The Intent of our PE Curriculum

​At The Parish of St Laurence CE Primary School, we aim to develop the knowledge, skills and capabilities necessary for metal, emotional, social and physical wellbeing in our children for life. Physical fitness is an important part of leading a healthier lifestyle. It teaches self-discipline and that to be successful you must work hard, show resilience and have the determination to believe that anything can be achieved.  We aim to engage, motivate and inspire children to develop a love of physical exercise, games and healthy lifestyles.

We recognise the benefits of a strong Physical Education curriculum and extra-curricular activity on raising children’s aspirations and self-esteem. Our staff and children are enthusiastic about P.E. and this is shown through teachers’ attitude towards the teaching of high quality P.E. lessons. We aim to deliver high-quality and inclusive teaching and learning opportunities for all pupils that inspire all children to succeed in physical activities. We want to teach children how to co-operate and collaborate with others, as part of a team, showing empathy, understanding fairness and equality to embed life-long values. Pupils at St Laurence's participate in weekly high quality PE and sporting activities. Our PE programme incorporates a variety of sports to ensure all children develop the confidence, tolerance and the appreciation of their own and others’ strengths and weaknesses. This is celebrated through our Sports Values Awards. 

We hope to develop the children into confident and competent learners across a broad range of physical activities, by providing all children with a wide range of opportunities to participate in physical exercise, both in a competitive and non-competitive environment. Opportunities to compete in a range of sports and other activities build character, and help to embed values such as fairness and respect. Through Chorley School Sports Partnership, our children are invited to attend festivals and tournaments throughout the year at both inter and intra school levels. We continue to build a love of sport and physical activity amongst our pupils, by offering a broad range of lunchtime and after school clubs led by both staff and older children acting as play leaders. We hope that through all the sporting opportunities, we can support the children in demonstrating sportsmanship, resilience, respect and leadership values. It is our belief that the skills our pupils acquire at St. Laurence's should be skills for life and we aspire to develop a love of sports.

The Implementation of our PE Curriculum

​To successfully embed our Physical Education values at The Parish of St Laurence CE Primary School, the staff and children are involved with the following:

• We provide each year group with at least 2 hours of exciting, fun and active P.E. lessons each week.
• Teachers at St Laurence’s follow the Lancashire Physical Education Scheme of Work. This offers well planned sequences of learning, fulfilling every aspect of the National Curriculum, offering regular assessment opportunities and building in core sporting values such as resilience and respect. EYFS focus on the fundamental movement skills and develop the fine and gross motor skills of the children, so they are ready to begin accessing the different parts of the P.E. curriculum from Year 1. The fundamental movements remain embedded in Key Stage 1 practice to allow for repetition and continued physical development.
• The P.E. Primary Passport App is used to support the planning, assessment and delivery of curriculum P.E.
• Teaching sequences or chosen topics within lessons across year groups have been carefully considered and mapped out. This ensures the children all gain a wide coverage of skills, access a wide variety of physical activities and allows for clear progression throughout school.
• Children in Year 4 attend swimming lessons in a pool on site supplied by Pools for Schools. Children in Year 5 & Year 6 are able to attend catch-up swimming in order to reach the required level of competency for swimming and water safety by the end of Key Stage 2.
• Regular C.P.D. opportunities are planned for all staff to continue developing their knowledge and understanding of different physical activities offered to KS1 and KS2 children.
• Curriculum resources are selected with the intent of supplying teachers with the means of delivering high quality lessons and introducing the children to a wide range of games, sports and physical activities within their lessons.
• At lunchtimes, the children on school meals have a well-balanced menu to choose from. We only allow healthy snacks to be eaten during break times.
• Teachers are encouraged to use active brain breaks during school time involving short vigorous aerobic activity such as the Daily Mile and Just Dance.
• A broader experience of a range of sports and activities are offered to all pupils through school staff and the Chorley School Sports Partnership.
• There is an increased participation in competitive sports through the partnership and the inter-house competitions.
• Competitive Sports and festivals are accessed by all pupils including inclusivity festivals such as the KS1 and KS2 Penathlon.
• Year 6 gardeners and Year 5 PALS model sportsmanship qualities to the Reception children & younger children in their role throughout the year.
• Children across school take part in Forest School throughout the year, learning positive behaviours and teamwork in an outdoor, active setting.
• Ensuring all children have the opportunity to attend after-school and extra-curricular sports provision. Children are rotated for competitions and registers are kept for children signing up to after school clubs to ensure the same children do not miss out.
• Offering additional opportunities for children to engage in physical activity throughout the year such as Sports Day, Colour Fun Run, Disney Run & orienteering.
• We have a range of visitors throughout the year such as athletes to inspire the children.In 2022 we had a Paralympic tennis player and in 2023 we had a bronze medal Olympic gymnast.
• Sports Ambassadors ensure that pupils have a voice and regularly have the opportunity to implement suggestions from the pupils in the school. The have recently suggested that we have a school competition kit to feel part of a team and this has been implemented. Similarly that the opportunity to showcase throwing and jumping were involved in Sports Day due to children wanting to illustrate different strengths.

The Impact of our PE Curriculum

We aspire for all our children to be engaged, motivated and happy when it comes to Physical Education ready for their journey into High School. We aim for all our children to have secured age-related skills and knowledge before they leave our school. This equips them with the ability to successfully prepare for a healthy and physical life ahead in which they can make informed choices about physical activity. In addition to this we strive for our children to be knowledgeable about healthy competition, team building and resilience in the wider world.

The impact of our Physical Education curriculum can be measured and monitored in a variety of different ways including; learning walks, PE Passport scrutiny of assessment and evidence, and pupil interviews. It is the responsibility of the subject leader to ensure that there is consistency across the whole school and high quality teaching in PE. Teachers use the P.E Passport App, the Knowledge Map and the P.E Progression of Skills document (Years 1 to 6) or the EYFS Early Learning Goals to deliver high quality P.E lessons and assess the children as they progress through school. These documents ensure every objective of the National Curriculum is met and that teachers have the tools with which to deliver outstanding P.E and sport provision. Throughout PE lessons, children are actively involved in their target making and progress, teachers provide ‘in-the-moment’ feedback and support. We strive to include all children of differing abilities in Physical Education and provision is made for SEND children in the school.

We endeavour to raise the profile of Physical Education in school by ensuring that we offer a wide range of opportunities for all of our children and allow the children to engage in competition as often as possible. Due variety of additional experiences offered to the children through competitive and non-competitive sport, we have seen participation in extra-curricular clubs and competition increase. Aside from our rich P.E curriculum, we attend inter-school competitions throughout the year involving sports such as athletics, dodgeball, hockey, netball, basketball and many more. As skills improve and high-quality P.E. teaching is embedded across school, we have seen increased participation in events and also more success in these competitions and putting St Laurence’s on the school sports map. These competitions provide a perfect stage for the sporting and character values that are integral to our P.E. lessons to be reinforced, ensuring our children leave primary school knowing the importance of etiquette, determination, team-work, perseverance, respect and acceptance.

School Games Mark 

The School Games Mark is a government led awards scheme to reward schools for their commitment to the development of competition across their school and into the community. There is a requirement to demonstrate excellence in each of the four key areas:

• Participation – how many young people at your school are being engaged in sporting activity?
• Competition – how many different sports are being played and how many competitions are being entered?
• Workforce – how many pupils are involved in leadership activities alongside taking part in competitions?
• Clubs – how many local links does your school have with clubs or establishments from the area?