Physical Education at St. Margaret’s
High quality PE and sport enthuse ALL pupils to develop a healthy lifestyle and strong core skills of cognitive and social development for now and their whole lifetime. Wide ranging opportunities in core and more diverse sports lead pupils of all abilities to find a personal love and passion for activity which can shape their future lives.
Everyone is educated and enthused to develop a healthy lifestyle for now and their whole lifetime. The school community develop a positive attitude to sport, based around the Christian values, to help when winning, losing or simply participating. Regular, high-quality PE sessions allow all pupils, irrespective of their level of ability, to develop core skills in a range of physical activities. All pupils develop a love of sport which they enjoy and excel in –this won’t always be football, running etc. Gifted and talented pupils are recognised and supported in being challenged to excel. Opportunity is given to access local sports which can provide life-long hobbies and access examples of inspirational sporting performers.
For more detailed statements of intent, implementation and impact, please see here:
PE Curriculum
Each class will have access to 1 hour of curriculum PE each week in school. Our PE curriculum follows the Durham County format, covering areas of Invasion games, net and wall games, athletics, gymnastics dance and OAA (Outdoor and adventurous activity). Pupils encounter all areas regularly across school, at age specific levels, aimed at developing and consolidating core skills. Swimming is the other core area of the PE curriculum which we address in KS2. PE lessons are delivered by our sports coach (Mr Rose) and supported by our sports apprentices (Miss Forster and Miss Slane).
Additional PE Opportunities
Our aim is to regularly offer pupils an additional hour of PE, above their usual session. Being limited by the hall space available to timetable this weekly, we have made a focus to offer all pupils additional ‘lifestyle’ sports sessions, in at least 3 additional blocks over the year. In the infant building, these additional blocks will focus on developing basic skills in different environments. Examples of this are multi-skills session, balance bike riding, dance, orienteering etc. In KS2, the focus is to introduce pupils to diverse sports and sports which are readily available in Durham. The hope is that pupils will find a way to be active which they love and want to continue in their personal lives. Potential links will clubs and organisations will be flagged up where possible. Examples of this are golf, fencing, archery, climbing, golf etc.
Competitive Sport
In addition to this lesson time provision, we are lucky at St. Margaret’s to have a number of staff who offer their time to run out of school hours teams – something which many schools struggle to achieve. Whilst we are aware that, as a very large Primary School, not all pupils get to represent the team they wish, we try to select teams fairly by trials as competitions are competitive. To cater for such large numbers, wherever possible ‘B’, ‘C’ and sometimes even more teams are entered for events.
For information about many of the competitive sports we take part in see https://www.clsschools.co.uk/