Physical Education
PE Aims
High quality PE has the power to support children to develop the habits that will help them lead healthy lifestyles, as well as enjoying the fulfilment that sport and physical activity can bring. As such, our PE curriculum has three primary aims. Firstly, we aim to develop children’s understanding of what it means to live a healthy lifestyle, and the vital role of physical activity within this. Secondly, we aim to develop children’s skills across a range of sports and other physical activities. This naturally includes physical skills, but also others such as strategy and tactics. Finally, we aim to teach children to engage positively in competitive sport, including how to win well and lose well.
Our PE Curriculum
Our PE curriculum draws extensively on the resources provided by Enfield PE. In general, the PE curriculum for children in key stage 1 is based on skills (e.g. jumping, throwing and catching etc) and children develop these through practice and playing fun games. When children move into key stage 2, the PE curriculum is structured around specific sports, which allows children not only to develop their physical skills but also to learn about tactics and strategy in a range of sports. Importantly, children return to the same set of sports each year as they move through key stage 2. This means that children have the opportunity to return to previous learning to develop their skills further and, ultimately, achieve a higher level of proficiency by the time they leave Prince of Wales. As you will see in our overview below, we believe this achieves a good balance between children experiencing a range of sports and having enough time to develop their skills in each individual sport. This range of opportunities is also supported by children having units of work in dance and gymnastics every year.
Children in EYFS prepare for our PE curriculum in a number of ways. Primarily, our early years setting provides a broad range of opportunities for children to develop their gross motor skills, for example by playing on a range of climbing frames and exploring our woodlands area. However, children in reception also have specific PE lessons weekly to develop particular skills.
Our basic PE curriculum is also enriched in a number of other ways. For example, we have annual sports days for all children as well as after school clubs and lunchtime activities that provide further opportunities for children to engage in sport. The school also participates in sports matches and competitions with other local schools.
PE Teaching
Children have two PE lessons a week, generally lasting an hour each. One of these lessons is taught by the class teacher while the other is taught by a sports coach. Children in year 5 have swimming lessons that last for a term instead of the class teacher PE lesson.
Over the course of each lesson, and more generally over each unit of work, all PE teaching includes discussions about healthy living and the importance of physical activity within this, time to practise specific skills and time to play wider games.
PE Curriculum Overview
PE & Sports Premium
Prince of Wales Swimming outcomes
