Physical Education
Ethos and Aims
“Physical literacy is the motivation, confidence, physical competence, knowledge, and understanding to value and take responsibility for engagement in physical activities for life.”
Providing opportunities to develop students’ motivation and confidence (affective), physical competence (physical) and knowledge and understanding, (cognitive) to be active for life, underpins Physical Education at Bewdley. We strive to promote a love of learning and spark students’ intellectual curiosity.
Equality is at the forefront of our provision. We aim to ensure that every individual has the opportunity to make the most of their abilities by offering a broad and balanced experience throughout their learning journey.
Aims
- To create a lifelong enjoyment of being physically active, whether this be recreational or competitive.
- For physical literacy to be valued as highly as reading, writing and arithmetic by our school community.
- To contribute to students making a positive contribution to society; achieving beyond their expectations; developing independence, resilience and confidence and expanding their horizons through participating in physical education.
Staffing
Mr R Upson – Head of PE
Mr M Pigford – Teacher of PE
Mrs K Curtis – Teacher of PE
Mr P Phillips – Assistant Headteacher and teacher of PE
Mrs G Evetts – Teacher of PE
Mr J Willetts – Teacher of History and PE
Intention
We have worked hard to review our provision and identify a physical education programme that responds to and is meaningful and relevant to our students. In year 7, we strive to create a love for physical education through providing experiences of a wide variety of activities and developing respectful relationships. Year 8 builds on this through broadening experiences and embedding skills through applying tactics and strategies into a range of sports. This is further developed in year 9 by applying more advanced skills and consistently and effectively using terminology from our accredited key stage 4 courses. We recognise the importance of independence and choice and introduce the concept of a competitive or recreational pathway towards the end of KS3. Building on this, the year 10 curriculum provides opportunities for these pathways to be explored further through liaison with students to design activities to meet their needs and interests. Within year 11, the focus of the curriculum is to ensure the benefits of physical, social and mental wellbeing developed throughout their learning journey are experienced through engaging positively in physical activity during the busy exam year. Our accredited courses incorporate a practical and theory element, with students being able to select the sports they wish to specialise in, having been introduced to a wide range earlier in their learning journey.
The physical education curriculum focuses on broadening knowledge, skills and understanding across a range of activity areas. Each year group has the opportunity to develop skill selection and application of tactics, strategies and compositional ideas that relate to specific activities. Students will understand the importance of resilience as well as building upon their levels of fitness and apply themselves in a range of competitive, creative and challenging activities.
Curriculum opportunities are broad and varied following national curriculum guidelines. This enables students to start to consider the pathway that they would like to follow during key stage 4 as well as specialising in specific activities and roles. The varied activities that are taught on a rotational basis throughout the year are determined by the sporting seasons and specific inter-school competitions that are on our Wyre Forest School Sports Partnership and School Games calendar. With equality at the forefront of our planning all activities taught within the physical education programme are available for all students to access, regardless of gender or ability (there is no gender bias).
Our choice of curriculum activities provides a springboard for the practical performance assessment criteria from our accredited courses which look at skills in isolation and the application of skills, techniques and decision making. Students can progress and improve their knowledge and understanding in key activities, refine and adapt skills, and develop their fitness. This occurs through the use of progressive drills, modified games and competitive experiences in both mainstream and disability sports fostering equality and inclusion. In addition to core PE, this is developed explicitly in examination PE practical lessons.
Basic theoretical aspects of the examination PE courses are applied and supplement practical lessons at both Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4. This enables students to gain an understanding of the link between theory and practice before selecting their examination PE course and accessing the large theory content. This also includes reading about different sports and the rules and regulations that apply to them.
The assessments for PE in key stage 3 provide a meaningful insight into a student’s ability across the range of activities experienced and can inform suitability for GCSE PE or a Cambridge National qualification in Sport Studies as one of their options.
CNAT, GCSE and A Level PE course contents are sequenced in accordance with the exam board specification and NEA deadlines. NEA practical work is scheduled to maximise learning time prior to assessment and to give sufficient time for filmed footage to be gathered and reviewed. NEA analysis tasks are scheduled to fall at the point where knowledge and understanding of necessary theoretics topics has been taught, understood and re-visited, to ensure confident and comprehensive work.
Implementation
Physical Education (PE) is studied by all students in year 7 to 9. Students in year 10 and 11 will continue with core PE on their timetable, and can choose to study the subject further as one of their GCSE option choices.
