P.E. (Physical Education)
Mr Gilkes and Mrs Boyd are our PE leads at Katherine Semar schools. They manage a team of sports coaches that are employed by the school to provide rich, yet inclusive experiences for our pupils in PE.
Here they explain our ethos behind sports.
"As a school, we’re very passionate about our PE and outdoor learning provision. We subscribe to the Uttlesford School Sports Partnership who provide us with competition opportunities throughout the year; we send teams to as many of these as possible and regularly qualify for district and county finals in a range of sports."
Mr Tyler Gilkes
Mrs Alice Boyd
Mr Tyler Gilkes
Sports Coach
Specialism - Football, Fencing and athletics.
Mrs Bernae Ellis
Sports Coach
Specialism: Netball and Swimming.
Mrs Natasha Eagleton
Sports Coach
We have dedicated sports coaches who run squads in the mornings for children who enjoy competitive sports and we also offer sports clubs after school each day, annually we offer over 1000 places for clubs and squads which means each child can access up to 4 squads or clubs each year. Our sports coaches also teach PE to every year group throughout the week as part of teachers’ planning and preparation time.
Our facilities are excellent, we have a large field and playground area which is shared between the schools, this is used for squads, PE lessons, playtimes and lunchtimes. We also have access to a shared Forest School area which is a short walk from school. Children across the school benefit from Forest School activities where they learn to use tools, make dens and cook over a fire amongst other things. We believe that these outdoor activities develop thinking skills, teamwork and resilience as well as being beneficial for children’s mental health. 4 staff are trained as Level 3 Forest School leaders and we run sessions throughout the year. We also offer residential field trips in Years 4 and 6 as part of our outdoor learning curriculum. As part of our commitment to giving children opportunities to take part in PE and sports activities, we also have our own minibus which is used to transport children to and from events."
Intent
Development of physical competence, an active lifestyle and respect for others
Physical education develops children’s physical competence and confidence. Our INSPIRE curriculum provides children the opportunity to be creative, competitive and to face up to different challenges as individuals, groups and teams. It promotes positive attitudes towards active and healthy lifestyles. Through a range of activities children discover their aptitudes, abilities and preferences and make choices about how to get involved in lifelong physical activity The school has achieved its platinum school games award. These opportunities to compete in sport and other activities build character and help to embed our values of resilience and respect. As Lucy Perarson (England cricketer) suggests ‘Physical education is about pupils learning about themselves: their capabilities, their potential and their limitations. It is the foundation of all sports participation. But it goes beyond the individual and understanding themselves – it’s learning how to work with and respect others’.
Development of well-being
“Sana mens in corpore sano: a healthy mind in a healthy body’ (Juvenal Satura). The reason why physical education is such an important aspect of our curriculum is pupils are active usually doing their work in the fresh air. Activity matters. It grounds us, it makes us happy and help us to be fully integrated. It reminds us we are not just intellectual but physical beings, held in balance.
High expectations
Our curriculum is designed with the national curriculum as a starting point but as we have extremely high expectations for our children so we have added additional challenge. These can be seen in the bold objectives in our INSPIRE curriculum. Although there is no requirement in the national curriculum we take all our Key Stage One children swimming. In addition, we have a whole strand of our PE curriculum dedicated to outdoor and adventurous activities fulfilled by regular and planned forest school sessions throughout their time in school. Our outdoor and adventurous activities strand culminates in two residentials (one in Year Four and one Year Six) where children are able to fulfil these objectives including sailing, paddle boarding, kayaking, abseiling and high ropes.
Implementation
PE long term plan
- Each year group will teach the areas of PE identified in the school’s long term plan to ensure coverage of statutory knowledge and skills. Each year group will be taught PE in two, hour long PE sessions each week.
- The school’s PE progression of skills will be used to identify the learning objectives for each year group, in line with the school’s raised expectations.
Extra-curricular activities
- We offer a wide range of extra-curricular activities for children to access both before and after school.
- We also offer a fitness fun. This is offered to children who do not have the opportunity to take part in physical activities either inside and outside of school.
- We signpost to external providers for children who display particular interests or talents in some activities.
Competition and events
- We subscribe to the Uttlesford School Sports Partnership who provide many opportunities throughout the year for children to take part in a wide range of different sports and PE activities. We also participate in friendly matches with other schools throughout the year.
- We have a swimming gala squad who train weekly and compete in events throughout the year.
- We have squads for child who are selected to train on a weekly basis and then from these squads we select teams to represent the school at each sport.
Sports Premium Funding
- Government sports funding is used to pay for sports coaches, updating and replacing equipment, providing opportunities for children in receipt of the pupil premium to take part in sporting and residential activities and supporting the running of Forest Schools. More information can be found in the annual review of Sports Premium Funding spending which can be found on the school’s website. For 2017-18 the Sports Premium Find has been doubled for both schools.
Challenge and Support for all Learners
We understand that every learner develops differently and adapt our provision continuously to ensure every child receives the correct balance of support and challenge in order to achieve their very best. We recognise this fact and provide suitable learning opportunities for all children (including those who may be gifted and talented or have additional needs) by matching the challenge of the task to the ability of the child.
Each child is valued, respected and challenged regardless of ability, race, gender, religion, social background, culture or disability.
Assessment
We use MAPP (Mapping attainment and progress for pupils) to assess children’s progress against the expectations of our INSPIRE curriculum. We assess children against both the requirements and standards of the National Curriculum as well as our school’s own raised expectations for all children.
Please enjoy the following videos of our fantastic Cheerleading teams competition entries -
Year 5/6 group 1 - https://youtu.be/ghLZlsEnTlI?feature=shared
Year 5/6 group 2 - https://youtu.be/A3BERF2rGFI?feature=shared
Year 3/4 group 1 - https://youtu.be/Xv2Cew6sgYQ?feature=shared
Year 3/4 group 2 - https://youtu.be/4i14Nhd6aOM?feature=shared
We were so proud of all our children that performed in the gymnastics and dance display at the Saffron Hall – you were awesome! Please enjoy the videos -
https://youtu.be/peCIfLx4scE - Gymnastics Display Year 5 and 6 2024
We are incredibly proud of our Y2 cheerleading team. Ava, Bella, Elsa and Lana from Year Six have been running their own cheer club at lunchtimes and the Y2 children performed to the rest of the school. They showed their core values of confidence and resilience. The routine was stunning and we are very grateful to the Y2 children and Y6 cheer captains who have worked so hard to choreograph and teach the dance.