Raising the Profile of PE in Primary Schools
For too long Physical Education has been a secondary subject in schools and often pushed aside to ensure that other core subjects are delivered.
The importance of English and Maths cannot be underestimated at all, but at the same time the benefits of PE are lifetime:
- Understanding of being healthy
- Importance of exercise
- Learning basic gross motor skills
- The effect physical activity can have in the classroom
- Opportunities for children to learn sports they won’t have a chance to try otherwise
- Target setting
How can The Elms Sport In Schools increase the level and standard of PE in a Primary School?
The Elms coaches will follow a set of generic plans with varying levels of differentiation to ensure participation in up to 9 sports per academic year for KS2. At the end of each 4-6 week block of sessions children will be assessed, meaning come the end of the year there are up to 9 sets of assessment for attainment and effort.
This means the most comprehensive form of assessment for a child, less paperwork for teachers in an area most are weak in and opportunities for children and parents to recognise areas of development and enjoyment.
In KS1, although specific sports aren’t taught as such, the skills linked to each sport as well as the basic gross motor skills linked to agility balance and coordination means the children get a solid foundation of work to build upon in KS2.
Assessments
Assessments for each topic and sport are given for attainment and effort.
Attainment
Emerging, Expecting, Exceeding
Effort
5 Outstanding to 1 Poor
By building a picture of the child’s performance across the year, it makes tackling PE reports that much easier. Once a whole academic year of attainment and effort has been completed teachers can select activities the child has excelled in as well as those areas they showed higher levels of effort to paint a clearer picture of a child’s progress in PE.
Here are some examples of this using an academic year assessments and the success criteria attributed to each sport and year group. We have highlighted at least 2 areas of high achievement and high effort to focus the reports on.
End of Term Assessments (Year 4 - Class A)
A scan of each child can paint a detailed picture of their development using the success criteria available. Here is what a quick scan of the assessments shows:
- The children of Class 4A really enjoyed Basketball as this was the subject with the highest effort grades across the board
- Overall the class struggled with Gymnastics and this is an area of improvement for the following year
- Peter had the highest effort and attainment in Rugby, Hockey, Basketball and Athletics
- Millie excelled in Gymnastics but wasn’t as enthused with invasion games such as Football and Rugby
- Aimee and Polly had exceptionally high effort across the board in PE
- Charlie enjoys invasion games
- Magda had the highest effort whilst exceeding levels in Football and Cricket
For more information on the reports, a meeting can be set up with your dedicated School Manager to ensure your school are receiving the most out of the service.
If The Elms Sport In Schools do not currently deliver PE in your school and you are interested, please contact Head Office on
020 8954 8787
Rebecca Woode, Headteacher
Woodlands School December 2021
“Woodlands Have used the Elms for a number of years. The lessons are active, engaging and extremely well run. The children thoroughly enjoy the lessons and Coach Franco is fantastic.”