St Joseph's Catholic Primary School

Intent

Through our PE curriculum we support all pupils to understand and enjoy being physically active individuals and to encourage and support others to be the same, through a high quality PE, School Sports and Physical Activity (PESSPA) curriculum.

Inspired by our school motto: “Believing in God, ourselves and others”, here at St Joseph’s school, using key elements of our Catholic character curriculum, we aspire to develop individuals who believe they can achieve anything with resilience, confidence, respect, responsibility and a love of learning. We want our pupils to be happy, healthy and ready to learn.

Every pupil will have the opportunity to develop and improve their physical literacy; to participate in, be challenged and to enjoy success in a wide range of safe sporting and physical activities, which will have a positive impact not only on their physical but also their emotional, spiritual, social and moral well being. We want them to leave our primary school successfully equipped with the knowledge, skills, motivation and understanding necessary to enjoy lifelong participation in physical activity together with a happy, healthy lifestyle.

As a school of inclusion, we believe that all learning should be adapted to the needs of all children (SEN, EAL, more able, disadvantaged) and that the curriculum should be carefully planned to take account of everyone in the class so that all can succeed.

As a school of knowledge - We encourage and stimulate the highest attainment and best possible progress for all our pupils. Our curriculum provides children with the knowledge they need to achieve and builds on pupils’ needs, strengths, interests and experiences. It develops children’s confidence in their capacity to learn and work independently and collaboratively.

Implementation

National Curriculum expectations:

Key stage 1 

Pupils should be taught 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; participate in team games, developing simple tactics for attacking and defending; perform dances using simple movement patterns.

Key stage 2 

Pupils should be 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 [for example, through athletics and gymnastics];  perform dances using a range of movement patterns;  take part in outdoor and adventurous activity challenges both individually and within a team;  compare their performances with previous ones and demonstrate improvement to achieve their personal best.

Pupils in Upper Key Stage 2 are seen as role models by the rest of the school and can take an active lead in promoting healthy lifestyles, teamwork and communication by applying to become Sports Leaders who have the responsibility for inspiring the younger children/peers to enjoy collaborative games at break times and also helping to run and promote events, such as sports days. 

They are responsible for organising activities for other children, encouraging good behaviour and sportsmanship and awarding certificates and trophies. They also take an active role in PE lessons through leading activities.

Impact

At St Joseph’s we aim to inspire our future generations to lead happy, healthy, fulfilled lives successfully equipped with the knowledge, understanding and desire to take personal responsibility for living fit and healthy lives. Our PESSPA curriculum at our school aims to enthuse pupils with fun, engaging and broad physical and mental experiences which will lay solid foundations to build on for their future.