Stuart Kay, Youth Sports Trust Schools Director, highlights the vital role that PE and sport can play in a child’s educational journey, stating it plays an essential part in “enhancing children’s health, building character, improving wellbeing and supporting them to fulfil their potential”.  

Youth Sports Trust (2019) 

Intent

At Austwick CE VA Primary School, we believe that all children’s education (this includes SEND, EAL, PP and vulnerable children) begins in Early Years. Our curriculum offer for PE begins in Early Years. ‘Children develop quickly in the early years and a child’s experiences between birth and age five have a major impact on their future life chances.' (EYFS Statutory Framework, 2021) 

In PE, we recognise the ‘must haves’ as the development of the children’s motor competence, their understanding of rules, tactics and strategies and the knowledge of how to participate healthily in a game (Ofsted, September 2023). We recognise the ‘could dos’ as sequenced lessons in PE of the essential knowledge, the explicit teaching of vocabulary and specific skills and retrieval practice for knowledge and interleaving. 

Hanna Miller, Her Majesty's Inspector, Subject Lead for Physical Education, states that “pupils are able to know more, remember more and do more in PE when they have access to high quality instruction, practice and feedback” (March 2022). At Austwick CE VA Primary School, high-quality instruction in PE is delivered to all pupils. 

Primary PE ensures that all children have many opportunities to: 

• Develop their motor confidence 

• Develop their knowledge of strategies and rules in a range of sports 

• Become healthy participants and good team players in a range of competitive games 

Implementation

All children have 2 hours of PE timetabled in each week. 

Why this, why now? 

The whole school long term plan is designed for mixed age classes. PE is taught twice weekly. The whole school long term plan for PE is as follows: 

• Fundamental movements, body control and ball skills 

• Dance 

• Gymnastics 

• Application of fundamental movements OAA 

Children learn to take part in outdoor and adventurous activity challenges both individually and within a team. In KS2 children also take part in a residential trip which provides further opportunities to apply themselves in different outdoor and adventurous activities requiring teamwork. Children have opportunities to apply the fundamental skills of running and jumping during orienteering. 

Swimming 

In the autumn term and spring term, all KS1 and KS2 children have ten weeks of swimming lessons focusing on swimming 25 metres (KS2), using a range of strokes and performing water safety procedures.