Intent

Lawnside Academy believes that physical education, experienced in a safe and supportive environment, is a unique and vital contributor to a pupil’s physical, mental and social development. We aspire for our children to incorporate a healthy and active lifestyle into adulthood. 

A broad and balanced physical education curriculum for school sport is intended to provide pupils with the necessary skills to achieve individual, paired and group success. Progressive learning objectives across the Foundation Stage, Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 combined with sympathetic and varied teaching approaches, endeavour to provide stimulating, enjoyable, satisfying and appropriately challenging learning experiences for all pupils. 

Through the selection of suitably differentiated and logically developed tasks, it is intended that pupils, irrespective of their innate ability, will enjoy success and be motivated to further develop their individual potential via opportunities at school or accessed through external clubs/agencies.

Implementation

Lawnside Academy promotes high quality teaching and learning. Lessons are blocked in units of work to promote greater depth of understanding, development of skills, contextual applications of these skills and the ability to perform reflectively. Specialist coaches and international bodies support the teaching and learning also.

The emphasis in our teaching of P.E at Lawnside Academy is on allowing pupils to enjoy activities, set personal goals, celebrate achievements inside and outside of school and cover National Curriculum subjects. We aim for the children to develop:

• Control, co-ordination and mobility
• Skills and confidence in a range of physical activities
• An awareness of the physical capabilities of the body
• Co-operative skills
• Skills in evaluating their own work and improving it

All pupils are presented with opportunities to be creative, competitive, co-operative and to face challenges as individuals and in small groups or teams. Pupils will also be given the opportunity to demonstrate their learning, using a range of communication styles, allowing for effective assessment. 

Impact

As a result, our children enjoy and are enthusiastic about PE in our school. There is a clear progression of children’s work and teachers’ expectations and pupil interviews show a wide range of vocabulary is used and understood to communicate what they have learnt in PE sessions and can use this same vocabulary in other areas of the curriculum.

Our children are more confident, resilient and engaged in PE sessions. Children are more willing to share sporting achievements outside of school via school assemblies and recognise significant sporting events. Oral feedback from teachers has an impact on our pupils, often with next step questions to push learning further.

Standards in PE at the end of the key stages are good and issues arising are addressed effectively in school with regular reviews of individual units.