Physical Education (PE) at St. Paul's Catholic School

Physical activity not only improves health, improves concentration and reduces stress, but also promotes correct physical growth and development.  Exercise has a positive influence on academic achievement, emotional stability and interaction with others.  Therefore, at St. Paul’s Catholic School we ensure that both staff and children are aware of its importance. We provide the broad and balanced programme of physical education we believe every child should have; with activities designed to be enjoyable, vigorous, purposeful and regular. Through providing positive experiences, a lifelong interest in physical activity is encouraged. The range of physical activities is wide and includes athletics, dance, games, gymnastics and swimming. A high-quality programme is designed to satisfy the needs, abilities and interests of all individual children.

At St Paul’s Catholic School each class will receive 2 hours of physical education per week. We are highly motivated in encouraging the children to take part in range extra-curricular activities. We also arrange opportunities for competition and teamwork within lessons, across the school within houses and external. 

Intent

Our principal aim is that children leave St. Paul’s Catholic Primary School with a wide range of happy and rich memories in Physical Education, formed through interesting and exciting experiences that enhance a child’s awareness of their own abilities and strengths. We want children to strive to achieve their personal best and continually improve on their own skills. Our aims are to fulfil the requirements of the National Curriculum for PE; to provide a broad and balanced curriculum; ensure the progressive development of PE concepts, knowledge and skills; and for the children to develop a love for PE and healthy lifestyle. We intend to deliver high-quality teaching and learning opportunities that inspire all children to succeed in physical education and in developing life skills. We want to teach children skills to keep them safe such as being able to swim. We also want to teach children how to cooperate and collaborate with others as part of an effective team (using their skills of ORACY), understanding fairness and equity of play to embed life-long values. Children will understand how Catholic Social Teaching and British Values relate to Physical Education.

Implementation

At St Paul’s Catholic School, we use the National Curriculum for Physical Education to underpin our teaching and learning following a two year cycle including:

1. To teach EYFS and KS1 children to master basic movements including running, jumping, throwing and catching, and begin to apply these in a range of activities. By the time children reach KS2, these skills are nurtured in isolation and combination.
2. Allowing children to develop fundamental movement skills and become increasingly competent and confident to access a broad range of opportunities to extend their agility, balance and coordination. While these skills are first nurtured in EYFS and KS1, they are continually revisited in KS2, where children learn how to use them in different ways and link them in sequences of movement.
3. Opportunities are provided for children to participate in team games and competitive games which will be modified where appropriate and apply basic principles suitable for attacking and defending to access competitive games such as rugby, cricket, football, hockey, netball, rounders, dodgeball and tennis. Also to give children the opportunities to compete across the school in house tournaments and to be invited to external game opportunities.
4. To teach EYFS and KS1 children to perform dances using simple movement patterns, progressing to a range of movement patterns and performances by KS2.
5. To allow children to develop flexibility, strength, technique, control and balance, through athletics and gymnastics.
6. To allow children to enjoy communicating, collaborating, competing with each other and learn how to reflect, evaluate and recognise their own success including using their ORACY skills. Pupils are encouraged to compare their performances with previous ones and demonstrate improvement to achieve their personal best.
7. To provide opportunities for children to develop their leadership skills. For example, every year the Year 6 cohort become the Year 6 Leaders which includes each child having the opportunity to become a Sports Leader for the school. They develop into sporting role models for the younger children, assisting with lunch-time exercise and activities.
8. Children learn about healthy food options, the importance of exercise, looking after your body and mind to live a healthy lifestyle both within Physical Education and embedded within cross curricular opportunities such as Science. 
9. To enable children to take part in outdoor and adventurous activity challenges both individually and within a team, both on the school site and away at a residential week.
10. In addition to the above, children in Year 3 will go swimming once a week for a term (in 2021/22 Year 5, Year 4 and Year 3 went swimming to address the missed opportunity during the Covid restrictions for these year groups and ensure this has not impact on their attainment of the National Curriculum expectation for swimming at the end of Key Stage 2).

Impact

The impact and measure of this is to ensure that children at St Paul’s Catholic School are equipped with the skills that will enable them to be ready for life as an adult in the wider world. They will have positive relationships with physical activity for life! They will be able to play competitive games, and apply basic principles suitable for attacking and defending. They will develop flexibility, strength, technique, control and balance as well as perform dances using a range of movement patterns. They will take part, during their time at St Paul’s Catholic School, in outdoor and adventurous activity challenges both individually and within a team. The will be challenged to demonstrate how they can achieve their personal best. At St Paul’s Catholic School, children experience a wide range of sporting activities, which will enable each child to find a sport that they enjoy and continue to enjoy outside of school. Fun, happy and healthy lifestyles is achievable for all our children.