At St Mary’s Catholic Primary School the intent of teaching Physical Education (PE) is to give children the tools and understanding required to make a positive impact in their own physical health and well-being. We want all children to experience a wide variety of sports and physical skills which will enhance life-long fitness and life choices. PE can challenge and promote self-esteem through the development of physical confidence and problem solving. It can teach children to cope with both success and failure in competitive, individual and team based physical activities. Within dance it will allow children to explore their personal and spiritual identity.

PE at St Mary’s Catholic Primary School is taught by a combination of class teachers, PE specialists and qualified sports coaches. Children have equal opportunities to take part in a range of sports and physical activities within a supportive environment where effort as well as success is recognised. Children are encouraged to participate in exercise through-out the day during PE lessons, clubs, outdoor learning, lunch provision and special events. At St Mary’s Catholic Primary School the PE curriculum is structured to provide a range of sports experiences during which every child participates to develop their skills and learning through competitive, team and individual sports. Through our provision children can aim to flourish at sports in which they have a particular interest or flair for. We teach the National Curriculum, supported by a clear skills and knowledge progression. This ensures that skills and knowledge are built on year by year and sequenced appropriately to maximise learning for all children. Children gain experience of a variety of fundamental skills. This has a focus on agility, balance, coordination and fitness. Children take part in individual skills, group skills and team games, using PE equipment appropriate for their age. During KS2 children will have a series of structured swimming sessions.

Our curriculum and wider school sport opportunities, aim to improve the wellbeing and fitness of all children at St Mary’s Catholic Primary School, not only through the sporting skills taught, but through the underpinning values and disciplines PE promotes. Children are encouraged to understand the relevance of what they are learning and its relation to everyday life. They should have determination to want to succeed and challenge themselves and take responsibility of their own health and fitness. They should also have the communication, teamwork and leadership skills in which they can transfer to other situations. Our impact is therefore to motivate children to utilise these underpinning skills in an independent and effective way in order to live happy and healthy lives.

We measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods:

• Analysis of spending of PE and Sport Premium
• Governor monitoring with our subject PE and School Sport link governor;
• Teacher assessment of key skills
• Annual reporting of standards across the curriculum.
• Photo and video evidence of the children’s practical learning;
• Pupil discussions and interviewing the pupils about their learning (pupil voice);
• Analysis of pupil participation in competitions and clubs.