Physical Education
At Bassingbourn Primary School we strive to create a culture, which aims to inspire an active generation to enjoy PE, encourage each other, achieve and to help young people to develop essential skills like leadership and teamwork. We provide a safe and supportive environment for children to flourish in a range of different physical activities, which is essential in supporting their physical, emotional, spiritual, social and moral development. Bassingbourn Community Primary School offers a dynamic, varied and stimulating program of activity to ensure that all children progress physically through an inspirational, unique and fully inclusive PE curriculum.
At Bassingbourn we offer a dynamic, varied and stimulating program of activity to ensure that all children progress physically through an inspirational, unique and fully inclusive PE curriculum. We encourage all children to develop their understanding of the way in which they can use their body, equipment and apparatus safely yet imaginatively to achieve their personal goals. All children have the opportunity to enjoy being physically active, maintain a healthy lifestyle and using the medium of sport to increase their self-esteem. We aspire for children to adopt a positive mind-set and believe that anything can be achieved with determination and resilience. The aim of Physical Education is to promote physical activity and healthy lifestyles.
Children are taught to observe and produce the conventions of fair play, honest competition and good sporting behaviour as individual participants, team members and spectators. Thus embedding life-long values such as co-operation, collaboration and equity of play. We provide opportunities for children to learn how to stay safe by starting swimming lessons in Reception and continuing until
children have become confident in the water, knowing how to keep safe and also meet the National Curriculum requirements of swimming 25m by the end of Year 6.
Our PE Curriculum, along with PSHE and science, teaches children about the importance of healthy living and learning about the need for good nutrition. At Bassingbourn we aim for children to develop the necessary knowledge and skills which will have a positive impact on their future by becoming physically active citizens to benefit their long-term health and well-being. Learning is as tailored and inclusive as possible. Teachers use the plans and additional resources to fully immerse children in their learning and lessons.
At Bassingbourn Community Primary School, our PE curriculum is varied, and long-term plans ensure that we meet the requirements of the National Curriculum. All pupils receive around an hour (60 minutes) of high-quality PE using the vast outside space or school hall. In summer all children have at least 1 swimming lesson, on site in the school swimming pool, a week.
The coherently planned curriculum map along with lessons are designed to help teachers ensure they have a range of resources so that they are able to fully support children, offer children a wide variety of experiences that are needed to make progress and enjoy PE. Within each lesson, we strive to give every child the opportunity to develop skills, consider the impact on their health and fitness, compete/perform and evaluate themselves and their peers. All lessons are carefully differentiated and teachers use the STEP analogy, which helps to ensure that learning is as tailored and inclusive as possible. Our detailed lesson plans ensure that all teachers are equipped with the secure subject knowledge required to deliver modern, high-quality teaching and learning opportunities for Physical Education, which inspire an active generation who enjoy PE. Technical knowledge organisers for each sport, glossaries, skills posters and adult guidance support teachers in their subject knowledge, allowing them to share technical vocabulary and skills clearly, confidently and concisely with children. At Bassingbourn we believe it is vital for teachers to have the knowledge and skills they need to feel confident in teaching all areas of PE, regardless of their main areas of expertise. Lessons are planned alongside sport-specific progression maps to ensure that children are given the opportunity to practise existing skills and also build on these to develop new or more advanced skills.
There is a structure to the lesson sequence whereby prior learning is always considered and opportunities for revision and practise are built into lessons, where teachers see appropriate. It allows for this revision to become part of good practice and ultimately helps build depth to the children’s knowledge, skills and understanding in PE. Each lesson follows a similar teaching routine. This begins by identifying to children the learning objectives/key skills, followed by a combination of skill development time and core tasks to both practise and apply the new skills into practice. Plans show in-depth learning activities, teaching points and additional points for more able pupils as well as safety considerations, to ensure that high quality lessons are taught. The structure of lessons allows teachers to assess the different levels of understanding at various points in the lesson. Based on teacher judgment and formative assessment throughout the lessons, teachers may choose to run the lesson planned over 2 sessions; this allows children to revise concepts where necessary, helping to embed and consolidate learning. Formative assessments are supported through the inclusion of assessment grids for each sport, which is completed at the end of each unit.
Our PE curriculum is sequenced precisely to ensure progression of knowledge and skills throughout a child’s primary education, thus enabling children to build upon prior experiences and apply these fluently, with confidence. Children also have the opportunity to further these skills at a range of after school sports clubs and have connections to progress into community clubs. At Bassingbourn Primary we endeavour to provide a broad range of activities based on children’s interests and new initiatives. Specific sports are selected by a combination of pupil voice and to align with school competitions arranged by the local authority, that the school participates in.
