Enfield's Physical Education Curriculum

Intent

At Enfield Academy of New Waltham, we aim to provide a PE curriculum that pupils from EYFS to Year 6 not only enjoy but also allows them to experience a range of activities that help them to develop their health, fitness and wellbeing.

We intend to offer a high-quality physical education curriculum that inspires all pupils to succeed and excel in competitive sport and other physically demanding activities.

We intend to provide opportunities to develop their physical wellbeing; make links to how physical activity can aid mental wellbeing; and encourage children to develop positive attitudes towards fitness for life.

Our curriculum provides opportunities for pupils to become physically confident in a way that supports their health and fitness. Opportunities to compete in sport and other activities build character and help to embed values such as fairness and respect.

The National Curriculum for PE aims to ensure that all pupils:

• develop competence to excel in a broad range of physical activities
• are physically active for sustained periods of time
• engage in competitive sports and activities
• lead healthy, active lives.

We follow the guidelines set by the national curriculum to ensure we offer a range of PE activities that allow each child to feel challenged and offer opportunities to progress further.

 

EYFS

As part of the EYFS statutory framework pupils are taught:

Physical development: involves providing opportunities for young children to be active and interactive; and to develop their co-ordination, control, and movement. Children must also be helped to understand the importance of physical activity, and to make healthy choices in relation to food.

Moving and handling: children show good control and co-ordination in large and small movements. They move confidently in a range of ways, safely negotiating space. They handle equipment and tools effectively.

Health and self-care: children know the importance for good health of physical exercise, and a healthy diet, and talk about ways to keep healthy and safe.

 

Key Stage 1

Pupils develop fundamental movement skills, become increasingly competent and confident and access a broad range of opportunities to extend their agility, balance and coordination, individually and with others. They are able to engage in competitive (both against self and against others) and co-operative physical activities, in a range of increasingly challenging situations. Pupils are taught to:

• master basic movements including running, jumping, throwing and catching, as well as developing balance, agility and co-ordination, and begin to apply these in a range of activities
• participate in team games, developing simple tactics for attacking and defending
• perform dances using simple movement patterns.

  

Key Stage 2

Pupils continue to apply and develop a broader range of skills, learning how to use them in different ways and to link them to make actions and sequences of movement. They enjoy communicating, collaborating and competing. They develop an understanding of how to improve in different physical activities and sports and learn how to evaluate and recognise their own success. Pupils are taught to:

• use running, jumping, throwing and catching in isolation and in combination
• play competitive games, modified where appropriate, and apply basic principles suitable for attacking and defending
• develop flexibility, strength, technique, control and balance
• perform dances using a range of movement patterns
• take part in outdoor and adventurous activity challenges both individually and within a team
• compare their performances with previous ones and demonstrate improvement to achieve their personal best
• to be able to confidently swim 25m and understand how to be water safe.

 

At Enfield Academy of New Waltham, the development and application of fundamental movement skills, as well as the understanding of how to improve, is taught through 6 key areas of activity:

• Dance
• Games
• Swimming
• Athletics
• Outdoor & Adventure
• Gymnastics

 

 

Dance Dance is an art form that is concerned with developing control, co-ordination and versatility in the use of the body. It helps to maintain flexibility, develop strength and aesthetic awareness and the appreciation of beauty and quality in movement. Composition, performance and appreciation are the three components of dance.  All are inter-related and will usually be taught together.	Aims To develop control, co-ordination, balance and poise in basic actions of travelling, elevation and stillness. To enable children to learn to enrich movements by varying shape, size, direction, level, speed, tension and continuity. To experience and respond to a variety of stimuli, including music. To explore moods, express feelings and ideas and create simple characters and narratives in movement. To create dances with clear beginnings, middles and ends. To use techniques and styles to communicate meanings and ideas. To give children the opportunity to describe, interpret and evaluate all aspects of dance, choreography, performance and content production. To experience examples of traditional/folk dances from different countries.
Games Games and competitive sports are an essential part of the physical education programme.  They involve children participating individually, in a team, co-operatively and are concerned with skills, tactics and principles of play.	Aims To provide experience of a variety of different games including – invasion games such as football, netball and hockey, net and ball games such as tennis and volley ball striking and fielding games such as cricket and rounders. To gain understanding of common skills and principles, including attack and defence in all types of games. To provide games practices that help improve skills. To develop own games, rules and scoring systems. To experience a variety of roles in each game including umpiring. To play and understand small sided versions of recognised games. To learn more advanced techniques and tactics in selected games and how to analyse them in order to improve performance. To experience the full sided version of a game and play in different positions in competitive situations.
Swimming Swimming is a crucial survival skill and an essential prerequisite for a range of activities in and around water.  It provides an excellent form of all round exercise and can contribute to the development of flexibility, strength and stamina.	Aims To develop safety and confidence in the water. To know and understand the basic principles of water safety. To learn the fundamentals of recognised strokes and a variety of general water skills. To ensure that all children at the end of Key Stage 2 can swim at least 25 metres.
Athletics In athletics the focus is upon developing a variety of natural physical actions like running, jumping and throwing, the activities provide excellent opportunities for promoting physical fitness and understanding of how the body works.	Aims To experience and participate in running, jumping and throwing activities. To develop and participate the basic skills leading to the different athletic events. To learn how to measure, compare and improve performance. To experience competition. To learn about the effects of exercise upon physical health and fitness.
Outdoor and Adventurous Activities Outdoor and adventurous activities have the potential to satisfy the need for excitement and challenge in a positive way.  They also provide opportunities for learning about our environment and ourselves.	Aims To explore the potential for physical activities within the immediate environment. To undertake simple orientation activities. To learn the principles of safety in the outdoors and how to avoid danger. To experience at least one exciting and challenging activity in an unfamiliar environment and learn the skills necessary for the activity. To experience the need for mutual support/reliance on others in a challenging environment.

