At St Robert Southwell we recognise the importance of Physical Education to a child’s physical, cognitive, social and emotional development, as well as the role it can play in a child’s spiritual, moral and cultural development. We are committed to supporting the health and wellbeing of our children and understand the impact physical activity and sport has on this. We aim to provide a broad and balanced P.E. curriculum, to aid children’s increasing self-confidence in their ability to manage themselves and their bodies, within a variety of movement situations. Our children will have opportunities to compete in sport and other activities that build character and help to embed the key values of sport, such as fairness and respect. A balance of individual, team, co-operative and competitive activities aims to cater to individual pupil’s needs and abilities.

Our curriculum is based on progressive learning objectives which, combined with varied and flexible teaching styles, endeavour to provide appropriate, stimulating, challenging and enjoyable learning situations for all pupils. PE at St Robert Southwell is an imperative part of the curriculum which develops a need for healthy lifestyles, a balanced diet, a positive growth mindset and resilience. We are passionate about the need to teach children how to co-operate and collaborate with others, as part of a team, understanding fairness and equity of play to embed life-long values.

In addition to the importance placed on PE lessons, we also have a wider curriculum offer which includes the opportunities for pupils to take part in extra-curricular sports and activity clubs and competitions. Daily physical activity and health-enhancing activities also play a crucial role in our offer to pupils including active lessons, active breaks and lunchtimes and extra-curricular activities.

We aim to embed 30 minutes of physical activity throughout the school day in addition to the twice-weekly PE sessions. Children are provided with opportunities over the school day to become physically active within the curriculum. Lessons include elements of physical activity, including active times tables sessions, and children are provided with opportunities to have “brain breaks” throughout the school day, through the use of initiatives such as skipping, mindfulness and dance activities.

Our active lunchtime initiative enables children to become physically active through various zones, including the following: sporting activities in our Sports Zone, and Target Zones; dance and artistic activities in our Creative Zones; personal best and team-building challenges in our Challenge and Hop, Skip, Jump Zones; and other activities such as board games, music and role-play activities for our less sporty children in our Quiet Zones. Pupils in EYFS undertake daily physical exercise, through continuous provision and weekly Forest School activities. In KS1 the curriculum focuses on fundamental key skills to develop early stages of tactical awareness and physical fitness, elements of agility, balance and coordination.

Curriculum content includes ball skills and team games, gymnastics and dance activities. Children are introduced to early stages of games, gymnastics, dance and athletics. At KS2, pupils continue to apply and develop a range of skills to enable them to become successful games players, dancers, gymnasts and athletes. Lower KS2 develop the skills required for a range of games, while upper KS2 takes this further, to allow access to varied games. We also enrich children’s experiences through opportunities for swimming and outdoor and adventurous activities.

We provide opportunities for all children to engage in extra-curricular activities before, during and after school. Children are given the opportunity to compete at various levels, including personal best challenges in school, and other intraschool challenges between houses, year groups and classes. We take part in many School Games events through our links with the Kingsbury Schools Sports Partnership, and hold the Silver Level School Games Mark for our participation in competitive sports. This is an inclusive approach that aims to encourage not only physical development but also well-being for all pupils.

As a result of a strong Physical Education curriculum, and wider curriculum offer, pupils at St Robert Southwell will:

· Acquire and develop skills, performing with increasing physical awareness

· Learn how to select and apply skills, tactics and compositional ideas to suit activities that need different approaches and ways of thinking

· Develop their ideas in different ways

· Set targets for themselves and compete against others

· Understand what it takes to persevere, succeed and acknowledge others’ success

· Respond to a variety of challenges

· Take the initiative, lead activity and focus on improving performances

· Develop competence to excel in a broad range of physical activities

· Lead healthy, active lives

· Develop positive attitudes to participation in physical activity

· Engage in competitive sports and activities & embed values, such as fairness and respect

For the last few years, at the end of the year, we have had a special sports celebration assembly showcasing the sports in school and the range of extra-curricular sports the children take part in.