Our intention at St Helen’s primary school is to ensure that all pupils experience regularly physical activity, in a safe and supportive environment as this is a unique and vital contributor to their physical development and wellbeing. Physical education encompasses activities that develop the health, fitness, and co-ordination of the children, helping them to embed exercise for lifelong learning and wellbeing. Essentially through practical activities children should develop physical, personal, cognitive and social skills. With an emphasis on performance, our curriculum makes a significant contribution to the spiritual, moral and cultural development of young people. Through our high-quality physical education programme, our pupils will become physically literate and develop the knowledge, skills and motivation necessary to equip them for a healthy active lifestyle and lifelong participation in physical activity and sports. This is supported by our links with the community and outside agencies which broadens children’s physical experiences.

We aim to provide a P.E curriculum which enables all children to progress and improve, regardless of ability, allowing pupils to develop their understanding, skills and abilities.

In P.E lessons children will be taught to:

Key Stage 1:

• Master basic movements, including running, jumping, throwing and catching, as well as developing balance, agility and co-ordination, and begin to apply these in a range of activities
• Participate in team games, developing simple tactics for attacking and defending
• Perform dances using simple movement patterns

Key Stage 2:

• Use running, jumping, catching and throwing in isolation and in combination
• Play competitive games, modified where appropriate (e.g. badminton, tag rugby, basketball, cricket, football, hockey, netball, rounders and tennis) and apply basic principles suitable for attacking and defending
• Develop flexibility, strength, technique, control and balance (e.g. through gymnastics and athletics)
• Perform dances using a range of movement patterns
• Take part in outdoor and adventurous activity challenges both individually and within a team
• Compare their performance with previous ones and demonstrate improvement to achieve their personal best

Swimming and Water Safety in Key Stage 2

• Swim competently, confidently and proficiently over a distance of at least 25 metres
• Use a range of strokes effectively (e.g. front crawl, breaststroke, backstroke)

Perform safe self-rescue in different water-based situations