them to develop their understanding and tolerance of different groups. Actively supporting charitable events, such as Cancer Research’s Race for Life and Sport Relief, children become more aware of the wider world they live in. Some of the ways in which we learn about cultural learning in PE lessons and as a whole school topic include: learning about the developments of sports in different countries, learning where different sports originate from, exploring and respecting a variety of different cultural dances.