Intent

The national curriculum for physical education aims to ensure that all pupils: 

• develop competence to excel in a broad range of physical activities 
• are physically active for sustained periods of time 
• engage in competitive sports and activities 
• lead healthy, active lives 

At Our Lady and St. Chad Catholic Academy, our vision is to give our young learners a Physical Education curriculum, which aims to create inclusive, fun, creative learning environments that stimulate students physically, mentally, socially and emotionally. In doing so we will aim to create a culture where students embed the skills and qualities required to fulfil a lifelong healthy active lifestyle; demonstrating an awareness of movement. 

We recognise the importance of Physical Education and the role it can potentially play in promoting healthy active lifestyles and making a positive contribution to physical, mental, emotional and social wellbeing.  We aim to provide students with a high-quality PE and sport curriculum that is fun, challenging and engaging for all students to achieve more than their potential and expectations. We want the study of physical education to allow our students opportunities to develop and appreciate the benefits of a healthy lifestyle. To develop a love of being physically active through positive experiences, environments and through innovation of a curriculum that instils our Catholic values and transferable life skills such as resilience and mutual respect. 

The teaching and learning environment are created where both staff and students show exceptional work ethic and work together to achieve success. We want all students to feel that they belong as part of a team, that they believe in their healthy potential and become as physically, socially and emotionally well as they can be.  We do this by developing the attitudes and behaviours of our students through being physically active. As a knowledge-engaged curriculum, we believe that knowledge underpins and enables the application of skills; both are entwined. As a department, we define the powerful knowledge our students need and help them recall it by having a carefully planned curriculum that allows progression for all. This will allow students to explore the skills and knowledge required to be effective leaders and provide memorable experiences throughout a student’s journey within Physical Education. Thus, enriching the opportunities for our students to meet the broad range of learning outcomes of the subject: sport, competition, tactics and strategies, mental, social, and emotional development.  

The aim of the PE team is to build on the whole school ethos by enabling students to:

Be strong alone in achieving their potential

Be unstoppable together working as part of a team

Be the best they can be. 

Students will experience a variety of opportunities that support this vision, challenging them both inside and outside the classroom. They will focus on improving their competence, confidence, levels of fitness, health and wellbeing through knowledge and application. Leadership skills take a strong emphasis throughout the key stages, with students able to take on additional roles rather than just a performer. Students will develop physical, technical and tactical sporting skills; enhanced by a focus on mental skills such as resilience, determination and confidence. We aim to ensure all students leave the school possessing the skills, motivation and knowledge needed to enjoy a lifelong involvement within sport and physical activity.  We trust that our broad and balanced curriculum will allow students to develop their love of movement and sport well beyond their time with us with the aim to develop each student holistically and in their own unique way. Our ethos in Physical Education strongly reflects the behaviours outlined in the Academies mission statement, where a regular feature of PE lessons; students learn how to operate in teams and the etiquette associated with taking part in physical activities. Students are taught strategies to solve problems in how to outwit an opponent or create/choreograph a gymnastic/dance sequence. In addition, Subject-specific vocabulary is used regularly and expected to be used accurately by the students with links to cross-curricular subjects. 

Our extracurricular provision programme’s intention is to make it accessible to all of our students to attend with the opportunity to develop competitive competence as well as develop social and mental wellbeing. With our VIP and Active Minds programme along with our extensive extracurricular sports provision, we aim to instil behaviour and attitudes who wish to play competitively and represent the Academy locally, regionally and nationally. We build the Cultural Capital of our students by providing opportunities for all, enabling them to achieve through whole school events such as inter-house competitions, sports day and National School Sports Week.  

We believe our curriculum goes far beyond what is taught in lessons, for whilst we want students to achieve the very best examination results possible, we know that the knowledge-engaged and skills-based curriculum we are developing will support our examination programme across KS4 and KS5. Our intent is to develop a curriculum from KS3 to KS5 that allows students to develop the knowledge and skills in order to successfully explore the world around them and feel they have the competence and confidence to lead a healthy active lifestyle.

Implementation

Students in each year at Our Lady & St Chad Catholic Academy engage in PE & Sport twice a week as part of their core PE programme and twice a week at KS4 BTEC curriculum.

