Physical Education

In Early Years, physical activity is vital in children’s all-round development. We supply the children with the experience to pursue happy, healthy and active lives. Children will develop gross and fine motor skills starting with sensory explorations, strength, co-ordination, positional awareness, crawling and play movement with both objects and adults. Throughout the year, opportunities for play both indoors and outdoors will ensure that children will develop their core strength, stability, balance, special awareness, co-ordination and agility as well as their ability to cooperate and solve problems.

In Key Stage 1, children are provided with the opportunity to develop fundamental movement skills, increase their competence and confidence in their agility, balance, co-ordination and spatial awareness. Children will engage in competitive (both against self and against others) and co-operative physical activities. Throughout the year, children will be taught to master basic movements including running, jumping, throwing and catching, as well as developing their balance, agility and co-ordination. Pupils in Year 1 will focus primarily on how the body feels before and after exercise and learn how to carry and place equipment safely. They will also learn to copy and repeat actions, create motifs at varying speeds, travel in different directions and put a sequence of actions together. This knowledge is then built upon in Year 2, where children begin to recognise and describe how the body feels during and after different physical activities and explain why they need to stay healthy. Throughout the year, opportunities for play both indoors and outdoors will ensure that children will develop further core strength, stability, balance, spatial awareness, co-ordination and agility and explore the requirements for increasing control and balance.

In lower Key Stage 2, children will use the previous knowledge from Year 1 and 2 to explore in more depth how the body reacts at different times and how this affects performance. During this time, children will develop precision into their movements and compose their own complex movement patterns. Children will also use the previous knowledge from both year 1 and 2 to explore in more depth the effects of exercise on the body and the importance of strength and flexibility for physical activity, such as within their balances and the importance of warming up and cooling down.

In upper Key Stage 2, this knowledge is then used and built upon in more depth. Children will refine techniques such as sprinting, changing direction and reaction time. In games, children will learn more complex rules and communicate effectively to lead others. They will gain a deeper understanding of tactics and develop strategies by being able to demonstrate how to think ahead and plan an attack or defence. Throughout each unit, pupils draw a better understanding of how to explain safety principles when preparing for and during exercise. In gymnastics and dance, children will create their own complex sequences involving a full range of actions and apply skills and techniques consistently showing precision and control. Throughout each unit, pupils will draw a better understanding of ways in which they can become healthier and lead healthier lifestyles.