Our PE Vision

At St Mary’s we believe that sport and physical education play a vital role in the social, emotional, physical and intellectual development of every child. We believe that every child should have the opportunity to develop the physical confidence and competence to enjoy being physically active.

Our school vision is to promote and develop a broad, balanced, engaging and challenging curriculum that will enthuse and inspire every child to lead active and healthy lifestyles. Pupils will acquire the expectations and experiences of sport and physical education.

We also strive to give as many children as possible the opportunity to participate in a variety of competitive sports during their school life, giving them the prospect of understanding what competition feels like, what it is like to be part of a team and to be able to both win and lose with equal grace.

In true sporting colours we will encourage each other to achieve personal bests in all aspects of learning. Success in sport and physical education will be celebrated where teams and individuals are rewarded and all children will have the opportunity to experience the thrill of triumph and fulfilment.

We hope that all of these opportunities will help our children to develop into well-rounded and balanced individuals all set for life’s challenges.

What is Physical Education (P.E.)?

P.E is part of the curriculum that can contribute most to the physical development and experience of the pupils. Through physical education children are given the opportunity to develop knowledge, skills and understanding, so that they can perform with increasing competence and confidence in a range of physical activities. These include dance, games, gymnastics, athletics and swimming. Physical Education promotes an understanding in children of their bodies in action. It involves thinking, selecting and applying skills, and it promotes positive attitude towards a healthy lifestyle. Thus, we enable the children to make informed choices about physical activity throughout their lives.

Teaching and Learning

At St Mary's we use a variety of teaching and learning styles in PE lessons delivered by our teachers and Progressive Sports. Our principal aim is to develop the children’s knowledge, skills and understanding, and we do this through a mixture of whole-class teaching and individual or group activities. Teachers draw attention to good examples of individual performance as models for the other children, and we encourage the children to evaluate their own work as well as the work of other children. Within lessons we give children the opportunity both to collaborate and to compete with each other, and they have the opportunity to use a wide range of resources.

Extra-Curricular

St Mary’s children are encouraged to be competitive in sport and therefore are provided with many opportunities to compete. This can be within lessons, extra-curricular clubs, school games and local competitions and leagues. The ‘school games’ is an approach to competitive school sport, designed to motivate and enthuse all young people.

A year round sporting calendar is created and specifically designed  to get young people competing at intra – school (level 1) and inter school (level 2). Winners of level 2 events will qualify to compete for the title of County champions at the level 3 school games. St Mary’s enter many of these competitions. St Mary’s was awarded with the GOLD school games award. St Mary’s are very lucky to be part of the Cardinal Griffin Cluster where a variety of competitions involving numerous sports are organised throughout the year.

For further information about PE at St Mary's please take a look at our Sports Premium Action Plan and Impact Report which can also be found on our website.