Primary Schools

PE Programme of Study - Socially Distanced, just in case

2020/2021 PE Programme of Study – We’re saving you time and keeping you safe!

Last week, we explored the need to ensure that Physical Education and School Sport is still a prominent feature of school life for your children. Not only does PE help create healthy habits to battle the nations obesity crisis, but it also has huge positive Mental Health and Wellness benefits, that will be incredibly important for your children as they return to school.

We also explained how to ensure PE is delivered safely, and although government advise is constantly being updated, we have set a plan on how to deliver PE whilst maintaining social distance of 2m, just in case it is still required. We also provided content and lesson plan ideas, so if you missed out on our blog las week, the link is right here, I am sure you will find it useful!

Now we have our delivery strategies in place, it is important to consider the content for the upcoming school year, so that Physical Education is not only delivered, but it is worthwhile, effective, engaging and fun.

Our PE team have examined the PE Curriculum and provided a PE plan for the year, allowing schools to deliver curriculum content to upskill and develop our children. We have also considered assessment and School Games opportunities, whilst still considering that social distancing and increased safety procedures may still be in place.

KS1

When	Hour 1 (Fundamental Movements)	Hour 2 (Sport Specific Skills)	Benefits
Autumn 1	Jumping Activities	My Zone PE / Games	Includes a huge range of skills and movements to support the children after a long break Designed specifically to give curriculum support at social distances.
Autumn 2	Running Activities	Running and Jumping Games	Individual Activity Easy to maintain social distancing Limited shared equipment
Spring 1	Kicking Skills	Ball Mastery Games	Ball Mastery activities can be completed individually Small group work can be achieved whilst maintaining social distance. Develops running, jumping, throwing and catching skills. Develops Agility Balance and Coordination
Spring 2	Bouncing Activities	Dance & Yoga	Individual Activity Easy to maintain social distancing Limited shared equipment Develops a range of skills Clear links to mindfulness and emotional wellbeing
Summer 1	Throwing and Catching	Athletics	Individual Events Easy to maintain social distancing Limited shared equipment Develops running, jumping, throwing and catching skills. Individual Events Develops Agility, Balance and Coordination.
Summer 2	Striking Skills	Striking and Target Practice	Target Practice games allows use of a range of skills including striking. Can be developed into mini tennis, kwik cricket etc if children are competent and its safe to participate. Limited shared equipment

KS2

When	Hour 1 (Fundamental Movements)	Hour 2 (Sport Specific Skills)	Benefits
Autumn 1	Jumping Activities	My Zone PE / Games	Includes a huge range of skills and movements to support the children after a long break Designed specifically to give curriculum support at social distances.
Autumn 2	Running Activities	Outdoor and Adventurous Activity	Easy to maintain social distancing. Can be delivered outside in all weathers Develops a range of skills including team work.
Spring 1	Kicking Skills	Ball Mastery (Football and Basketball)	Ball Mastery activities can be completed individually Small group work can be achieved whilst maintaining social distance. Develops running, jumping, throwing and catching skills. Develops Agility Balance and Coordination Link to competitive
Spring 2	Bouncing Activities	Dance, Gymnastic Activities ** and Yoga	Individual Events Easy to maintain social distancing Limited shared equipment Develops Strength, Flexibility, Agility, Balance and Coordination. Considers mindfulness.
Summer 1	Throwing and Catching	Athletics (Individual Events)	Individual Events Easy to maintain social distancing Limited shared equipment Develops running, jumping, throwing and catching skills. Develops Strength, Flexibility, Agility, Balance and Coordination.
Summer 2	Striking Skills	Summer Sports (Tennis and Badminton)	Individual Events Easy to maintain social distancing Limited shared equipment (rackets to be sanitised after each lesson) Develops striking skills. Agility, Balance and Coordination. Cricket and Rounders can be played if safe at this point)

** Gymnastics should be modified to include basic shapes, travels and floor work, delivery should be outside and as such should be risk assessed fully.

The above timetables are just examples, but we hope that this will provide teachers with the opportunity to deliver structured meaningful PE. We have also planned for all delivery to take place outdoors; this will bring its own challenges, and we have attempted to consider seasonal constraints when designing our content. Remember for the time being, it is unquestionably safest to deliver your PE outdoors.

We are still recommending that a minimum of two hours PE happens every week, and our belief in delivering an hour of skill development followed by sport specific activity has not changed. However, we recognise that school facilities and the need of the children may impact on this.

Assessing Competence and Achieving Personal Best!

Ultimately, the most important thing is that the children are safe, healthy and happy, and Physical Education and School Sport is an ideal opportunity to contribute to the children’s wellbeing. However, if we are looking to run worthwhile PE, we should also look to support the children’s development, both physically and in terms of skill acquisition.

Along with participation in a range of activities, the PE Curriculum requires:

KS1 Children to master Running, Jumping, Throwing and Catching, whilst developing Agility, Balance and Coordination.

KS2 Children to use Running, Jumping, Throwing and Catching whilst developing Agility, Balance, Coordination, Flexibility and Strength.

As with all subjects, the only way to ensure that learning and development is taking place is with ongoing assessment and although this may not be top of the priority list at the moment, we have an ideal solution to support assessment in PE, which the children love and by design, is socially distant.

Usually, we deliver up to 5 different challenges, 3 times a year;

KS1 Children participate in;

5:10:5 Agility Challenge (Running and Agility) (see video below)
Standing Broad Jump (Jumping, Balance, Coordination)
Wall Throw (Throwing, Catching, Coordination)

KS2 Children participate in the same three challenges, but also attempt;

6m Hop Challenge (Strength, Balance, Coordination)
Sit and Reach (Flexibility)

The challenges are easy to deliver, are a great way to build confidence in the children as they provide a real sense of achievement, along with giving teachers the opportunity to track progress. It also allows teachers and children to set goals together and reflect on ways to improve their performance along with celebrating success.

For schools that look to achieve the sports mark, these challenges, are also an ideal solution to achieving the requirements for Digital Competitions, allowing children to achieve personal best results. Unfortunately, under the current climate, it looks unlikely that school competitions will be able to take place in September, and probably for the foreseeable future, and as such, finding a solution like these challenges, will also provide the children with meaningful competition.

Download the PDF here

There is more information on our healthy schools programme, here