Why is Physical Education Important in our School? 

Physical Education at Sudley Primary School allows children to feel inspired and gives them the skills to succeed in competitive sport and other physical activities. We support children’s health and wellbeing, including physical, emotional and mental, by providing a variety of opportunities to become physically confident, and we support the promotion of our school’s values: respect, resilience, responsibility and reflection.  

At Sudley Primary, we ensure that all children are physically active for sustained periods of time and that they understand the fundamental skills of how to lead a healthy lifestyle. Children develop competence to succeed across a range of physical activities, and engage in both competitive and non-competitive sports throughout the key stages. By the end of their journey at Sudley, children will have experienced a diverse curriculum, delivered through a systematic and comprehensive approach. 

How Physical Education is Taught in our School?

Our curriculum has been designed to help new knowledge stick, building on what has been taught previously and ensuring that physical skills have been embedded for all children. We ensure that children can accurately articulate their knowledge (‘knowing that’) and skills (‘knowing how’).  

Building on Prior Learning 

Throughout the key stages, children at Sudley Primary School are taught a progressive curriculum with clearly defined end points. Children revisit prior learning within each unit across indoor and outdoor sports, whilst carefully introducing new concepts, vocabulary and skills. This is to ensure that all children are given opportunities to develop their understanding and ability to carry out specific physically-demanding activities. 

Cumulative Knowledge 

Physical Education is planned to ensure that the retention of knowledge and skills goes further than ‘in the moment’. The cumulative nature of the curriculum is made memorable by revisiting concepts over time to guarantee that they develop in end of unit, year and key stage outcomes. 

Building Substantive Knowledge 

Our curriculum is designed to allow children to become experts in both their understanding of what the skill is and how to execute it using the correct technique, vocabulary and evidence of drawing upon prior knowledge. Each unit of work has clearly sequenced and defined learning points so that all new material is taught in small steps, ensuring that critical knowledge is embedded for all children. Children are encouraged to be reflective learners across all units, enabling them to self and peer assess, thus becoming confident and outgoing individuals. 

Vocabulary 

Vocabulary within Physical Education at Sudley Primary School is a key concept within our curriculum and is planned sequentially from Year 1 through to Year 6. Children are taught subject-specific words and terms; these are revisited on regular occasions throughout all lessons to promote a deep understanding.  

Knowledge Retention 

Each class has two allocated sessions for Physical Education each week: one for indoor and one for outdoor lessons. Indoor lessons consist of teaching of dance, gymnastics and yoga to name a few. Outdoor sessions cover topics such as netball, hockey and athletics. These high-quality lessons revisit activities and skills to reinforce previous learning and ensure children further develop these skills over their school journey. Children’s learning is regularly monitored to ensure that pupils can transfer key knowledge to long-term memory. This is completed through weekly reviews (retrieval questions) and by encouraging independent practice, for example evaluating performances and matches. 

In Physical Education, we are committed to ensuring that all children, including those with additional needs, have equal access to the full curriculum. To achieve this, we implement a variety of tailored strategies and support structures, designed to meet each child’s unique needs. These include and specialised resources, such adapted learning materials and approaches as well as scaffolded support to help students engage fully with the Physical Education curriculum. 

What will Children get from the teaching of Physical Education? 

Children at Sudley Primary School will make good progress from their starting point to fulfil their potential. We equip children with the knowledge and skills to lead a healthy lifestyle and have a deep understanding of why this is important. Children will become confident and competent across a range of activities, thus allowing them to develop into reflective and resilient learners. They will be able to articulate their understanding of the world around them using subject-specific vocabulary with confidence, linking both the fundamentals of mental and physical health. As part of our approach to promoting mental wellbeing, we regularly use the ‘ROAR’ approach. This includes checking in with children using our ROAR Rainbow and Resilient Ralph throughout the curriculum. 

Our high-quality curriculum allows children to experience working with different groups of people, which allows them to develop respect, teamwork and good sportsmanship. These are all key elements of Physical Education within our school community. Children are also given plentiful opportunities to develop leadership skills, therefore promoting responsibility and how to be a good role model for all.