Physical Education
Physical Education Vision
At St. Michael’s we believe that supporting the children to be happy, healthy, mindful citizens who learn how to take care of their body and mind through participating in engaging lessons, being fully involved in academy life, and making healthy choices will stand them in good stead for a healthy, active lifestyle as they move through and on from primary school.
Physical Education Intent
Community-based recreational and competitive sporting opportunities for youth from underserved inner-city communities such as Handsworth are often lacking. Compared to areas of Birmingham that benefit from greater financial investment, Handsworth has a criminally low number of youth football teams in Handsworth and the surrounding communities, despite being in the shadow of Aston Villa FC and West Bromwich Albion FC. Areas such as Sutton Coldfield and Kings Heath are awash with sports teams and clubs.
School sports curriculums and programs represent an ideal location for promoting youth development in underserved areas because they can provide safe, supervised, and structured activities. This is one of the primary ambitions of our PE and sport curriculum. Our intent includes not only physical education programs, but also other extra-curricular activities such as inter-school sports and recreational sport.
Our specialist PE coach supports teacher to deliver the Physical Education Curriculum. It is our aim to provide the children with the opportunity to develop their PE skills (physical and cognitive) through a wide variety of activities beyond the normal primary curriculum. We aim to extend the boundaries of learning with a bespoke PE curriculum that is centered around the needs of the children to ensure that they develop competence in a broad range of physical activities, are physical active for sustained periods, engage in competitive sports and activities and lead healthy, active lives.
At St. Michael’s, we aim to develop a love of sport and physical activity in all children and inspire them to become lifelong active people by the time they depart for secondary school. We want all children to develop and improve the fundamental skills needed to access all physical activity such as invasion games, gymnastics or dance.
Children will understand the importance of healthy competition against either themselves (personal best) or other children, the importance of an active and healthy lifestyle and the role that physical activity plays in achieving this, how to swim, basic survival skills in water and life skills such as teamwork, independence and resilience.
We follow the complete PPPE curriculum which focuses on skills development in each individual sport and puts health and well-being at the core of learning. Combined with the children’s development of agility, gross motor skills, cognitive thinking, balance, coordination, healthy competition and teamwork, the lessons also provide opportunities for children to develop essential life skills such as resilience, values, fairness, respect, and an appreciation of the importance of a healthy and active lifestyle. Our curriculum is designed to motivate and challenge our pupils in engaging, fun PE lessons that are accessible all, and allow all pupils to achieve their potential.
To enhance our pupils learning, we enter teams into a range of inter-school and intra-school competitions, events and tournaments. We actively promote good sportsmanship. Children learn to care for their bodies both physically and mentally and are encouraged to develop a growing self-awareness, resilience, positive attitude and commitment to self-improvement through setting goals, so that they are ultimately able to influence their own quality of life.
We offer a wide range of extra-curricular sports clubs which change termly, these have included yoga, football, basketball, cycling, dodgeball and fitness classes. A sports coach delivers sports sessions at lunchtime as part of the extended curriculum, providing additional opportunities for children to be active and experience various sports. These clubs are paid for by school and they provide children with access to a wide range of sporting activities.
Physical Education Implementation
At St. Michael’s, we are committed to providing our pupils with plenty of opportunities to get their recommended amount of weekly exercise.
It is our aim to offer the children skill development through a wide variety of activities beyond the normal primary curriculum. The children participate in two hours of timetabled PE each week; when it is their PE days, they wear their PE kit to school which maximises learning time. The activities covered within the curriculum include Gymnastics, Games, Athletics, Multi-skills, fundamentals, Netball/Basketball, Tennis, Invasion games, and swimming.
We consistently promote good sporting behaviour and attitudes, which are reflected within our school values and rules. The children learn how to care for their bodies both physically and mentally. They are encouraged to develop a growing self-awareness, positive attitudes, growth mindsets and a commitment to self-improvement through setting goals, so that they are ultimately able to influence their own quality of life. We aim to provide as wide a range of activities as possible to encourage enjoyment, greater activity and involvement, whilst promoting physical fitness, health and cognitive learning through movement, play and exploration.
Curriculum Coverage
