PE at Harston & Newton

Intent

At Harston & Newton Community Primary we recognise the importance of Physical Education to a child’s physical, cognitive, social and emotional development as well as the role it can play in a child’s spiritual, moral and cultural development. We are committed to supporting the health and wellbeing of our children and understand the impact physical activity and sport has on this.

We aim to provide a broad and balanced P.E. curriculum to aid children’s increasing self-confidence in their ability to manage themselves and their bodies within a variety of movement situations. A balance of individual, team, co-operative and competitive activities aims to cater for individual pupil’s needs and abilities.

Our curriculum is based on progressive learning objectives which, combined with varied and flexible teaching styles, endeavour to provide appropriate, stimulating, challenging and enjoyable learning situation for all pupils. The curriculum aims to promote an understanding of the many benefits of exercise, through a balanced range of relevant activities. At the heart of the PE curriculum lie the School Games Values of Teamwork, Determination, Self-Belief, Respect, Honesty & Passion, all of which are integrated into our PE sessions as well as our wider curriculum offer.

In addition to the importance placed on PE lessons we also have a wider curriculum offer which includes the opportunities for pupils to take part in extra-curricular sports and activity clubs as well as inter-house and inter-school competitions. Daily opportunities for physical activity and health enhancing activities also play a crucial role in our offer to pupils including active lessons, active break and lunchtimes and extra-curricular activities.

Implementation

Teaching of PE at Harston & Newton 

The PE curriculum includes skill development in gymnastic activities, dance, games, athletics, outdoor and adventurous activities and swimming.  All children have 2 lessons of PE a week in one of our physical activity areas: school hall, playground, school field and our own on-site swimming pool.

To oversee the delivery of all Sport & PE at Harston & Newton we have a part time specialist PE teacher who acts as PE Coordinator and Subject Lead. We are also a member of the South Cambs Schools Sports Partnership and as such can draw on the expertise of specialist staff alongside our own teachers to add to the quality of our provision.

Pupils within EYFS undertake daily physical exercise within their teaching unit, through continuous provision, including their own outdoor area, climbing & play apparatus as well as our forest schools area. They also have access structured PE lessons twice a week to develop fundamental movement skills and establish their physical literacy. They also have the opportunity to develop water confidence in the summer term as part of our swimming offer.

In KS1 the curriculum focuses on fundamental key skills to develop early stages of tactical awareness and physical fitness elements of agility, balance and coordination through the introduction. Curriculum content includes ball skills and team games, gymnastic and dance activities. Children are introduced to early stages of games, gymnastics, dance, outdoor and adventurous, athletics and swimming.

At KS2 pupils continue to apply and develop a range of skills to enable them to become successful games players, dancers, gymnasts and athletes. Lower keystage 2 develop the skills required for a range of games, while upper keystage 2 takes this further to allow access to varied games. We also enrich children’s experiences through opportunities for outdoor and adventurous activities.

Impact

The children complete each key stage with a high degree of proficiency in each aspect of PE. Children are aware of the link between physical activity and good health and understand its significance as part of a healthy lifestyle. Children are keen to further their interest in sport and often participate in after school sports clubs. We have increased numbers of girls in particular participating in some clubs which has been helped by clubs like our Y4/5/6 Girls Only Football club. We also have a large number going on to participate in community run sports clubs. The school achieves well in a number of sporting activities and achieved the School Games Platinum Award since 2017 in recognition of its PE provision and School Sport offers and in recent years has also received the School of the Year award for School Sport for Primary Schools.

Wider Curriculum offer
Children at Harston & Newton, are given the opportunity to join a range of extracurricular activities both before and after school. They range from traditional sports such as football, netball & cricket, and other sports such as hockey & athletics, . Children are given the opportunity to compete at various levels including personal best challenges in school, interhouse competitions and through school teams. This feeds into our School Games Award application every year.

Daily physical activity
In accordance with Government Chief Medical Officer guidance we aim to embed 30 minutes of physical activity throughout the school day in addition to twice weekly PE sessions. Children are provided with opportunities over the school day to become physically active, with classes encouraged to have “brain breaks” throughout the school day through the use of initiatives such as The Daily Mile, skipping, playground games and dance activities. Our Y5 Play Leader initiative enables children to become physically active through various pupil led games. We also encourage older classes to be active using our playground markings, outdoor gym, trim trail and play equipment.