Garfield Primary School

PE - Intent

Garfield’s PE curriculum ensures all children are exposed to a broad range of activities to keep them active and healthy. We ensure children enjoy physical activity in a way that supports their health and fitness, alongside learning skills transferable to a spectrum of sports. Fundamental progressive key skills are taught systematically throughout all key stages and children are supported in developing friendships between age groups and working together collaboratively. Children’s involvement in sports leadership, intra-house competitions and borough tournaments is strongly promoted, fostering better communication and collaboration, and providing opportunities for competition in a range of settings both inside and outside school. The aim is that through participation in physical activities, children develop understanding in how to improve in different sports and work on building their relationships, whilst maintaining a balanced and healthy lifestyle.

We aim to provide a PE curriculum that pupils from Nursery to Year 6 not only enjoy but also allows them to experience a range of activities that help them develop their health, fitness and wellbeing. We offer a high-quality physical education curriculum that inspires pupils to succeed and excel in competitive sport and other physically-demanding activities. It provides opportunities for pupils to become physically confident in a way which supports their health and fitness. Opportunities to compete in sport and other activities builds character and helps embed values such as fairness and respect.

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.

PE - Implementation

As seven times consecutive holders of the Merton Schools Platinum Sports Award, we provide an excellent Physical Education curriculum offer. Our full-time specialist sports coach teaches PE weekly to children from Nursery to Year 6 using plans from MSSP (Merton School Sports Partnership.) Every child has 2 hours of PE a week, as well as being given the chance to take part in extra-curricular activities. We offer a range of after school sports clubs run by specialist coaches including multi skills, football, karate, ballet and gymnastics.

An Active School, we aim to ensure children participate in active lessons outside their regular PE lessons. This involves incorporating moments within lessons when children can be active. Year 5 train as Sports Leaders and support children in younger years. Pupils in UKS2 lead Sports Days and create games for EYFS and KS1. We follow national curriculum guidelines to ensure we offer a range of PE activities that allow each child to feel challenged and offer opportunities to progress. Always keen to try new sports, we now include lacrosse in our KS2 curriculum. 

Children are taught to appreciate the importance of a healthy lifestyle and begin to understand how an active lifestyle affects their health, fitness and concentration. We encourage and promote good sportsmanship, fairness and respect. We continue promoting these core values when outside school, taking part in local friendly matches, as well as competing against schools in Merton and during wider London competitions where we are frequent winners of the REFSPECT award. We always encourage our children to challenge themselves in lessons, clubs or competitions - competition being a key part of PE at Garfield. 

EYFS

As part of the EYFS statutory framework pupils are taught:

Physical development: this involves providing opportunities for young children to be active and interactive and to develop their coordination, control, and movement. Children must also be helped to understand the importance of physical activity, and to make healthy choices in relation to food.

Moving and handling: children show good control and coordination in large and small movements. They move confidently in a range of ways, safely negotiating space. They handle equipment and tools effectively.

Health and self-care: children know the importance for good health of physical exercise, and a healthy diet, and talk about ways to keep healthy and safe.

Key stage 1

Pupils 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 engage in competitive (both against self and others) and in co-operative physical activities in a range of increasingly challenging situations. Pupils are taught to:

• master basic movements including running, jumping, throwing and catching, as well as developing balance, agility and coordination, 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

Pupils continue to apply and develop a broader range of skills, learning how to use them in different ways and to link them to make actions and sequences of movement. They enjoy communicating, collaborating and competing with each other. They develop an understanding of how to improve in different physical activities and sports and learn how to evaluate and recognise their own success. Pupils are taught to:

• use running, jumping, throwing and catching in isolation and in combination
• play competitive games, modified where appropriate [for example, badminton, 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 athletics & gymnastics]
• perform dances using a range of movement patterns
• take part in outdoor and adventurous activity challenges both individually and within a team
• compare performances with previous & demonstrate improvement to achieve personal bests.

Swimming and water safety

We provide swimming instruction in KS2, with a series of daily lessons over a two week period, to promote rapid progress, in Year 4 and Year 6. Pupils are taught to:

• swim competently, confidently and proficiently over a distance of at least 25 metres
• use a range of strokes effectively
• perform safe self-rescue in different water-based situations. 

PE - Impact

We want children to become confident and successful athletes, with understanding of what the subject will bring to their lives and sports links within their local and wider community. By the end of each key stage, pupils are expected to know, apply and understand the matters, skills and processes in their programme of study. Age related expectations are reported to parents at the end of Reception. In KS1 and KS2, assessment takes place throughout the year and at the ends of topics. Alongside the sports coach, teachers record progress in PE against National Curriculum expectations for each year group. Teachers use this information to inform future lessons, ensuring children are supported and challenged appropriately. Assessment data is analysed to inform and address any trends or gaps in attainment. Further information is gathered through pupil voice activities, highlighting strengths, achievements & recommendations for improvements, knowledge and skills that need to be embedded. Each part of the PE curriculum is reviewed termly by the subject leader.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

To improve the diversity, equality and therefore quality of our PE curriculum, we consulted with The Black Curriculum, who commended our inclusivity and further supported us in ensuring our curriculum is representative of our community.

Garfield Primary School PE Plan

The Government provides funding to improve provision of physical education (PE) and sport in primary schools. This funding is allocated to primary school Headteachers. The areas of need were identified in order to decide where the money would be best spent.

Please click on this link to see how we spent the 2023-24 PE premium and the impact we are seeing around the school.

 Sports Premium 2024-25

We agree that the money must be used so that:

1. All children benefit regardless of sporting ability.
2. Children are given the opportunity to compete in advanced tournaments.
3. Staff have access to training opportunities and continued professional development.
4. High quality PE is taught across the school. 

 From Monday 8 September onwards the class PE kit days are as follows: