Intent

We endeavour to create an active culture within the Christ the King School community, which aims to inspire our children to enjoy and understand the benefits of participating in Physical Education, sport and physical activity, and experience success by striving to achieve their personal best throughout each day.

In accordance with our Mission Statement, we believe that every child should be provided with the opportunities, instruction and guidance necessary to enjoy being physically active, maintain a healthy lifestyle and increase their self-esteem.

We aspire for our children to adopt a positive mind-set when faced with a challenge, and believe that personal and collective growth can be achieved with a clear vision and by using the School Games Values (passion, belief, respect, honesty, determination and teamwork) to guide our thoughts, words and actions.

In a generation which is becoming increasingly less active, we, alongside the wider Christ the King School community, aspire for the children within our care to understand and experience the positive effects of staying active and foster within them a desire to further their physical development both beyond the school day and throughout the rest of their lives.

To this end, we aim for our children to acquire and consolidate the knowledge, skills and understanding necessary to become life-long, physically-active citizens with improved long-term health and well-being prospects

Implementation

A bespoke, dynamic and ambitious programme of study is at the heart of our Physical Education, School Sport and Physical Activity (PESSPA) offer, which ensures that all children have the knowledge, skills and understanding required to progress confidently through our high-quality, fully-inclusive Physical Education curriculum.

We provide a safe, supportive and stimulating learning environment for all children to excel in a broad range of physical activities, which we recognise is an essential aspect of supporting not only the progression of their physical competence, but also their social, emotional, moral and cognitive development. At every opportunity throughout the school day and beyond, we encourage our children to develop a secure understanding of how they can use their bodies, equipment and apparatus safely, creatively and imaginatively to achieve their personal and collaborative goals.

Our long-term plans ensure that all children are taught to the age-related expectations and requirements as set out in the EYFS Statutory Framework and National Curriculum. Every week, all children receive at least two hours of high-quality Physical Education using our outdoor space or school hall facilities - covering two sporting/physical activity units each half term. Our Physical Education curriculum is carefully-sequenced to ensure progression of knowledge and skills throughout each child’s primary education journey, thus enabling our children to build upon prior learning and apply it fluently with increasing skill and confidence.

In the Early Years Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1, learning is focused on our children developing Fundamental Movement Skills, which we recognise gives them the best chances of establishing and maintaining active lives when they encounter a range of physical activities and sports both in Key Stage 2 and beyond. Our children are introduced to the key principles and skills of team games, dance, and gymnastics.

As the children progress into Key Stage 2, they are able to call upon the skills they’ve mastered throughout the Early Years Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 and apply them to a range of Invasion, Striking & Fielding, Target and Net and Wall sports.

We promote imagination and creativity in Gymnastics and Dance units of work as well as provide opportunities for Athletics and Outdoor and Adventurous Activities. We have also recently added Yoga onto our curriculum map, which encourages less strenuous activity and can provide a welcomed mindfulness opportunity for our children; a crucial necessity in light of recent national and global events such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

In Key Stage 2, children attend enriching residential trips to locations such as Alton Castle, Whitemoor Lakes and the Pioneer Centre, which provides additional opportunities for them to participate in a range of outdoor activities and gain essential life skills.

We provide opportunities for children in Key Stage 2 to participate in swimming lessons, led by qualified swimming teachers, to meet of the National Curriculum requirements of swimming competently, confidently and proficiently over a distance of at least 25 metres, using a range of strokes effectively and performing safe self-rescue in different water-based situations.

Physical Education is fundamental in developing healthy lifestyles in young people, therefore our curriculum, which sits alongside the RHSE and Science curricula, ensures that children are taught about the importance of healthy living and the benefits of good nutrition.

As a Catholic school, the Gospel Virtues we strive to live out in our daily lives underpin everything we do. From the very beginning of their physical and sporting journeys, children are taught to observe and adhere to the conventions of fair and respectful play, honest competition and good sporting behaviour in the roles of individual participants, team members and spectators.

These virtues are promoted throughout Physical Education lessons, play times and competitions alongside the ‘School Games Values’ of Determination, Honesty, Passion, Respect, Self-Belief and Teamwork as well as the British values of Democracy, Rule of Law, Respect, Tolerance and Individual Liberty.

To help develop leadership and communication skills, children in Year 5 and Year 6 can apply to become members of the ‘Sports Crew’ or the ‘School Sports Organising Committee’, which are roles aimed at encouraging their peers to be as active as possible during break and lunch times. The successful applicants organise, resource and lead lunchtime games and assist with our annual Christ the King Sports Day.

Inter-school and intra-school sports competitions are regular events throughout the academic year and increasingly, over recent years, Christ the King has attended local competitions and events within our local sporting partnerships with Spark Active, the Aston Villa Foundation, the Sutton Coldfield Primary Schools District Football Association and the Birmingham Catholic School Sports Association.

Although both the adults and children of Christ the King School value and enjoy the competitive nature of sport, we also acknowledge and encourage the importance of participation by promoting positive experiences of being physically active as opposed to always playing to win.

We have an inclusive approach and understand the importance of both physical and mental well-being, therefore we encourage children to focus, first and foremost, on becoming the best that they can be.

Recognising the essential role that Physical Education, sport and physical activity plays in helping the children of Christ the King to lead fulfilled lives, we aim to create memorable experiences for the children to engage with inspirational figures from the world of sport. In the lead up to the 2022 Commonwealth Games, which was held locally in Birmingham, children met games mascot, Perry the Bull, during an exciting assembly, they took part in a sponsored fitness circuit and assembly led by Team GB and England blind footballer, Darren Harris, and some even had the opportunity to meet Team England athletes, who were preparing for the games, at the ‘Bring the Power’ events.

At Christ the King, we recognise the importance of being physically active throughout the school day, not just in Physical Education lessons, so in order to reduce sedentary learning, we have installed a bespoke cross-curricular orienteering course, which all year groups make use of during both their ‘Outdoor Adventurous Activity’ Physical Education units of work and during other lessons across the curriculum.

Playtimes are an important part of our children being happy, healthy and ready to learn. We have fully-staffed and well-equipped playgrounds, which provide the environment necessary for children to develop and practise their fundamental skills.

In addition to this, we provide a wide array of opportunities to develop sporting skills outside of the normal curriculum time. Our extra-curricular clubs are extremely popular and offer a wide variety of sports, which are ever-changing to meet the desire of the pupils, as well as ensuring they are inclusive, friendly and encouraging environments. Beyond the school day, children and their families are challenged, as part of the ‘WOW Walk to School Challenge’ to adopt a form of active travel to school each day to not only improve their own levels of physical activity, but to also become aware of the positive impact this can have on our local community and the environment. Participation in our active travel scheme, playtime activities, cross-curricular lessons and extra-curricular sports clubs helps our children to work towards achieving the Chief Medical Officer’s target of all children being physically active for 60 minutes per day.

Knowledge Organisers are shared at the beginning of each new unit of learning and referenced throughout each unit. Skills and knowledge progression ladders also act as visual reference points for the retrieval of prior skills and knowledge and are also shared throughout units of learning.

Prior knowledge is activated at the beginning of each lesson, which allows children to make connections between prior and new learning. Where appropriate, this is completed physically at the beginning of each lesson (e.g. by children demonstrating their prior learning with the appropriate space or equipment). This is also completed in the classroom at the beginning of a lesson (using the same visual flipchart slides as in other curriculum areas).

Impact

To fulfil our vision of inspiring a generation of children, who are knowledgeable, skilful and confident in their physical abilities, we motivate our pupils to participate in a variety of activities and sports, which are engaging, purposeful and memorable, with the ambition of the children taking greater responsibility for their own health and fitness and developing a love of sport and exercise in order to lead happier and healthier lives.

The children of Christ the King value and enjoy their Physical Education lessons, and the wider opportunities they are provided to be physically active throughout and beyond the school day. Participation levels in lessons are high, and the children are becoming more able to speak confidently about their learning using the correct, subject-specific vocabulary. A wide range of children attend after-school clubs with attendance and enthusiasm levels remaining consistently high. Levels of participation in competitive sport, and non-competitive festivals, also remains high with many children from different cohorts across the school (girls/boys, Pupil Premium, SEND, least active, KS1/KS2 etc) experiencing these opportunities.

By the end of Year 6, in Physical Education, all pupils will have acquired the physical skills and knowledge necessary to participate successfully, and find enjoyment, in a range of competitive sports and physical activities. Pupils will be able to swim competently and proficiently over a distance of at least 25 metres, and be able to perform safe self-rescue in water.

Through their positive experiences, and the diverse breadth of opportunities on offer, in Physical Education, School Sport and Physical Activity, pupils will be intrinsically motivated by achieving personal growth, and feel empowered to champion the School Games Values of Honesty, Teamwork, Respect, Self-belief, Passion and Determination.

Pupils will have a confident understanding of the health and fitness benefits of leading an active and fulfilled life, and will be inspired to maintain this throughout their lives with independence and commitment as they endeavour to become the best version of themselves.

SMSVC and British values in PE at Christ the King School

We aim to develop SMSVC through PE by:

Spiritual

• Pupils given opportunities to show spontaneity
• Taking part in activities such as dance, games and gymnastics which help pupils to become more focused, connected and creative
• Pupils aware of one’s own strengths and limitations.

Moral

Developing the Olympic Values of:

• Self- respect
• Perseverance
• Honesty
• Teamwork
• Passion

Pupils encouraged to develop their own positive sporting behaviour.

Social

• Exploring and given opportunity to know how a team works together
• Appreciating how PE is used in different ways in a range of settings e.g. for pleasure, to help people relax, for a competitive purpose
• Engaging with our wider community through our sporting events.

Vocations

• Pupils are encouraged to consider in PE and Appreciation of the World the different vocations and sporting fields in which they can use both their PE knowledge and skills.

Cultural

• Pupils will develop a wider cultural awareness as they investigate and explore a variety of sports.
• Making links with national and global sporting events such as the World Cup and the Olympics.

British values in PE at Christ the King

We aim to promote British values through the PE curriculum:

You may see this in a variety of ways.  For example, Democracy could be shown when pupils must take the views and opinions of others into account, but still have the right to make their own choices. The rule of law will be evident to the children as they understand the importance of safety rules as well as the rules of individual sports. Individual liberty, that they have their own choice in their decisions. Mutual Respect when listening to and considering the ideas and opinions of their peers.

Christ the King has been awarded the

Gold School Games Mark!

Christ the King are delighted to announce that we have been awarded the Gold School Games Mark for the 2023-24 academic year in recognition of our continued commitment to Physical Education, School Sport and Physical Activity. We are all very proud of our recent School Games Mark achievements!