Physical Education

Physical Education Curriculum

Our subject leader is Mrs Emma Wilkinson

The Intent of our PE Curriculum

At Thornton in Craven Primary School we aim to engage, motivate and inspire children to develop a love of physical exercise, games and healthy lifestyles. We recognise the benefits of a strong Physical Education curriculum and extra-curricular activity on raising children’s aspirations and self-esteem. Our staff and children are enthusiastic about P.E. and this is shown through teachers’ attitude towards the teaching of high quality P.E. lessons. P.E. teaching at Thornton in Craven follows all requirements of the National Curriculum for Physical Education; providing opportunities for all pupils to become physically confident in a way which supports their health and fitness.

We hope to develop the children into confident and competent learners across a broad range of physical activities, by providing them with a wide range of opportunities to participate in physical exercise, both in a competitive and non-competitive environment. Opportunities to compete in a range of sports and other activities build character, and help to embed values such as fairness and respect. Through the Craven Schol Partnership and Skipton Tennis Centre Partnership, our children are invited to attend festivals and tournaments throughout the year at both inter and intra school levels. We continue to build a love of sport and physical activity amongst our pupils, by offering a broad range of after school clubs led by both staff and external agencies. We hope that through all the sporting opportunities, we can support the children in demonstrating sportsmanship, resilience, respect and leadership values.

The Implementation of our PE Curriculum

To successfully embed our Physical Education values at Thornton in Craven CP School, the staff and children are involved with the following:

We provide each year group with at least 2 hours of exciting, fun and active P.E. lessons each week.
Teachers at Thornton in Craven follow the PE Hub scheme of work. This offers well planned sequences of learning, fulfilling every aspect of the National Curriculum, offering regular assessment opportunities and building in core sporting values such as resilience and respect. EYFS focus on the fundamental movement skills and develop the fine and gross motor skills of the children, so they are ready to begin accessing the different parts of the P.E. curriculum from Year 1. The fundamental movements remain embedded in Key Stage 1 practice to allow for repetition and continued physical development.
Teaching sequences or chosen topics within lessons across year groups have been carefully considered and mapped out. This ensures the children all gain a wide coverage of skills, access a wide variety of physical activities and allows for clear progression throughout school.
Children in Years 3 and 4 attend West Craven Sports Centre for their swimming lessons, in order to reach the required level of competency for swimming and water safety by the end of Key Stage 2.
Regular C.P.D. opportunities are planned for all staff to continue developing their knowledge and understanding of different physical activities offered to KS1 and KS2 children.
Curriculum resources are selected with the intent of supplying teachers with the means of delivering high quality lessons and introducing the children to a wide range of games, sports and physical activities within their lessons.
Links are made between P.E and wider curriculum subjects where possible to ensure a holistic approach to learning of fundamental skills is evident across all of children’s teaching and learning. In Science for example, Year 2, Year 4, Year 5 and Year 6 lead a topic on ‘Healthy Living’ which aims to promote a healthy lifestyle. The children learn about how to keep our body healthy, why exercise is important and how to cook healthy foods. In P.E. lessons, this learning continues as teachers reference how exercise helps the body in different ways.
At lunchtimes, the children on school meals have a well-balanced menu to choose from. We only allow healthy snacks to be eaten during break times.
Teachers are encouraged to use active brain breaks during school time involving short vigorous aerobic activity such as the Daily Mile and Active Afternoon Playtimes.
A broader experience of a range of sports and activities are offered to all pupils through the Craven School Partnership Programme and Skipton Tennis Centre School Partnership.
There is an increased participation in competitive sports through the two partnerships and the inter-house competitions.
Ensuring all children have the opportunity to attend after-school and extra-curricular sports provision. Children are rotated for competitions and registers are kept for children signing up to after school clubs to ensure the same children do not miss out.
Offering additional opportunities for children to engage in physical activity by organising theme events, such as beat the street and Race to Lapland.

The Impact of Our PE Curriculum

We aspire for all our children to be engaged, motivated and happy when it comes to Physical Education. We aim for all our children to have secured age-related skills and knowledge before they leave our school. This equips them with the ability to successfully prepare for a healthy and physical life ahead in which they can make informed choices about physical activity. In addition to this we strive for our children to be knowledgeable about healthy competition, team building and resilience in the wider world.

The impact of our Physical Education curriculum can be measured and monitored in a variety of different ways including; learning walks, Insight data analysis and tracking and pupil interviews. It is the responsibility of the subject leader to triangulate this evidence to ensure consistency across the whole school. Teachers use the Insight as well as the P.E progression of skills document (Years 1 to 6) or the EYFS Early Learning Goals to deliver high quality P.E lessons and assess the children as they progress through school. These documents ensure every objective of the National Curriculum is met and that teachers have the tools with which to deliver outstanding P.E and sport provision. Throughout PE lessons, children are actively involved in their target making and progress, teachers provide ‘in-the-moment’ feedback and support. At Thornton in Craven Primary School, we strive to include all children of differing abilities in Physical Education and provision is made for SEND children in the school.

We endeavour to raise the profile of Physical Education in school by ensuring that we offer a wide range of opportunities for all of our children and allow the children to engage in competition as often as possible. At Thornton in Craven, we run several sport clubs, including several more diverse and unusual sports such as tri-golf, basketball and archery which aims to engage a wider range of pupils across school. The variety of additional experiences offered to the children, as well as the raising of the profile of P.E. amongst our children, should see participation in extra-curricular clubs increase. Aside from our rich P.E curriculum, we attend inter-school competitions throughout the year with KS2 children. KS1 children have the opportunities to attend inter school sports partnership events where they mix with children from other schools to develop their fundamental skills. As skills improve and high-quality P.E. teaching is embedded across school, we should see improved participation levels in school competitions. These competitions provide a perfect stage for the sporting and character values that are integral to our P.E. lessons to be reinforced, ensuring our children leave primary school knowing the importance of etiquette, team-work, perseverance, respect and acceptance.

We were awarded the School Games PE Gold award in July 2022/23/24