Physical Education
Our Vision
At St. Mark’s Catholic Primary School we want all children to develop a love of PE through positive experiences, in order to build physical literacy and body confidence, encourage healthy lifestyles and promote sport for life.
Subject Intent
What is our intent for all children to achieve in this subject?
Our aim is to give all children access to regular, quality and most importantly, positive experiences of PE throughout their time with us at St. Mark’s in order to promote sport for life. We want children to see and understand the benefits of leading an active lifestyle, so that they will continue to enjoy sports outside of school too, either through extra-curricular activities, with their families or in the wider community. PE has a high profile as it helps children enjoy school, grow friendships, build confidence and increase resilience. PE is used as a tool to encourage positive behaviour and to enable children to have unique and memorable experiences through involvement in sport.
Curriculum Overview
Our PE curriculum map has been mapped to ensure that children in Reception build a strong foundation of fundamental movement skills. The Key Stage 1 curriculum for PE prioritises knowledge and basic skills to enable children to know more and do more in PE. When children get to Key Stage 2, there is a focus on rules, strategies and tactics and there are more opportunities to play a range of sports that build on these skills.
| Year Group | Autumn 1 | Autumn 2 | Spring 1 | Spring 2 | Summer 1 | Summer 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reception | Body Management Unit 1 | Body Management Unit 2 | Manipulation and Coordination Unit 1 | Manipulation and Coordination Unit 2 | Cooperate and solve problems Unit 1 | Cooperate and solve problems Unit 2 |
| Reception | Gymnastics Unit 1 | Gymnastics Unit 2 | Speed Agility Travel Unit 1 | Speed Agility Travel Unit 2 | Dance Unit 1 | Dance Unit 2 |
| Year 1 | Hit Catch Run Unit 1 | Hit Catch Run Unit 2 | Attack Defend Shoot Unit 1 | Attack Defend Shoot Unit 2 | Send and Return Unit 1 | Send and Return Unit 2 |
| Year 1 | Gymnastics Unit 1 | Gymnastics Unit 2 | Run Jump Throw Unit 1 | Run Jump Throw Unit 2 | Dance Unit 1 | Dance Unit 2 |
| Year 2 | Hit Catch Run Unit 1 | Hit Catch Run Unit 2 | Attack Defend Shoot Unit 1 | Attack Defend Shoot Unit 2 | Send and Return Unit 1 | Send and Return Unit 2 |
| Year 2 | Gymnastics Unit 1 | Gymnastics Unit 2 | Run Jump Throw Unit 1 | Run Jump Throw Unit 2 | Dance Unit 1 | Dance Unit 2 |
| Year 3 | Basketball | Swimming | Football | Netball | Athletics | Rounders |
| Year 3 | Gymnastics Unit 1 | Gymnastics Unit 2 | Tennis | Cricket | Dance Unit 1 | Dance Unit 2 |
| Year 4 | Gymnastics Unit 1 | Gymnastics Unit 2 | Swimming | Swimming | Dance Unit 1 | Dance Unit 2 |
| Year 4 | Basketball | Tennis | Football | Cricket | Athletics | Netball |
| Year 5 | Gymnastics Unit 1 | Gymnastics Unit 2 | Football | Netball | Dance Unit 1 | Dance Unit 2 |
| Year 5 | Basketball | Hockey | Cricket | Rounders | Swimming | Athletics |
| Year 6 | Swimming | Basketball | Cricket | Football | Athletics | Rounders |
| Year 6 | Gymnastics Unit 1 | Gymnastics Unit 2 | Hockey | Netball | Dance Unit 1 | Dance Unit 2 |
Swimming
At St. Mark’s, every class in Key Stage 2 experiences swimming lessons over the course of the year. We use Perry Beeches swimming baths in Great Barr. This is our local leisure centre to the school. Swimming lessons last 30 minutes and are taught by qualified staff.
The National Curriculum requirement for all children leaving Year 6 is to:
- Swim competently, confidently and proficiently over a distance of at least 25 metres.
- Use a range of strokes effectively.
