We believe that PE is incredibly important not only in helping children learn how to stay fit and healthy but also for the social learning opportunities that it provides through teamwork and  communication.

Everything starts in EYFS in terms of the considered journey towards National Curriculum end goals within PE

In the Early Years Foundation Stage, Physical Education (PE) forms part of the learning children acquire under the the Prime Area of Physical Development. The aim here  is to improve skills of coordination, control, manipulation and movement, much of it taking place through free or lightly structured activity. 

Children develop large motor skills through jumping, hopping, skipping, climbing and running, and also through playing with pedal and push-and-pull toys. Children participate freely in these kinds of activities both indoors and outdoors. Play supports building core strength, stability, balance, spatial awareness, coordination, and agility. By creating games and opportunities for both indoor and outdoor play, children gain a variety of experiences.

Fine motor skills are acquired by activities such as filling a container with sand, doing a puzzle or stringing beads. Children need these skills to do up buttons or laces and to hold a pen or pencil to write correctly.

There are some language objectives in PE lessons, too. Teachers will introduce words for negotiation and co-operation, such as ‘share’, ‘wait’, ‘take turns’, ‘before‘ and  ‘after'.

The outside area is deliberately set out for children to develop large muscle groups both through the activities in place and the landscape itself. Graded hills have been maintained to help develop leg strength, for example.

The document below outlines in more detail the specific Physical Education objectives within the Early Years curriculum, what it looks like in practice, and demonstrates the links between the Early Years and the Physical Education curriculum.  It also highlights key vocabulary taught within our Early Years and at Key Stage 1.

From here we move into the KS1 Curriculum. In this stage pupils will  develop fundamental movement skills, become increasingly competent and confident and access a broad range of opportunities to extend their agility, balance and coordination, individually and with others. They increasingly have the opportunity to engage in competitive (both against self and against others) and co-operative physical activities, in a range of increasingly challenging situations. 

The aims at this stage are for pupils to  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 . Children also  participate in team games, developing simple tactics for attacking and defending  and will perform dances using simple movement patterns.

Within KS2 pupils further develop these aims. The become more independent in their understanding of how to improve in different physical activities and sports and learn how to evaluate and recognise their own success.

There is an increased focus on specific sports so that pupils can develop a wide range of skills. Pupils are taught to: 

use running, jumping, throwing and catching in isolation and in combination,  play competitive games and apply basic principles suitable for attacking and defending in a number of sports. They also continue to develop flexibility, strength, technique, control and balance and  perform dances using a range of movement patterns

In addition, they take part in outdoor and adventurous activity challenges both individually and within a team  and learn how to swim.

We have a wide range of after-school opportunities linked to sports. These can be found by clicking here.

We regularly take part in events  and competitions against other schools. We have used some of our PE funding to join Thanet PasSport, our Thanet schools sports hub, to access a wealthy of opportunity. The calendar can be found by clicking here