Intent

Physical Education at Woodrow First School and Nursery strives to develop the whole child through broad, balanced and fun opportunities within a progressive curriculum. Through these experiences we hope to provide our children with the knowledge to make informed choices about their own health and fitness and to enable them to develop a lifelong love of physical education. 

Implementation

Early Years Foundation Stage

The reception and nursery classes are part of the Foundation Stage of the National Curriculum. Physical Development is related to the objectives set out in the Early Years Foundation Stage Development Matters, which underpins the curriculum planning. Physical Development is a Prime area, and as such is a fundamental part of the EYFS curriculum underpinning all other areas, encompassing two specific strands: Moving and Handling; Health and Self-Care. Opportunities are planned to enable children to develop confidence and control of the way they move and handle equipment and sets the foundations for making healthy life choices. Opportunities are planned to undertake activities that offer appropriate physical challenge, both indoors and outdoors, using a wide range of resources to support specific skills which relate to the PE curriculum. Children in foundation stage also go swimming every week.

Physical Development

• To develop children’s fundamental movement skills through promoting the building blocks of physical literacy: stability, locomotion and object control.
• To integrate physical activity and development opportunities into daily practice, supporting other areas of the foundation framework.
• To contribute towards children achieving their recommended 180 minutes of their daily physical activity and minimising long periods of sitting.

Cognitive Development

• To develop the ability to work independently and in small groups, contributing ideas.
• To explore movements and understand why some are more successful than others.
• To respond to questions about their bodies and healthy lifestyles.
• To appreciate the value of safe exercising, for instance warming the body up before exercise and using the equipment safely.

Key Stage One

Physical Development

• To master fundamental movement skills (running, jumping, throwing and catching) becoming more confident and competent working within the activity areas of: swimming, gymnastics, dance, games (attacking and defending), athletics and fitness.
• To provide opportunities to develop children’s agility, balance and co-ordination and transfer these to a range of activity areas.
• To develop children’s endurance through contributing to their recommended 60 minutes of daily moderate to vigorous physical activity, minimising long periods of sitting and providing opportunities for children to strengthen their muscles and bones.

Cognitive Development

• To apply their developed skills to sequences and mini game situations. Adapting to competitive environment.
• To develop simple tactics for attacking and defending in game situations.
• To begin to improve observational skills, the ability to describe and make simple judgements on their own and others’ performances, and to use this knowledge and understanding to improve their own performances.
• To demonstrate the value of safe exercising e.g. warm up, lifting and carrying mats and equipment safely.

Key Stage Two

Physical Development

• To continue to develop and apply a broader range of skills (running, throwing, jumping and catching) in isolation and in combination through: gymnastics, dance, games, swimming, OAA, fitness and athletics.
• To provide opportunities to develop children’s strength, flexibility, technique, control and balance, transferring these to a range of activity areas.
• To develop children’s endurance through contributing to children achieving their recommended 60 minutes of daily moderate to vigorous physical activity, minimising long periods of sitting and providing opportunities for children to strengthen their muscles and bones.

Cognitive Development

• To apply principles suitable for attacking and defending
• To compare their performances with previous ones and demonstrate improvement to achieve their personal best.
• To take responsibility in demonstrating the value of safe exercising e.g. leading a warm up, lifting and carrying mats and equipment safely.
• To develop decision making and problem solving skills.

Whole School 

At Woodrow we are passionate about trying to encourage our pupils to lead a healthy lifestyle and reinforce the message from the Department of Health that children should engage in regular daily physical activity habits across the week, every week and all year round.

We have worked in collaboration with Newman University to monitor, assess and evaluate our children’s activity habits and have introduced several whole school incentives to actively promote and encourage our children to be physically active.