Sport and Physical Education
Subject Vision
At East Sheen Primary School we are committed to providing high quality PE lessons and opportunities which inspire children to succeed in competitive sports and physically demanding activity. Our expert sports coaches from Next Step Sport (NSSport) and skilled teachers deliver a curriculum which focuses on supporting healthy life choices, including participation in a wide range of physical activity, enjoyment of team and individual sports and the development of sportsmanship skills. Children learn the importance of teamwork, fair play, respect, leadership and how to win or lose well. They develop competence to excel in a variety of physical activities, understanding the benefits to wellbeing of leading healthy, active lives.
Implementation
All children in KS1 and KS2 have two timetabled PE lessons a week; one of these is led by our sports coaches from NSSport and the other by the classteacher. All staff have had excellent opportunities for training in the delivery of PE and work closely with the coaching team to ensure consistent quality of the programme. Two members of the leadership team have responsibility for the coordination of the curriculum and work in partnership with NSSport to ensure skills progression in agility, balance, coordination, a wide range of team games, attacking and defending, throwing, catching and fielding, gymnastics and dance. Children learn to sequence moves in dance and gymnastics and develop strategic skills in team and individual sports. Children use their Thinking School tools to help them reflect on their skills development, evaluate and understand how to improve. Termly skills assessments also identify strengths and areas to develop further.
Children in The Early Years Foundation Stage have a weekly PE lesson led by NSSport coaches and develop their physical skills daily through active play where resources support gross and fine motor skill development.
All children run regularly, completing the Phoenix mile within the school grounds.
Children in Y3 and Y4 attend swimming lessons at Putney Leisure Centre where professional swimming coaches teach stroke technique and water safety.
Activity is also encouraged in the classroom. Children have opportunities to follow work-outs, dance programmes, yoga and “brain break” activities as part of their classroom routines.
The school participates in all borough competitions and arranges friendly fixtures with other local schools for younger children, so that as many children as possible have the chance to represent the school and compete in sporting activities. These have included a locality sports day for children in Y2, Y3 and Y4, football matches for girls and boys from Y1 upwards, multi skills events and cross-country running. The sports coordinators look for and initiate opportunities for sporting events. For example, we have hosted our own tag rugby and football festivals for children in Y4 and Y5 and have participated in tournaments held at local independent schools to enable more children to take part in a broad range of sports.
All children have the opportunity to play competitive games in school through our House system, where they apply the skills taught in match or race situations. They also learn to compete against themselves, striving to reach personal goals. All children participate in the school’s annual sports day held at Barn Elms athletics ground.
Children in Y1 take part in outdoor learning on Barnes Common and in the school grounds. Children in Y4 and Y6 take part in residential outdoor activity programmes where they experience a variety of activities (e.g. kayaking, abseiling, rope climbing) which provide wonderful opportunities for team building and developing social skills and self-confidence.
NSSport run after school sports clubs and coaching sessions for school teams. School staff run after school netball and hockey clubs and our lunchtime running clubs are very well attended and supported by our enthusiastic and committed parent volunteers.
We hold a family football festival and a family fun run annually.
Impact
Children at East Sheen Primary School are active! They enjoy running the Phoenix mile with their classmates and teachers and competing for their house teams each term. Recent public health data show that obesity levels at the school are below the Richmond average, which in turn is below the national average. Explicit teaching of the connection between healthy bodies and healthy minds contributed to the achievement of the Wellbeing Award for Schools.
The school has a strong reputation for sporting achievement within Richmond borough and has competed as Richmond borough champions at the London Youth Games in recent years:
- Netball- London champions and gold medallists,
- Girls’ football- London champions and gold medallists
- Tag rugby- London Youth Games silver medallists
- Athletics- London champions and gold medallists
The school has achieved the Gold Quality Mark for sport.
For further details of the impact of the use of the sports premium, please visit the sports premium page. Sports Premium
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“The five S’s of sports training are: Stamina, Speed, Strength, Skill, and Spirit; but the greatest of these is Spirit.”
Ken Doherty