Our PE Curriculum

Our PE curriculum is designed to develop physically literate, confident and active pupils through a broad and balanced programme of learning from Nursery to Year 6. Using the PE Passport framework, pupils progressively develop their movement competence, game understanding, physical fitness and personal qualities through a carefully sequenced range of units including locomotion, gymnastics, dance, invasion games, net and wall games, striking and fielding, athletics, leadership, health-related fitness, team building and outdoor adventurous activities. Through PE Passport's Know, Show, Grow approach, pupils develop the knowledge to understand movement and sport, the skills to perform successfully, and the personal attributes needed to thrive both in PE and beyond. The curriculum aims to inspire a lifelong enjoyment of physical activity whilst supporting pupils' physical, social, emotional and cognitive development.

Skills Developed Throughout the Curriculum

Throughout their primary school journey, pupils develop fundamental movement skills, object control skills, sport-specific techniques and tactical awareness. They learn how to run, jump, balance, land, throw, catch, strike, dribble, pass, receive and control equipment with increasing accuracy and confidence. Pupils also develop creative and expressive movement through dance and gymnastics, improve their health and fitness through active participation, and strengthen important personal qualities including teamwork, communication, resilience, leadership, problem solving and self-reflection. By the end of Year 6, pupils can apply their skills effectively in a range of competitive, cooperative and individual activities.

EYFS

In EYFS, children establish the foundations of physical literacy through units such as Locomotion, Stability, Yoga, Personal Challenges, Target Games and Gymnastics. They learn to move safely and confidently by running, hopping, jumping, skipping, balancing and changing direction. Children develop body control, core strength, coordination and spatial awareness while exploring different ways of travelling and moving. They also begin to manipulate equipment through simple throwing, catching and aiming activities. Alongside physical development, pupils learn to listen carefully, follow instructions, take turns, cooperate with others and persevere when faced with challenges.

Key Stage 1

In Key Stage 1, pupils build upon their fundamental movement skills through units including Fundamental Movement Skills, Object Control, Invasion Games, Net and Wall Games, Striking and Fielding, Dance, Gymnastics and Athletics. Pupils learn to throw, catch, strike, receive, send and control equipment with increasing accuracy whilst developing agility, balance and coordination. They begin applying these skills within simple games and challenges, learning basic attacking and defending concepts, following rules and making decisions. Through dance and gymnastics, pupils develop creativity, rhythm, sequencing and control, whilst athletics helps them improve running, jumping and throwing techniques.

Key Stage 2

In Key Stage 2, pupils refine and apply their skills across a wide range of sporting activities, including Netball, Football, Basketball, Handball, Dodgeball,  Cricket, Rounders, Tennis, Athletics, Gymnastics and Dance. They develop greater tactical understanding by learning how to create and use space, attack and defend effectively, communicate as a team and adapt strategies during games. Pupils improve their technical proficiency, fitness and physical performance whilst learning to evaluate and improve their own work and that of others. Additional units such as Leadership, Health-Related Fitness, Personal Challenges, Team Building and Problem Solving help pupils develop resilience, responsibility, collaboration and confidence, preparing them to lead healthy and active lives beyond primary school.

Children take part in swimming in Year 5 at the Plymouth Life Centre, where they are taught by swimming teachers to swim competently, confidently, and proficiently over a distance of at least 25 metres and perform safe self-rescue in different water-based situations.

We place high importance on the PE curriculum and provision at Shakespeare and are very proud of our connections with the local secondary schools. To complement our PE lessons, we value the importance of offering a wide range of extra-curricular clubs. This enables the children at Shakespeare to develop their knowledge, understanding and performance in PE through activities such as Football, Netball, Running, Dance, Rounders, Cricket, Athletics, Multi-Skills and many more.

Shakespeare Primary School are part of the Plymouth School Sports Partnership whose vision is…

“…to create a sustainable PE, School Sport and Physical Activity system as part of the health and well-being provision for all children and young people. Our MISSION is to positively impact on the lives of every child and young person attending Partnership schools and their parents/carers through the opportunities that we provide to help them achieve more in life and at school. We promote the Olympic and Paralympic VALUES of Friendship, Respect, Excellence, Determination, Inspiration, Courage and Equality.”

Shakespeare Primary School are also part of the School Games network and as such are part of a National Project that aims to get more young people participating and engaged in sports and competition. For more information about the School Games please click on the hyperlink below. As part of our sports programme, the PSSP run School Games events at regular intervals in the academic year to enable our young people to engage in various level of competition. For upcoming events or to read some of our blogs, please visit www.yourschoolgames.com and search for our school.