PE at St Mary's Catholic Primary School

Our PE Vision

Physical Education at St Mary’s Catholic Primary School provides children with the opportunity to work in ways that differ from other subjects. We provide a high-quality PE curriculum that engages, inspires and challenges children, equipping them with the numerous skills required to excel in PE.

The PE curriculum is ambitious, broad and balanced in the range of skills and techniques delivered throughout their time in school.

Children learn about inspirational sportspeople. Through this, they are able to comment and reflect on the commitment, determination and skillset involved in being a professional athlete.

Throughout lessons, children are taught to understand and demonstrate the St Mary’s Values. These are intrinsically woven into our lessons and are regularly revisited. Children are always encouraged to 'Let their light shine.'

With a keen focus on planned, taught vocabulary, children develop the language they need to describe and evaluate their own performance, as well as constructively work with others to improve.

Children leave St Mary’s with a solid skillset, a strong sense of sportsmanship and an understanding of health and fitness.

Our PE Curriculum

At St Mary's, we follow the National Curriculum for PE to ensure all children acquire and develop a range of skills, apply those skills and use tactics and evaluate and improve performance. Our long term plan and progression documents can be read below:

Physical Education Overview 23-24.docx

Year 6 progression of vocabulary and intent statements.docx

Year 5 progression of vocabulary and intent statements.docx

Year 4 progression of vocabulary and intent statements.docx

Year 3 progression of vocabulary and intent statements.docx

Year 2 progression of vocabulary and intent statements.docx

Year 1 progression of vocabulary and intent statements.docx

F2 progression of vocabulary and intent statements.docx

Early Years Foundation Stage

Physical Education is a crucial element of the Early Years Foundation Stage at St Mary's. It provides the building blocks for developing a healthy mind and body and so, as well as their PE lessons, pupils have access to the outdoor area where they can ride bikes and scooters to develop their gross motor skills; they can also develop fundamental skills such as balancing, throwing, catching, skipping, kicking, jumping and running.

Key Stage 1 and 2

Children at St Mary's have two PE sessions every week with regular opportunities for competitions and after school clubs to further develop their talents and interests.

Children have 'fundamentals' lessons with our sports coaches, Samba. These lessons focus on developing the underlying key skills that make up all sports and activities; things like using movement to create space and controlling objects with your hands or feet. Breaking things down into key skills creates more opportunity for children to experience improvement. It also means children will feel confident to try out new activities independently.

Children also have lessons with their teachers following the Striver scheme. This scheme was chosen as it ensures children of all abilities feel motivated and engaged. The scheme focuses on individual progression and encourages a growth mindset which reflect St Mary's values.

"Striver has been created with a sole purpose: to improve primary aged pupils' long-term physical and mental wellbeing."

Inspirational Sportspeople

At the start of each unit, children are introduced to an inspirational sportsperson linked to that sport. They learn about their achievements and how their mindset and resilience has helped them to be successful. This helps children to learn how to be motivated and to implement positive attitudes in their own lives.

Children in Year 4 have swimming lessons at Queen's Park Sports Centre.

Finally, as part of the PE curriculum at St Mary's, we teach children about both physical and mental health and wellbeing, nutrition, hydration and the importance of sleep. These theory based lessons, help children understand how to achieve and maintain a healthy mind and body, important knowledge and skills to enable them to grow up to be the best that they can be.

Our PE Learning

Competitions

We work with the SHAPE partnership in Chesterfield to compete with other local schools in a range of competitive events. We also run intra-school competitions which the children enjoy. This helps to teach children about encouraging and supporting one another as well as showing good sportsmanship. It is another opportunity for children to 'let their light shine' in different ways.

St Mary's Mile

We are lucky enough to have a running track on our school field which is used for completing the St Mary's Mile as movement breaks between lessons. Regular physical activity has been proven to promote good physical and mental health. Children enjoy the opportunities to run round the track before returning to the classroom.

Cycling

Children in Foundation learn how to ride balance bikes to develop confidence in balance, coordination and strength before progressing to pedalling. Children in Year 5 have cycling classes which further develop these fundamental skills. Children learn more about bike handling skills such as cornering, using gears, acceleration and braking. They also learn how to complete a M check to make sure their bike is safe to ride before they start. Children then progress to road riding, learning how to be safe on the roads, being mindful of traffic, other road users and the Highway Code.

Events

At St Mary's, we are always looking for ways to develop children's talents and interests. Through our PE events, we expose children to a range of new and interesting games and sports that they can take part in. This widens their perspectives and helps them to find activities that they are interested in. For example, the children have taken part in fencing, boccia and high jump. They also have opportunities to play sports in different venues such as the local tennis club and the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield.

Sports Day

Sports Day is the highlight of the year at St Mary's. Every child is involved. We welcome our families to spectate and cheer the children on. Our wonderful PTFA provide refreshments and make it an exciting community event. Children choose and train for the events that they enter. We have podiums for gold, silver and bronze places, but every child is celebrated and encouraged to 'let their light shine'.

What our children say about PE at St Mary's

What do you enjoy about PE at St Mary's?

Year 6- team activities, warm-ups
Year 5- jumps in gymnastics, getting the body fit
Year 4- learning new sports, being active
Year 3- having fun, being outside, using equipment

I can see you have learnt about Gymnastics/games. Tell me what you remember about it. What did you do before that helped you in that lesson?

Year 6- counter-tension, balances, stretches, movements- unison, poses, counter, cannon
Year 5- performing jumps- straddle jump, balances- arabesque
Year 4- precise movements, new balances- pike, straddle, swimming safety
Year 3- balances, bends/poses, teamwork, performances

What makes someone good at PE at St Mary's?

Year 6- hard work, respecting others, listening skills, sportsmanship, repeated practice, teamwork, confidence
Year 5- being positive and energetic, fairness, dedication
Year 4- upholding British values, following lesson rules, precise practice, teamwork, confidence
Year 3- having a growth mindset, hard work, playing fairly, trying your best

What do you do if you are struggling in a PE lesson?

Year 6- ask for help, watch a demonstration, ask a partner for help
Year 5- always asking for help, keep trying, demonstrations, try again
Year 4- continued practice, observe others, ask for help- friend/teacher/coach
Year 3- ask for help, have another go, believe in yourself, watch others

How do you know if you have done well throughout the year?

Year 6- sense of accomplishment, clapping, cheering, teacher feedback
Year 5- praise, feedback, feeling good about yourself, feeling happy
Year 4- praise, being independent
Year 3- teacher feedback, peer feedback, feeling good

How have your teachers helped you?

Year 6- support- show and tell you how to do it, verbal feedback, asked other children to demonstrate, building confidence
Year 5- teaching different sports, understanding needs of children, recapping learning
Year 4- demonstrations
Year 3- learning new things

How are you challenged in PE lessons?

Year 6- more difficult instructions, progression gets harder, harder options for activities offered, learning new skills
Year 5- encouraging to use weaker hand, pushing boundaries
Year 4- personal challenges, personal best activities, new learning
Year 3- new skills, push boundaries, different levels of activities offered, extra challenges

PE at home/useful websites

Junior Park Run

Clancy Briggs Cycling Academy

St Mary's Sports Premium Strategy

Click here to read our Sports Premium Strategy:

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