PE

What does an athlete look like at Margaret Wix Primary School? 

• The ability to acquire new knowledge and skills exceptionally well and develop an in-depth understanding of PE. 
• The willingness to practise skills in a wide range of different activities and situations, alone, in small groups and in teams and to apply these skills in chosen activities to achieve exceptionally high levels of performance. 

• High levels of physical fitness. 

• A healthy lifestyle, achieved by eating sensibly, avoiding smoking, drugs and alcohol and exercising regularly. 

• The ability to remain physically active for sustained periods of time and an understanding of the importance of this in promoting long-term health and well-being.  

• The ability to take the initiative and become excellent young leaders, organising and officiating, and evaluating what needs to be done to improve, and motivating and instilling excellent sporting attitudes in others.  

• Exceptional levels of originality, imagination and creativity in their techniques, tactics and choreography, knowledge of how to improve their own and others’ performance and the ability to work independently for extended periods of time without the need of guidance or support. 

• A keen interest in PE. A willingness to participate eagerly in every lesson, highly positive attitudes and the ability to make informed choices about engaging fully in extra-curricular sport.

Our PE Curriculum - Intent

At Margaret Wix, we aspire for each child to have a passion for physical activity and to recognise and experience the benefits for their physical and mental health. We want children to develop the knowledge and skills they will require to be successful, both now, as children, and in the future.

Physical education is an important part of a child’s all-round development and teaches them key life skills. We give children the opportunity to explore a variety of different sports, discuss sporting careers and consider the influence certain sporting heroes have had, regardless of their age, gender, race or ability. The PE curriculum is ambitious and shaped to reflect the unique needs of our pupils.  The curriculum helps build resilience and determination to succeed through teaching a range of skills in different activities. We encourage effort, independence, and ambition as well as teaching the importance of team work.

The breadth and depth of the curriculum provides challenge for all abilities and it is sequenced to ensure the progressive development of PE skills. The curriculum is adapted to meet the needs of all children though differentiation and each lesson is sequenced to build on prior learning and skills. Medium term plans set out the skills and understanding to be achieved at the end of each lesson and by the end of the half-termly sequence of lessons. Concepts and skills are taught in a logical order, with an increasing level of challenge. Links are made to other subject areas, such as Science.

The Margaret Wix community is diverse and we understand the vital need for representation within our teaching. We ensure diversity across the curriculum: careful thought and planning has gone into selecting whose stories we tell and how they are told. Our curriculum has been re-examined and we have endeavoured to reduce the western bias. We strive to ensure that BAME pupils see themselves reflected in our curriculum, all year round. We call our personalised curriculum ‘The Wix Way’. In PE, this includes learning about inspiring able-bodied and disabled sporting heroes from different cultures.

Our PE Curriculum – Implementation

The PE curriculum is structured to be progressive in knowledge and skills across all key stages and is sequenced to build on prior learning. Units of learning are taught through a half-termly focus in two topics.  PE knowledge and skills are taught creatively and children work towards clearly defined end points, creating opportunities to make connections within and across their learning.

Children learn a range of skills needed to play a broad range of sports and physical activities, including:

• Invasion games such as netball, rugby and hockey
• Rounders
• Athletics
• Cricket
• Dance
• Gymnastics
• Tennis
• Outdoor adventure activities
• All children from Year 3 to Year 6 will have weekly swimming lessons throughout one whole term of the academic year. These lessons will take place at a neighbouring school.

Children are encouraged to develop their own ideas and to challenge themselves.  They are taught skills to play a variety of sports and games they may not have tried before. All children are taught to be positive, fair and to strive to do their best.

We encourage and nurture children’s independence and give all children an equal opportunity to take part. Pupils have the opportunity to play sport competitively against other local schools, in tournaments and matches throughout the year. As members of the St Albans primary schools’ sports association, there are a number of tournaments and festivals of sport that children can attend and enjoy.

In addition to curriculum sport, we offer a whole school sports day, weekly mile event for every class and additional sports clubs after school and at lunchtimes. These clubs encourage children to further enhance their interest and skills in sports such football, netball and athletics. We promote the importance of exercise outside of the school day.

Our PE Curriculum – Impact

The impact of our curriculum is demonstrated through the success of our learners and their confidence to demonstrate the physical skills and knowledge that will prepare them for the curriculum at Key Stage 3 and for life as a healthy adult in the wider world.

Assessments of achievements in PE are carried out in a variety of ways. Verbal feedback provides regular, relevant and timely information which is used to shape future teaching. Assessment is on-going throughout each unit and at the end of each topic children are assessed in their understanding of the key knowledge and skills covered. We understand that progression and achievement is not directly linked to natural sporting ability and encourage discussion as a way of shaping the curriculum to the needs and interests of our pupils.

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Aspirations For The Future

Pupils develop an understanding of how subjects and specific skills are linked to future jobs.  

Here are some of the jobs you could aspire to do in the future as an athlete: 

• Physiotherapist 

• Coach 

• Rock climbing instructor 
• Dance teacher
• Personal trainer
• PE teacher
• Nutritionist

• Kit manager 

• A career in sport for example, an athlete, a footballer, a netballer etc