Inter and intra sports competitions are a particular strength of the school and we would warmly welcome you to admire our Physical Education Journal in the foyer of the events we participated in. Although we enjoy the competitive nature of sport, we also appreciate and encourage the importance of children ‘having a go’ and promote positive experiences of being physically active and not always participate to win. We have an inclusive approach and value the importance of physical and mental well-being.
Children take part in a range of invasion, striking & fielding or net & wall games, we promote imagination and creativity in gymnastics and dance as well as provide opportunities for athletics using both indoor and outdoor environments, plus outdoor and adventurous activities. In KS1, the focus of the PE curriculum is on the development of the fundamental skills, that will be further built upon in KS2 when they are applied in specific sports. In KS2, children go on a residential course for outdoor activities. Children have swimming lessons from their very first year of school and continue every year up to Year 6. Where children are not meeting the national requirement for swimming we provide additional lessons and support to teach children water safety and how to swim.
Physical Education is fundamental in developing healthy lifestyles in young people and at Bassingbourn we provide a wide array of opportunities to develop this and sporting skills outside of the normal curriculum time. Regular extra-curricular clubs are very popular and offer a wide variety of sports, including: Girls and Boys Football, Archery, Netball, Dance and Dodgeball to name a few. Playtimes are an important part of our pupils being happy, healthy and ready to learn. We have well-staffed and equipped playground, a sports field, two playgrounds (one for KS1 and one for KS2), skipping ropes and an Outdoor Area specifically for the EYFS children. At lunchtime we use a zoned lunchtime approach for the whole school, which allows for all children to take part in a lunchtime that engages and stimulates them. Also, within our vibrant EYFS area we have a range of additional physical equipment, which was designed to provide opportunities for children to develop and improve fundamental skills using various body parts.
To develop leadership and communication skills, KS2 students can apply to become a Play Time Leader, which is a responsible role in encouraging younger children to learn how to play collaborative games, respecting rules and to be as active as possible during playtimes. Children in KS2 can also apply to become Sport Ambassadors. Children selected are positive role-models for younger members of the school, organising lunchtime games and assisting with annual sports days. Children in Year 6 can also apply to become Sport Captains. Sport Captains work alongside the school PE Co-ordinator, play leaders and sport ambassadors to raise the profile of healthy lifestyles and physical activity across the school and community. They help to organise activities and special days along with supporting events throughout the year.
At Bassingbourn Primary School we recognise the importance of being physically active throughout the school day so to reduce sedentary learning. Teachers are encouraged to plan, where possible, active lessons. Throughout the day classes have the option to complete active brain breaks and increase levels of activity. Every week children in Key Stage 1 participate in active assemblies.
Through careful implementing and planning each unit is mapped against the progression documents to ensure that learners develop detailed knowledge and skills across the full breadth of the PE curriculum through engaging and age-appropriate curriculum content. Where possible units are often themed with strong cross-curricular links to other subjects and topics, such as Bullying, The fire of London and The Romans. This all helps to make the learning memorable, allowing links to be made and ultimately creating a higher level of engagement and understanding. The high quality and consistent approach to PE teaching, that is a feature of the plans we have in place, significantly improve attainment in knowledge and skills in PE and inspire active and healthy lifestyles. With technical PE vocabulary displayed, spoken and used by all learners, the learning environment will be more consistent across both key stages. To fulfil our vision by inspiring a generation, at Bassingbourn Community Primary School, we motivate children to participate in a variety of sports which are engaging and fun. We inspire children to instinctively utilise skills and knowledge acquired during PE lessons, encouraging them to take responsibility for their own health and fitness thus developing a love of sport leading to a happy and healthy life.
A wide range of different and engaging sports being delivered- Children knowing and being taught the key skill/learning objective
- All children engaged and working collaboratively
- Children constantly moving and enjoying themselves
- Differentiated tasks set for children
- Children demonstrating their understanding of warm ups and cool downs
- Children understanding and demonstrating the importance of physical activity
EYFS: “I love PE because I get to climb and dance”
Year 1: “I like playing with the balls and learning how to throw far”
Year 2: “I like playing hockey because I get to play on a team with my friends”
Year 3: “I love swimming because I get to learn how to be safe in the water”
Year 4: “I love PE because I get to be fit and healthy”
Year 5: “I really enjoyed going to competitions because I got to represent my school”
Year 6: “I love PE because it keeps you healthy and I feel better when I am outside running around and playing games with my friends and team”
At Bassingbourn Community Primary School, we aim to provide a variety of sporting opportunities. We provide a range of PE-related activities for children during breaktime, lunchtimes and at the end of the school day. These encourage children to further develop their skills in a range of the activity areas and specific sports. These sporting clubs change each term in the school year. In addition, outside providers offer sports clubs after-school. As well as sporting opportunities within the school community, the schools also enter partnership and county sporting events. The children have opportunities to competitively play in a range of sports and activities. These experiences allow for children to apply their sporting skills, develop team skills and learn how to play competitively.