Studies have provided evidence that moderate-to-vigorous physical activity time and higher levels of fitness are beneficial for cognitive function in adolescents.
The activity areas incorporated within our curriculum map (sequencing) at key stage 3 are driven by National Curriculum PE requirements. Working within the restrictions of our site and facilities we offer a balance of activities to include gymnastics, dance, games, athletics and outdoor adventurous activities. Ensuring breadth and depth of experiences within these activities (e.g., educational gymnastics/ trampolining; striking/ fielding games, net/wall games, invasion games) prepares students to undertake the challenge of assessment in GCSE and CNAT courses and successful participation in key stage 4 PE.
As students arrive with vastly different key stage 2 PE experiences, a focus upon fundamental movement skills at the start of year 7 enables us to benchmark students’ knowledge, skills and understanding. This informs our planning in order to develop generic skills within activities through small sided/conditioned games into techniques required for specific activities and recognised sports. Complexity of skills develops gradually to ensure that movement memory can be built upon successfully.
As specialist PE teachers, we understand the skills involved in different activities and need to enable pupils to connect the content, therefore the sequencing of our lessons and activities is paramount. We would not deliver a lesson on crossing in football until we have taught the long pass nor would we teach movement analysis before the anatomy of muscles.
Our current timetable provides students with one double PE lesson per week (100mins). Our students sustain a positive interest in activities when given short units of work to complete. 4×100 minute lessons allow time for knowledge, skills and understanding to be developed and enjoyment of the activity to be maintained. The range of activities we have selected for our students to experience offer a balance between being creative and competitive and provide opportunity for the development of their planning, performing, analysing and evaluating skills. Activities also meet local needs as they have direct pathways for students to follow. Inter-house competitions are embedded within our curriculum to ensure all students are experiencing competitive situations and develop the sense of belonging that being part of a team brings.
Impact
By the end of KS3 students will have been given an opportunity to participate in and be successful when performing in a range of practical activities and developed confidence when performing in physical activity.
By the end of KS4 students should take ownership of their physical activity alongside being able to understand and enjoy the physical, social and mental benefits of engaging in physical activity.
The PE department want to support each and every pupil to have the opportunity to participate in a range of sporting activities with the view of encouraging them to participate in lifelong physical activity. Each student at the Bewdley school will have the ability to be successful in physical activity of some kind, it is our responsibility to encourage each and every student with this opportunity. We aim to encourage ambition in each and every student through implementing practices that stretch and challenge students as well as encourage success, with the ultimate aim of students opting to take examination PE in KS4 and KS5 and take up extra-curricular opportunities provided to be physically active outside of school hours. Those students who do not follow an examination pathway still are still provided with high quality core PE lessons incorporating a competitive and recreational pathway, that meets their needs and interests whilst addressing physical, social and mental benefits of PE.
Through the offer of GCSE PE, Cambridge National Sport Studies Level 2 and A Level PE we provide an opportunity for students to gain a respected qualification in a subject in which they are confident and competent in and can take into further education and beyond.
Through our curriculum design we have cohorts of students wanting to take examination courses and students staying on to do a level pe. We have many students wanting to represent the school outside of school and we have very few students who persistently avoid engaging in PE lessons as our curriculum design meets the needs of the majority of students, despite the challenges of national post-covid engagement by young people.
At the end of the academic year, we survey students to understand their favourite activities and least favourite activities and we use that to tailor the design of the curriculum for next year, alongside the NCPE.
Our curriculum is sequenced tailored not only to the needs of our students but to the facilities available to us throughout the year. ‘Winter’ sports such as Football & Rugby are focused upon during the winter terms, with sports such as Rounders, Softball and Athletics being the primary focus during the summer term. Some may argue that our curriculum is not diverse enough in accordance to the interests of this generation of young people. The limitations of our facilities dictate our provision – we offer the best curriculum design within the limitations of our facilities.
Equality is at the forefront of our provision. We aim to tackle social justice issues through the medium of offering equal opportunity for all to participate in the same activities. We strive to ensure that every individual has the opportunity to make the most of their abilities by offering a broad and balanced experience throughout their learning journey. All activities taught within the physical education programme are available for all students to access regardless of gender or ability (there is no gender bias).]
As is the case with all schools, there are always core small groups of students that become disengaged with the competitive aspect of physical activity and prefer an approach that promotes mental health and wellbeing, as well physical wellbeing. As a department we strive to ensure that this core group of individuals have a positive experience and incorporate activities such as walking and yoga into the curriculum map.