Gloucester House believes that physical education makes a major contribution to the “being healthy” national outcome for pupils.  We believe PE should be experienced in a safe and supportive environment and is seen to be a unique contributor to a pupil’s physical and emotional health.  The curriculum will aim to promote and reinforce that;

  • Physical education is important to the overall development of young people and beyond;
  • Physical education provides opportunities for young people to develop their knowledge, skills and understanding of the body and its movement;
  • Physical education develops physical awareness, skills and competence and contributes to healthy growth and physical development;
  • Physical education develops artistic and aesthetic understanding on and through movement;
  • Physical education influences the development of healthy lifestyles and lifelong habits;
  • Physical education provides opportunities to promote spiritual, moral, social and cultural development and develops personal qualities such as self-esteem, independence, citizenship, tolerance and empathy;
  • Physical education provides opportunities to promote key skills such as communication (verbal and non-verbal), application of number, ICT, working with others, improving own learning and performance and problem-solving;
  • Physical education makes a strong contribution to the development of pupils’ language through the extensive use of speaking and listening skills;

Implementation

Responsibilities

From Autumn term 2022 Physical Education will be led by a P.E. Specialist unqualified teacher who through the Camden CPD offer is upskilling and developing the role specifically to meet the needs of the setting. This new role will include responsibility for long/medium term planning, individual session plans, monitoring and review, liaising with outside agencies and providers, risk assessments and resourcing. 

Specialist providers are used for some activities, such as a swimming coach who will be sourced from Swimming Nature a specialist an external company who specialise in either ‘Learn to Swim’ or ‘Stroke Improvement’ approaches. The new PE Lead having oversight of the assessing, reporting and recording of individual pupil progress, individual risk assessments and differentiation.

PSWs support the delivery of the PE curriculum and deliver some additional sessions in health and related fitness for well-being afternoons.

Planning and continuity

During the last academic year the school built up the children’s attitude and outlook to sports and PE, which has resulted in them taking part in a wider range of games including football, badminton, tennis, rounders, Boccia and basketball.  Moving forward our plans are to reinstate sessions at leisure centres and other specialist sporting provisions to enable all pupils to have access to a wider range of activities in locations that would be able to continue outside of school.

Long term planning is undertaken by the curriculum co-ordinator, taking account of the mixed age group classes and limited physical space at Gloucester House. The planning has historically been a bi-annual cycle, but this is currently under review, ensuring that most pupils gain experience of the major areas of the curriculum.

  • 2 hours per week is allocated to the PE curriculum. 
  • Sessions are taught by the PE Specialist Lead although specific areas e.g. Outdoor Adventure Activities can be delivered by external specialists.
  • Sessions are differentiated by the PE Specialist, through activities, equipment, pace, complexity of tasks and output.
  • Sessions can be taught on site, using the playground or the nurture space and using Gloucester House’s own PE resources such as balls, racquets, cones, mats, hockey sticks etc.  Swimming is taught at one of two local sports centres depending on availability.
  •  Some Outdoor Adventure activities/PE lessons take place on Hampstead Heath.
  • Whilst we have permission from parents/carers for local trips with generic risk assessments in place, it is important that staff taking pupils out make dynamic risk assessments in terms of health and safety.
  • Learning objectives are shared at the beginning of each session and revisited during the plenary at the end.
  • All sessions start with warm-ups, often led by the pupils, and end with cool downs.
  • Risk assessments associated with the delivery of any unit are undertaken by the Pe Specialist in conversation with he class teacher if no generic risk assessment in place; risk assessments associated with specific sessions or individual pupils are the responsibility of the class teacher.
  • The curriculum addresses PE learning outcomes, but also takes account of the needs of our very particular group of pupils and a strong emphasis is therefore placed on social skills, wellness, self-esteem, sharing, team and pair work, the nature of rules of games and health and safety.
  • The curriculum also makes explicit cross-curricula links such as maths (measuring, angles), literacy (speaking and listening, key words), science (the body), PSHCE etc.
  • For pupils unable to take part in an active PE session, through illness or due to risk assessment,  learning activities linked to the SOW which can be completed inside/independently are available.
  • Class teachers’ contact parents/carers with letters regarding any particular requirements for certain schemes of work such as swimming, footwear or clothing for gym/dance, outdoor clothes for adventure activities, as well as obtaining parental permission when necessary.
  • Pupils and staff are expected to come in to school wearing suitable PE clothing on PE days.
  • The PE Specialist aims to create a school PE kit.

Assessment, reporting and recording

  • Pupil progress is assessed formatively during sessions, at the plenary and in reference to the Learning Objective.  Pupils are encouraged to develop the skills and assess their own strengths and weaknesses and comment helpfully on the skills of their peers.
  • Any assessment/recording/reporting takes into account the needs of our specific group of pupils most of whom have health, weight, social skills or self-esteem issues related to PE, some pupils may have ICP or other targets set related to participation in PE and these will be reviewed daily or termly.
  • Each lesson is evaluated, and the next session is adapted depending on what went well and next steps.
  • The PE Specialist reports on progress in Annual Reports to parents and carers.

Links with occupational therapy

Occupational therapy will advise and support how to develop skills and interventions at a whole class level including Zones of Regulation training/sensory circuit training for staff and sessions for pupils in the school.

Occasional referrals for individual pupils will request the development of a physical programme and this will be combined where possible within the child’s individual targets in the short-term planning.

Impact

Pupils will understand the importance of physical activity in their daily lives for health and well-being with a developing awareness of what they need to do to stay fit.  They will also build up knowledge of a range of sports and physical activities that they enjoy taking part in.  Crucially pupils will develop a clear understanding of the benefits of physical activity on their mental health, self-regulation and how to consider which activities help them.  Pupils work on developing skills around teamwork and supporting others in an empathic way, giving and responding to constructive feedback.

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