Holy Spirit Catholic Primary School

Live, Love, Learn. Together we will soar to new heights

Brunswick Street, St. Helens, Merseyside WA9 2JE

01744 678670

holyspirit@sthelens.org.uk

Physical Education

Our PE subject leader is Mr Platt.

Look at our wonderful PE ambassadors. 

"Sport speaks to people in a language they can understand."

- Nelson Mandela.

Physical Education

INTENT

In Physical Education, we aim to use a variety of teaching and learning styles. Our principal aim is to develop the children’s knowledge, skills and understanding in physical activity. Teachers draw attention to good examples of individual performance as models for the other children. Children are also encouraged to evaluate their own and other’s work. At Holy Spirit, we encourage children to work and play with others in a range of group situations. We aim to develop the way children perform skills and apply rules and conventions for different activities. This with the aim of increasing the children’s ability to use what they have learnt to improve the quality and control of their performance. We aim to teach children to recognise and describe how their bodies feel during exercise to ensure they understand and are able to state why warming up and cooling down are essential components to exercise. Linking to this, we aim to improve the children’s understanding of the effects of exercise and the impact it has on their body. Developing the children’s enjoyment of physical activity through creativity and imagination, developing an understanding in children of how to succeed in a range of physical activities and how to evaluate their own success is also key. Our commitment to this is evident in the provision of, on average, two hours Physical Education each week for all pupils. We strive to ensure all pupils are challenged, extending their skills and developing a love of exercise.

IMPLEMENTATION

In Physical Education, we aim to use a variety of teaching and learning styles. Our principal aim is to develop the children’s knowledge, skills and understanding in physical activity. We do this through a whole-class input, moving onto an individual or group activity. Teachers draw attention to good examples of individual performance as models for the other children. Children are also encouraged to evaluate their own and other’s work. Within lessons, we give the children the opportunity both to collaborate and to compete with each other, as well as using a wide range of resources throughout the year. General lesson structure of Physical Education lessons:

  1. Learning objectives and success criteria are shared at the start of the lesson.
  2. Warm up and stretching activities are completed.
  3. Main teaching input- either revision of a previous skill or learning of a new skill.
  4. Game, activity or group work where the learnt skill is applied.
  5. Continuous use of questioning throughout the lesson to assess children’s knowledge and understanding. Mini-plenaries can also be used for the children to demonstrate/perform their newly learnt skill.
  6. A cool-down exercise with dynamic or static stretching.

After-school clubs and competitive sporting events involving other schools are a valuable part of our school life. We believe that these activities allow children the opportunity to gain a deeper enjoyment and understanding of Physical Education. We offer a wide range of after-school activities that cater for both boys and girls equally. Making use of outside agencies (i.e. dance, cheerleading) is something we consider vital as it ensures a deep, broad PE curriculum.

IMPACT

Our curriculum aims to improve the wellbeing and fitness of all children at Holy Spirit, not only through the sporting skills taught, but through the underpinning values and disciplines physical education promotes. Within our lessons, children are taught about self-discipline, teamwork, sportsmanship and that, in order to be successful, we need to take ownership and responsibility of own health and fitness. Our impact is therefore to motivate children to utilise these underpinning skills in an independent and effective way in order to live happy and healthy lives. Our children understand that both sport and life is competitive and that you are not always able to win but with commitment and a desire to better; you can improve to reach your own personal best. Formative and summative assessment tools undertaken throughout the year allow us to monitor the impact of the subject. Overall, our pupils experience a wide range of different sports and activities throughout their time in Holy Spirit. Pupils gain an appreciation of sport, an insight into the importance of physical activity and develop key skills needed to succeed, not only in sport, but in later life.

PE at Holy Spirit.

We have Gymnastics with Progressive Sports.

Year 5 enjoying invasion games - hockey, basketball and dodgeball

We enjoyed our football competition, with other local schools, where we came third.

We worked well as a team and used our PATHS skills and fair play rules to help us throughout. 

We enjoyed a Boccia competition, organised by St Helen's School Games, where we played against other local schools.

We had lots of fun and worked very well together!

We enjoyed a multi-skills event, where we were able to try lots of different activities to boost our love of PE.

We demonstrated great teamwork skills and resilience and we were so proud of ourselves!

Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 also enjoyed a multi-skills event, where they were able to try lots of different activities to boost their love of PE.

Our after-school football club is a big hit!

Our PE ambassadors met with our PE Governor, Mrs Killilea, to tell her all about our wonderful PE learning so far this year.