- Perform safe self-rescue in different water-based situations.
Our aim at St. Mark’s is to get as many children as possible achieving the national curriculum requirement. We start children in Year 3 and we also give booster sessions to help children achieve the outcome intended.
PE in Action
What does physical education look like in action at St. Mark’s…
All classes are assigned two hours of PE each week and staff and pupils wear their PE kit. All teachers in school teach PE and the PE Hub online learning platform is used to teach PE.
Lunchtime Activities
Sport and activity does not just take place in PE lessons, our children play a range of sport every lunchtime and we have a range of resources that inspire children to be active. Sports coaches engage children of a lunchtime to be active and play a range of sports to support a healthy lifestyle.
Here are some photos of what lunchtime activities look like at St. Mark’s:
Extra-Curricular Activities
In addition, there are a number of extra-curricular offerings available to Years 1 to 6.
2024/25 After school activities include:
- Tae Kwondo
- Multi-sports for Key Stage 1
- Multi-sports for Key Stage 2
- Girls Football (aimed at engaging and inspiring more girls into playing football)
- Boys Football
- Dance
- Cricket
- Basketball
Children have opportunities to develop their gross and fine gross motor skills through a range of movements and activities. Into KS1, there is still a big focus on agility, balance and coordination in order for all children to become physically literate and confident in their movements. Finally, in KS2, there is more emphasis on tactical awareness and evaluating and improving performance, with a view to providing opportunities for every child to represent the school through sport.
Out of School Sporting Activities
As part of our mission to engage and inspire children to play sport, we provide a range of opportunities for children to compete in a range of sports and activities against other schools. We also give children opportunities to attend professional sports arenas and stadiums to watch professional sport in action!
We ensure that girls are represented as well as boys in our competitions and events. As well as playing girls vs girls and boys vs boys, we also play in mixed teams.
Tennis is a sport we practise at lunchtimes, but we also have opportunities to play tennis on an actual size tennis court.
At St. Mark’s, we love to dance and every year in Multicultural Week, every class performs a dance from another culture
Here are our after school dance team competing in a regional competition against 16 other schools at the Alexandra Theatre in Brimingham.
Here are our children at the Earls Gymnastics Centre in Oldbury taking part in a SJBCA MAC gymnastics festival.
Here are our children at Edgbaston Cricket Ground to watch live, professional cricket alongside other schools in the Midlands. Can you spot the mascot?
Sports Day
Every year at St. Mark’s, we celebrate our school sports day. Many parents and carers attend to cheer on children with lots of energy and enthusiasm as they participate in a range of sporting activities.
The aim of sports day is to involve everyone in a range of physical activities and to have fun at the same time. Some of the events replicate some traditional sports played in Athletics such as long jump, sprint and javelin, but we also include some more fun activities such as egg and spoon race and jumping to beat the clock.
All of our children get involved in sports day and we adapt activities appropriately to allow everyone to take part. Our Key Stage 2 sports leaders work hard to lead, support and encourage our younger children in school, especially those children who find sport more challenging.
MAC Sports Day
As well as our own school sports day, we also take part in our annual SJBCA MAC sports day. Children in Key Stage 2 attend Tipton Sports Academy to play a range of sporting activities against other schools in the SJBCA family.
Cycle to School Week
Every year, we encourage children to lead an active and healthy lifestyle by forming good habits early in life. Cycle to school week in October is an event we partake in to encourage as many of our pupils as possible to cycle to school on a regular basis. It also supports the work our Laudato Si’ mission team are supporting in school by caring for the environment.
What our Children Say…
“I really enjoy doing dance and getting to freestyle in the middle.”
“PE is my favourite because we do lots of different sports and we get to be active and play fun games.”
“I didn’t think I was any good at cricket, but now I am. I liked the coach and now I can hit the ball far!”
“I like our coach, he helps me to do better at tennis.”
“I had never done boxing before, but I actually quite like it.”
“My favourite sporting event was when I got to do gymnastics at a professional gymnastic centre because I had never done that before and it was a lot of fun.”