Physical Education Rationale

At Church Lench CE First School, Physical Education is taught on a two-year rolling cycle to ensure full coverage of the National Curriculum while providing a broad, balanced and progressive programme of physical activity. Our curriculum has been carefully designed to develop pupils' physical competence, confidence and enjoyment through a wide range of sports, games and movement experiences that build progressively from the Early Years through to Year 5. 

In Class 1, children develop fundamental movement skills including running, jumping, balancing, throwing, catching and travelling before applying these within gymnastics, dance, games and athletics. Learning is carefully sequenced to build confidence and physical literacy at the earliest stage of their education, providing strong foundations for future participation in sport and physical activity. 

In Classes 2 and 3, pupils receive regular PE lessons that expose them to an increasingly broad range of activities including invasion games, net and wall games, striking and fielding, athletics, gymnastics, dance, swimming, outdoor and adventurous activities, yoga and fitness. Skills are revisited and refined across the two-year cycle, allowing pupils to develop greater competence, tactical awareness and confidence through increasingly challenging contexts. 

Our curriculum has been designed to meet the requirements of the National Curriculum and enables pupils to:

• Develop competence across a broad range of physical activities.
• Become physically confident in ways that support their health, fitness and wellbeing.
• Build fundamental movement skills that underpin lifelong participation in physical activity.
• Learn to apply movement skills within increasingly competitive situations.
• Develop teamwork, communication, resilience, leadership and respect through collaborative and competitive activities.
• Evaluate and improve their own performance as well as supporting others to improve.
• Experience success, challenge and enjoyment regardless of starting point or ability.

Throughout each unit, pupils progressively develop both physical and personal skills. They learn how to move efficiently and safely, understand the principles of attacking and defending within games, perform with increasing control and creativity in dance and gymnastics, and improve their fitness through a variety of physical challenges. Lessons are designed to promote problem-solving, decision-making and tactical thinking alongside physical performance, ensuring children understand not only how to perform skills but also when and why to apply them.

Swimming forms an important part of our curriculum in Key Stage 2, ensuring pupils have opportunities to develop water confidence and work towards meeting the National Curriculum expectation of being able to swim competently, confidently and proficiently over a distance of at least 25 metres and use a range of strokes effectively. At Church Lench First School, children in Years 2-5 have swimming lessons for 10 weeks in the summer term.  

Our curriculum also places significant emphasis on developing positive attitudes towards physical activity. Through participation in individual and team activities, pupils learn the importance of perseverance, fair play, respect, honesty and resilience. They are encouraged to celebrate personal improvement, support their peers and recognise the physical, mental and social benefits of leading an active lifestyle.

Across the two-year rolling programme, learning is carefully sequenced so that fundamental movement skills are established first before pupil’s progress towards more complex techniques, tactical understanding and game application. Activities are revisited in different contexts, enabling children to retrieve prior learning, consolidate knowledge and demonstrate increasingly sophisticated performance over time. The curriculum provides a balanced blend of skill acquisition, physical development, creativity, competition and personal growth, ensuring every pupil experiences success while being appropriately challenged. 

 

CYCLE A 

	Autumn 1	Autumn 2	Spring 1	Spring 2	Summer 1	Summer 2
Class 1	Physical literacy games  Movement AU	Using equipment Ball skills AU	Dance Racket Skills AU	Gym Movement balance AU	Athletics Striking/ fielding AU	Dance/ Gym Races and Games AU
Class 2	Dance  Tag Rugby AU	Games Social Games AU	Gym Invasion Games AU	Games Dance AU	Swimming  Striking/ Fielding AU	Swimming Athletics/ team relays AU
Class 3	Fitness and Health Hockey AU	Ball Skills Invasion Games AU	Dance Rugby AU	Gym Dance AU	Swimming Rounders AU	Swimming Athletics AU

 

CYCLE B

	Autumn 1	Autumn 2	Spring 1	Spring 2	Summer 1	Summer 2
Class 1	Fundamentals Unit 1 EYFS Ball skills feet AU	Gymnastics Yr1 Ball skills  hands AU	Dance Unit 1 EYFS Tagging/ invasion games  AU	Team Building Yr1  Movement balance AU	Ball Skills EYFS Striking/ fielding AU	Dance Yr 1 Athletics  AU
Class 2	Fundamentals KS1 Football AU	Invasion Games KS1  Ball skills AU	Yoga KS2 Hockey Skills AU	Athletics KS1 Gymastics AU	Swimming  Striking/ Fielding AU	Swimming Athletics AU
Class 3	Fitness and Health Football AU	Ball skills  Netball  AU	Dance Invasion Games AU	Athletics  Gym AU	Swimming Cricket AU	Swimming  Athletics AU

 

Extra-curricular opportunities

Throughout the school year, children are usually given the opportunity to participate in a range of different after school clubs. These have included dodge ball,  multi-skills, tennis and much more. 

We actively encourage children at Church Lench to participate in a range of different competitive sports, both in school and against  other local schools. We regularly hold our own tournaments and also attend county events, such as dance festivals, orienteering, bell-boating, cross-country and football matches, to enable children to improve on important skills such as team work, resilience, perseverance and independence.