 

Inclusion

Inclusion in Physical Education means that all children have access to and are given confidence in the 6 activity areas, regardless of race, gender and ability. We aim to create an environment in which all children learn to respect and value each other. This can be achieved by employing the following strategies:

• Mixing groups in terms of gender and ability.
• Structuring and adapted activities so all are involved. For instance, a team cannot score in a bench ball game until all the team has touched the ball.
• Giving all the children an opportunity to share their work. For instance, allowing time at the end of a gymnastics lesson for the whole class to perform their sequences.
• Considering the needs of children with physical or learning difficulties and taking the necessary steps (by enlisting extra help, adapting equipment or differentiating tasks) to ensure they have equal access to the curriculum.
• Considering ways in which to support ESL children. For instance, simplifying language, using other children to translate, or demonstrating rather than speaking.
• Recognising the dangers of stereotyping. For example, expecting dynamic work from boys in gymnastics and neat and controlled work from girls.
• Recognising the need to extend more able pupils and, if necessary, referring them to the subject leader. They may then be further extended.
• Teacher and coaches will confidently model and teach inclusive behaviours, which emphasised teamwork, respect and encouragement.
• Teachers and coaches will set clear, simple instructions for children, allowing them to flourish in a safe, fun and enjoyable environment.

Implementation

Children are taught weekly by teaching staff in EYFS and by a sports coach and teaching staff from Year 1 to Year 6. Teacher knowledge is supplemented by use of the resources provided by subscription to Get Set 4 PE. Children will be exposed to these different sports again at differing points of their time at Enfield Academy. The curriculum is further enhanced by participation in numerous sporting tournaments with other schools in the area and after school clubs. Sports activities are offered at lunchtimes, supervised by a qualified sports coaches including: football, hockey, basketball and netball.

Each year, pupils in year 4 attend swimming lessons provided by qualified swimming instructors for nine weeks. Any pupils who are in Year 5 and have not obtained the KS2 25m achievement also attend swimming lessons.

Lessons are delivered with a skills focus ensuring there is progress between year groups in developing the key skills in each strand of the physical education curriculum. Additionally, physical education lessons follow the agreed practices.

 

Planning

Individual Lessons

Individual lesson plans are taken directly from available resources and adapted to suit the class. This will ensure logical progression throughout the unit of work and means skills will not be taught in isolation and there is a clear end objective. This objective may be realised explicitly in the final lesson. For example, with a performance in Dance, or a full (age appropriate) rules tournament in Games.

 

Basic Lesson Plan

1. Warm up - 3 to 5 mins gentle exercise or stretching.
2. Introduction (or Revision) - individual or pair work.
3. Development - more challenging tasks in small groups.
4. Conclusion - transfer of skill/s learnt to final activity e.g. playing small sided games or performing a sequence in Gymnastics.

 

Further Points to Consider

• Insist on correct and safe PE kit - see section in Health and Safety.
• Use both teacher and pupil demonstrations rather than verbal explanation wherever possible - make an effort to vary the children chosen.
• Generally, sit the class down when showing demonstrations. Make sure they are watching and listening.
• Teachers advised to use the videos provided by Get Set 4 PE, and to provide the introductory part of the lesson in the classroom.
• Teach boys and girls together - in general insist on mixed groups and sometimes mixed pairs, depending on the activity.
• Select a mixture of competitive and non-competitive activities.
• Provide for lots of activity and maximum involvement - do not play full-sided games (eg 11-a-side football) where maximum ball contact time is diminished.
• Mix abilities where appropriate. In games, this will develop the skills of the weaker players and ensure fair competition. In Dance and Gymnastics, this will encourage less confident children to be more involved in a group activity.
• Encourage honest competition and the idea of doing one's best- work towards children refereeing their own games.
• Choose suitable equipment for the age and ability of the pupils - e.g. in rounders progressing from: throwing the ball, to using wide tennis bats, to using rounders bats.
• Question pupils and encourage the class to develop an awareness and understanding of how to use the skills they have learned appropriately - e.g. when to use a bounce pass in netball rather than an overhead pass.
• Encourage independence by ensuring pupils have opportunities to express and develop their own ideas. For example, children creating their own games with their own rules and scoring system.

 

Organisation

Teachers will aim to include all pupils in P.E. lessons.  If children are unable to participate in P.E. due to injury or illness, this should be supported by communication from parents.

Young children who forget their kit will participate using spare clothes/plimsolls from the P.E. box. Non-participants should be involved in the lessons if possible as observers, recorders or critics so enabling them to learn and understand the work and thus be better prepared to rejoin lessons in due course, when fit and healthy.

School support staff can make a significant contribution to pupils’ learning in P.E. lessons.  However, they must work under the direction of a teacher unless they are suitably qualified and experienced to teach groups alone.  They need to be aware of health and safety issues and need to read the lesson plans carefully before supporting children in the lesson. Some children may need tasks simplified and given extra support, where other children will need some personal challenges. 

Coaches, teachers and support staff when taking P.E. lessons should be appropriately dressed.  Suitable footwear is essential to enable free movement and this is a good example to set to the children. 

Physical Education Skills Progression