Our vision

At Our Lady’s the Physical Education, Physical Activity and School Sport (PESSPA) curriculum is as unique as our students; the curriculum has been designed to meet the specific needs of the children we serve. PESSPA is an integral part of school life and we believe that all pupils should have the opportunity to play a variety of sports and learn the value of physical activity to improve both physical and mental health.
By the end of their time at our school, all children should be able to play a variety of games, have secure skills in dance and gymnastics and be competitive athletes alongside showcasing high levels of sportsmanship through RUAH in sport.

Why do we teach it in the way that we do?

We believe that children need to develop specific skills in individual sports and therefore, we place importance on the skill of evaluating both individual and team performances to strive for improvement, leading to excellence. We ensure that all children receive a PE curriculum that is; varied, inclusive, accessible and balanced. Children will benefit from a wide range of skills being taught not only in Physical education lessons but in afterschool physical activities and sports competitions.

It is our intention to fully develop the whole child through PESSPA. This will be done by:

1. Ensuring our children understand the importance of living a healthy active lifestyle and how to look after themselves mentally and physically so that they can be successful adults.
2. Providing the children with the knowledge, skills and understanding to be able to participate in a wide variety of sports and physical activities.
3. Developing character and resilience which can be transferred to other areas of their life whether that be in a school setting or in the community
4. Making sure that all staff and students feel safe and secure when taking part in physical activity and informing the children on how this is being achieved, so that they can always be safe and secure when participating in sport or physical activity.
5. Providing lessons that are enjoyable and allow for the children’s confidence to soar.

How do we implement our vision in our school?

At Our Lady’s we teach the objectives of the Early Years Framework (2021) and the National Curriculum (2014) for Physical Education. PE is taught by class teachers as well as a qualified Sports Coach to ensure that the provision is of the highest quality and so class teachers have a broad and balanced view of the whole child. All knowledge and skills build on prior knowledge and teachers effectively plan sequences of learning so children know more and remember more of their age-related expectations in PE.

PE Lessons

1. Modelling of specific skills (net and wall games, invasion games, gymnastics, dance)
2. Practise of specific skills (net and wall games, invasion games, gymnastics, dance)
3. Small competitive games (net and wall games, invasion games)
4. Large competitive games (net and wall games, invasion games)
5. Performance and sportsmanship evaluation

Opportunities to take part in competitions are readily available to all our children through mini inter-class competitions within school, inter-school competitions through the school’s sports partnership as well as a range of other opportunities.
Teachers and coaches will make sure that pupils make good progress by having high expectations of all learners and will record progress and attainment on our assessment forms. The assessment forms will then provide the teacher with the information they need to continually inform planning and teaching.

Our children love PE and are well-rounded sports men and women by the end of their primary education at our school. They have the knowledge, skills and understanding to make suitable choices about their own physical and mental health. Our children are physically competent and show healthy attitudes towards all forms of physical activity and good sportsmanship through the development of RUAH in PE.
Our children are confident to compete in sports competitions and we have a proven track record of either winning or placing very highly in competitions both locally and nationally in a variety of sports.

How do we monitor and review the impact of PE at our school?

The PE subject leader uses the following lines of enquiry to assess the impact of the PE curriculum:

• Assessment data of children achieving GLD at the end of Reception (physical development).
• PE assessment data on Target Tracker.
• Participation in sports at lunchtimes.
• Participation in sports clubs after school.
• Discussions with pupils.
• Discussions with teachers.
• Learning behaviour during PE lessons.
• Profile of PE around the school.
• Results of sports competitions both in school and externally.