Physical Education
Subject Leader: Miss Winter
Intent
At Temple Sowerby CE Primary School, we aim to foster a love of physical activity, and promote fitness, wellbeing and a healthy lifestyle for all of our children. We provide opportunities for all children to participate in and enjoy a wide range of physical activities through our PE lessons, clubs, sporting competitions and tournaments.
Sport also provides the opportunity to bring local schools together and to develop an understanding of healthy competition. As part of the Eden Valley Alliance (EVA), we participate in a range of annual festivals and tournaments with other schools in the Eden district, including basic moves, netball, football, cross country, gymnastics, tag-rugby, dodgeball, swimming and hockey. We also actively seek out opportunities to engage children in other sports, to inspire and promote a love of physical activity. Recent examples include bouldering, badminton and hill walking. We also provide swimming lessons to all children in both KS1 and KS2, to prepare them for later life and provide them with an essential life skill.
The outdoor and adventurous element of the PE curriculum is facilitated through our Forest Schools sessions, as well as outward-bound residentials. During these activity weeks, children have the opportunity to experience a range of outdoor and adventurous activities, such as caving, ropes courses, team building, canoeing, ghyll scrambling and climbing. Access to these sports and activities builds confidence, self-belief, perseverance and resilience in our pupils. Many of these activities are also experienced by our Year 6 children as part of their end-of-year transition to secondary school, where they have the opportunity to meet up with other children from local schools for an activity day in Patterdale.
Implementation
At Temple Sowerby, PE is taught in two separate 1-hour lessons per week, supplemented by sports clubs and regular use of our daily mile track. Our PE curriculum has been planned to ensure it is broad and balanced and fulfils the requirements of the National Curriculum.
Lessons are planned to ensure skills are sequenced and that we develop children’s fitness. We consider the needs of all the children, to ensure equal opportunities and access to PE, and we involve the community where possible, e.g. Sports Day, clubs, intra/inter-school matches, outside coaching personnel and resources.
In 2024, we were awarded Active Mark, acknowledging our good practice in P.E. This is a prestigious national award by Sport England which recognises schools that show a commitment to promoting the benefits of physical activity.
Impact
By the end of Key Stage 1, we will ensure that children have developed basic movement skills to develop balance, coordination and agility. Children will be able to dance and express themselves physically. We will also ensure that children develop ball skills and take part in competitive games and sports at both an intra- and inter-sport level. Pupils will appreciate their local environment by taking part in outdoor and adventurous activities through participation in Forest Schools activities. Children will know the value of fair play and how to compete fairly in sports.
By the end of Key Stage 2, all children will have had access to a comprehensive programme of sporting opportunities. Through the provision of swimming lessons throughout both Key Stage 1 and 2 pupils are taught to:
- Swim competently over a distance of at least 25 metres
- Use a range of strokes effectively
- Perform safe self-rescue in water
All pupils will experience a well-balanced PE curriculum that includes team games, racquet sports, gymnastics, dance, athletics and outdoor and adventurous activities, alongside opportunities to participate in alternative and minority sports. Pupils are encouraged to compete with a strong sense of fair play while also developing competitive skills through both intra- and inter-school events. Opportunities to express themselves physically, particularly through dance, are embedded across the curriculum. In Key Stage 2, pupils further develop confidence and resilience through outdoor and adventurous learning, including Forest School sessions and residential experiences.