At KS3, lessons focus on teaching and introducing a wide range of basic knowledge, skill, techniques and key principles across the team and individual sports, fitness, dance, gymnastics, athletics and outdoor adventurous activities. Students complete a range of activities across Term One as baseline assessment in year 7. This allows the students to be placed in a group that is suitable for their ability level. All groups complete the same broad range of activities that include team sports and individual activities in a competitive non-competitive context. Students develop an appreciation of aesthetic qualities in movement (dance and gymnastics), teamwork and cooperation in invasion games and activities, striking and fielding and the ability to make personal improvements (in athletics). In years 7, 8 and 9 students are building basic skills and techniques as well as developing their knowledge of rules across a wide range of sports. These are delivered through our curriculum concepts such as; developing skills, decisions making, physical and mental capacity, evaluating and improving, making informed choices about active, healthy lifestyles. In addition, we also teach through the strands of competence, performance and creativity. 

Students are consolidating skills and developing more advanced techniques and tactics in Key Stage 4 in years 10 and 11. Students are encouraged to develop their knowledge, skills and tactical awareness across a range of activities and apply them in more advanced situations. Through the teaching and learning in all lessons, we embed core skills, knowledge, principles, confidence across a broad range of activities. We strongly recognise the need to make PE fun to foster a lifelong love of physical activity.  This is a key moment in a student’s life to encourage lifelong participation or ensure that students have the skills to access sport and physical activity when they leave the Academy. With a range of teaching experience and skills, we as a department are developing our knowledge and skills of teaching pedagogies to support the intent, implementation and impact on developing students that are physically, mentally, emotionally, socially and spiritually more aware. We entrust this will allow our learners to access and lead a lifestyle not only that will benefit their health and wellbeing but also where they will contribute as a global citizen and lead a life applying the values of sport through upholding the Catholic Values.

Key Stage 4 BTEC

In years 10 and 11 students will continue to develop their confidence, motivation, physical competence, knowledge and understanding in order to value and take responsibility for personal engagement in physical activities for life. This is done by ensuring lessons are both engaging and purposeful. Students study a BTEC vocational qualification in sport, equivalent to one GCSE. They could be assessed on leadership, practical sports performance, risks in outdoor education and the bodies’ response to exercise amongst other options. This is all achieved by teaching theoretical content through and alongside high-quality practical PE.

Key Stage 5

In years 12 and 13 students will study for the BTEC National Diploma in Sport and Exercise Science to the equivalent of 1, 2 or 3 A Levels. Regular practical and hands-on teaching and learning allows for the study of anatomy and physiology, fitness training testing and training, sports coaching and performance, sport and exercise psychology as well as conducting their own research design and studies. They will have opportunities to acquire Sports Leaders Level 3, manage school clubs and school teams and visit universities which allows them to explore their options if they wish to continue with further education as well as the use of fitness testing laboratories through specific units. 

Leadership Programme

We aim to have an inclusive approach to PE and Sport and value the role of leadership in our learner’s holistic development. We offer a leadership programme which involves learning how to develop specific transferable skills, such as communication, motivation, confidence and self-reflection, all through sport and physical activity. Students have the opportunity to complete courses at Level 1 or Level 2 Sports Leader where they have the capacity to progress and be part of the Student Empowerment Through Leadership (SETL) Programme which is one of the finest Leadership Academies in the City of Wolverhampton. They will be provided with the opportunities to experience independent delivery of multi-skills festivals, primary and secondary school tournaments with the potential of leading across all year groups. Students will also gain sport-specific qualifications and have the benefit of athlete mentor visits which will be received through the YST Athlete Mentor Programme. Students can begin to develop their leadership skills from Year 7 all the way into sixth form with unique accreditations and rewards as part of their leadership journey.
 

Impact

The intention of the Physical Education curriculum is to give students the confidence, skills and knowledge to continue to take part in physical activity and sport away from the Academy, Post 16 and beyond. 

It is expected that students will have an understanding of the importance of health and fitness, exercising safely and the importance of following rules within sport and society. It is also hoped that students will view their vast experience in PE and sport at the Academy as a positive one and that this will shape future behaviour. Sport is also embedded in our curriculum through family learning opportunities, linked to major sporting events. This allows the children to develop a knowledge of where sport can take you in the world and the level of performance our pupils can aspire to reach. 

Some students may wish to follow a career as a result of their experience in Physical Education and these careers would include: Teacher, Personal Trainer, Coach, Physiotherapist, Sports Scientist, Diet and Fitness Instructor, Armed Forces, Leisure and Tourism industry. 

In our PE lessons, we also provided all children with opportunities to build character and communication skills in PE. All lessons provided opportunities for children to listen to peers, lead others and develop their own games including scoring systems. These skills developed in PE are important life skills that students will need in adult life. Our Catholic Virtues, British Values and important core sporting values such as fairness and respect are also embedded in our PE lessons.

Progression Map

Please view the additional documents in school:

• Curriculum on a page
• Knowledge Organisers