The purpose of our high-quality PE curriculum at Shotley Bridge Primary School is for the pupils is to succeed and excel in competitive sport and other physically-demanding activities. We ensure that opportunities are provided for our pupils to become physically confident in a way which supports their health and fitness and prepares them for future of physical education studies within our own school, secondary school, college, university and beyond, as well as for pleasure.
We recognise that opportunities for pupils to compete in sport and other activities build character and help to embed values such as fairness and respect. We are proud of the PE curriculum that we offer and believe it develops competence in our pupils to excel in a broad range of physical activities. It is vitally important to us that children at Shotley Bridge Primary School are active for sustained periods of time. Lessons allow children to engage in competitive sports and activities.
Throughout KS1 pupils develop and master fundamental movement skills: running, jumping, throwing, catching. Lessons are planned to ensure children have access to a range of opportunities that help develop their agility, balance and coordination, applying these skills to a range of activities individually as well as with others. We are proud of the way in which pupils in our school become increasingly competent and confident in their physical ability. Children take part in competitive and co-operative physical activities, in a range of challenging situations such as team games where they must develop simple tactics for attacking and defending. Children also perform dances using simple movement patterns.
Throughout KS2, children continue to apply and develop a broader range of skills. High-quality lessons are planned to teach children how to use these skills in different ways as well as link them to make actions and sequences of movement. Children are taught to run, jump, throw and catch in isolation and in combination. We are proud of the way pupils at Shotley Bridge Primary School enjoy communicating, collaborating and competing with each other in games such as badminton, basketball, cricket, football, hockey, netball, rounders and tennis. Children are able to apply basic principles suitable for attacking, and defending to these games. Through athletics and gymnastics, children develop flexibility, strength, technique, control and balance. children perform dances using a range of movement patterns. Outdoor and adventurous activity challenges are important to us at Shotley Bridge Primary School where children work both individually and as part of a team.
An important part of our PE curriculum is to ensure pupils are supported in developing an understanding of how to improve in different physical activities and sports as well as how to evaluate their own success. Time is given to children to compare their performances with previous ones and demonstrate improvements to achieve their personal best.
Swimming instruction is provided for children in key stage 2. Children are taught to swim competently, confidently and proficiently over a distance of at least 25 metres. Children are able to use a range of strokes effectively (for example, front crawl, backstroke and breaststroke). It is also essential that our pupils are taught to perform safe self-rescue in different water-based situations.
Our PE programme of study is set out year-by-year across the whole school and curriculum maps for skills taught are sent home termly. The curriculum at Shotley Bridge Primary School is enriched by PE activities in a number of ways: broad range of after-school clubs offered, including football, archery, netball, basketball, cricket, running, cheerleading, golf, tennis, rounders, HIIT, multi-skills; sport leaders running games at lunch times; up to date playground equipment; compete in competitions/festivals around the local area and wider community; sports’ week; fund-raising events; skiing trip.
The PE coordinator monitors the subject closely in Shotley Bridge Primary School to ensure children are working at a high standard: work and planning scrutinies, discussions with children, learning walks, lesson observations, evaluation of school data compared to national standards, attending local authority network meetings and courses to ensure they stay abreast of best practice and leading whole-school training for staff members, form a part of this. We are proud of PE culture we have created within Shotley Bridge Primary School: we have been awarded the Gold Sports Mark award and sporting achievements are celebrated weekly during Celebration Assembly.
