Physical Education

Physical Education at Weston

At Weston Village Primary School, Physical Education helps children develop the movement skills, knowledge, confidence and understanding they need to participate successfully in physical activity.

We want pupils to become physically competent, to understand how and why movement can be improved, and to enjoy being active.

Our curriculum develops physical skills alongside teamwork, decision-making, perseverance and understanding of health and fitness.

What Children Learn

Our PE curriculum develops three closely connected areas:

• motor competence – developing increasingly secure and efficient movement

• rules, strategies and tactics – understanding how to participate effectively in games and physical activities

• healthy participation – understanding how physical activity contributes to health, fitness and wellbeing.

Children encounter these through a broad range of activities, including gymnastics, dance, games, athletics, health and fitness, outdoor and adventurous activity and swimming.

Fundamental Movement Skills

Children need secure foundations in movement before they can apply skills effectively in more complex activities and sports.

Across the curriculum, pupils develop skills such as:

running, jumping, balancing, travelling, changing direction, throwing, catching, striking and kicking.

In Key Stage 1, there is a strong emphasis on ball skills, travelling and jumping, balance, shape and rotation, and simple attacking and defending.

In Key Stage 2, these foundations are revisited and developed with increasing control, coordination, accuracy and application.

Games, Strategy and Tactics

As children's physical competence grows, they learn how to apply skills within games.

This includes understanding:

• how to create and use space

• when to attack and defend

• how to work effectively with others

• how rules shape a game

• how different tactical choices affect success.

Younger pupils begin with simple attacking and defending, while older pupils move into invasion games, net and wall activities and striking and fielding.

The aim is not simply to teach isolated sports. Pupils learn transferable movement and tactical knowledge that can be applied across different activities.

Gymnastics

Gymnastics develops strength, control, balance, coordination and body awareness.

Children explore:

• balance

• shape

• rotation

• travelling

• jumping

• linking movements into sequences.

As pupils progress, movements become more controlled and combinations more complex.

The emphasis is on quality of movement, safe execution and the ability to refine a performance.

Dance

Dance gives pupils opportunities to use movement expressively and creatively.

Children develop control, rhythm, coordination and spatial awareness while responding to different musical and thematic ideas.

The curriculum includes both dance fundamentals and selected dance styles, allowing pupils to develop basic movement vocabulary before applying it in increasingly structured and expressive sequences.

Athletics

Athletics develops core physical skills through running, jumping and throwing.

Children learn to improve:

• speed

• endurance

• coordination

• jumping technique

• throwing technique

• accuracy and control.

As they progress, pupils become increasingly able to evaluate their own performance and understand how technique affects outcomes.

Athletics is revisited across the school, including preparation for Sports Day activities.

Health and Fitness

Children are taught that physical activity affects the body and contributes to health and wellbeing.

Dedicated Health and Fitness units appear progressively through the curriculum from Key Stage 1 onwards.

Pupils develop an age-appropriate understanding of areas such as:

• warming up and preparing the body for activity

• how exercise affects breathing and heart rate

• stamina, strength and flexibility

• why regular physical activity matters.

The emphasis is on helping children understand their bodies and participate safely and positively.

Outdoor and Adventurous Activity

Older pupils encounter activities that require problem-solving, navigation, teamwork and decision-making.

The current curriculum includes orienteering in Years 3 and 5.

These activities encourage children to communicate, cooperate and apply physical and thinking skills in less predictable situations.

Swimming and Water Safety

Swimming is part of the Key Stage 2 PE curriculum.

The current long-term plan places swimming in Year 5.

Children are taught to become increasingly confident and competent in the water and to develop understanding of water safety.

We work towards the national expectation that pupils should be able to swim competently, confidently and proficiently over at least 25 metres, use a range of strokes effectively and perform safe self-rescue.

PE in Reception

Physical development begins from the start of Reception.

Children develop movement through both planned PE and wider opportunities for active play.

The current Reception curriculum includes dance, gymnastics, movement and space, ball skills, games and agility.

These experiences help children develop balance, coordination, body control, spatial awareness and confidence before moving into the more structured Key Stage 1 PE curriculum.

How Learning Develops

In Key Stage 1, children establish strong foundations through ball skills, balance, travelling, jumping, teamwork, dance, health and fitness, attacking and defending, running and jumping.

In Lower Key Stage 2, pupils develop greater control and begin applying skills within more complex activities. This includes fundamental movement, teamwork and communication, attacking and defending, athletics, striking and fielding, orienteering, net and wall activity and dance.

In Upper Key Stage 2, pupils refine movement and apply increasingly sophisticated tactical thinking. They experience invasion games, net and wall sport, striking and fielding, athletics, dance, orienteering and swimming.

How We Teach PE

PE requires clear modelling, practice and feedback.

Our whole-school teaching routines support this.

I → We → You allows teachers to demonstrate a movement or tactical idea, practise it with pupils and then give them opportunities to apply it independently.

Scaffold → Fade means equipment, space, rules or task complexity can be adjusted initially and then made more demanding as pupils become more secure.

Retrieval, little and often helps pupils revisit rules, movement cues, vocabulary and tactical ideas from previous learning.

Words & Visuals supports understanding of movement patterns, game structures, vocabulary and sequencing.

Children are given repeated opportunities to practise so that movement becomes increasingly fluent, efficient and confident.

Inclusion in PE

PE should be accessible and meaningful for every child.

Teachers adapt activities using changes to areas such as:

• space

• task

• equipment

• people.

This allows the important physical learning to remain while removing unnecessary barriers.

Adaptations may include changing the size of a playing area, using different equipment, altering the complexity of a movement, modifying rules or changing groupings.

The aim is not simply participation. We want every pupil to learn, improve and experience success in PE.

Assessment

Assessment takes place throughout PE lessons.

Teachers observe pupils as they practise, perform and apply skills and consider how well they can:

• control and coordinate movement

• apply skills in different situations

• use appropriate tactics and strategies

• follow and understand rules

• work with others

• explain aspects of health and fitness

• evaluate and improve performance.

Assessment helps teachers identify whether children need further modelling, practice, adaptation or greater challenge.

Physical Activity Beyond PE

PE lessons are one part of children's wider physical activity at Weston.

Children also have opportunities to be active through playtimes, OPAL, clubs, sporting events and competitions, alongside other outdoor experiences.

Where appropriate, pupils represent the school in competitive sport and take part in wider physical opportunities beyond their curriculum lessons.

Our PE Curriculum

The document below shows how Physical Education is organised and developed from Reception to Year 6.

PE and Sport Premium

Information about how we use the PE and Sport Premium to improve PE, physical activity and sporting opportunities is published separately on our website.

Our latest report can be found below.

Swimming Competency

We also publish the statutory information about the proportion of our Year 6 cohort who meet the national swimming and water-safety requirements. Our latest report is below.