Physical Education (PE)
P.E, Sport and Healthy Living
Curriculum Intent:
High quality PE and sport enthuse ALL pupils to develop a healthy lifestyle and strong core skills of cognitive and social development for now and their whole lifetime. Wide ranging opportunities in core and more diverse sports lead pupils of all abilities to find a personal love and passion for activity which can shape their future lives.
For more detailed statements of intent, implementation and impact, please see here:
PE Curriculum
Each class will have access to 1 hour of curriculum PE each week in school. Our PE curriculum follows the Durham County format, covering areas of Invasion games, net and wall games, athletics, gymnastics dance and OAA (Outdoor and adventurous activity). Pupils encounter all areas regularly across school, at age specific levels, aimed at developing and consolidating core skills. Swimming is the other core area of the PE curriculum which we address in KS2. PE lessons are delivered by our sports coaches (Mr Rose and Mr Kelly) and supported by our sports apprentice (Mr Thornton).
Additional PE Opportunities
Our aim is to regularly offer pupils an additional hour of PE, above their usual session. Being limited by the hall space available to timetable this weekly, we have made a focus to offer all pupils additional ‘lifestyle’ sports sessions, in at least 3 additional blocks over the year. In the infant building, these additional blocks will focus on developing basic skills in different environments. Examples of this are multi-skills session, balance bike riding, dance, orienteering etc. In KS2, the focus is to introduce pupils to diverse sports and sports which are readily available in Durham. The hope is that pupils will find a way to be active which they love and want to continue in their personal lives. Potential links will clubs and organisations will be flagged up where possible. Examples of this are golf, fencing, archery, climbing, golf etc.
School Sports Partnership
In order to increase opportunities for sport and to develop our provision, we opt to be part of the Durham and Chester le Street school sports partnership. By paying in to the partnership, we are able to access advice, specialist coaching and a range of competitions and other opportunities. By working closely with the SSP, we can ensure that our school sport provision is of the highest quality and following up to date guidance. By having a member of our staff sitting on the SSP steering group, we also ensure that the provision we receive is right for our school and other schools in the partnership.
In 2019/20, we have chosen to buy in at ‘Silver’ level, selecting the following opportunities:
- 2 blocks of 12 hours specialist coaching in invasion games for KS1
- 12 hours of balance bike curriculum support for EYFS
- 36 hours fitness and health education programme
- 2 half days of sports leadership training for pupils and staff
- Provision of 5 buses to events
This is in addition to the many festival and competitive events, 1 day of support time for the PE coordinator, 3 SSP coordinator meetings, Y5 and 6 gifted and talented sports programmes for highlighted pupils and an intra-school sport day as well as access to many clubs and coaches in the local area.
For more information about the Sports Partnership visit https://durhamcls-ssp.co.uk
Competitive Sport
In addition to this lesson time provision, we are lucky at St. Margaret’s to have a number of staff who offer their time to run out of school hours teams – something which many schools struggle to achieve. Whilst we are aware that, as a very large Primary School, not all pupils get to represent the team they wish, we try to select teams fairly by trials as competitions are competitive. To cater for such large numbers, wherever possible ‘B’, ‘C’ and sometimes even more teams are entered for events.
For information about many of the competitive sports we take part in see https://www.clsschools.co.uk/
