Intent – What are we aiming to achieve through our curriculum?
- To develop a healthy active lifestyle that enables them to be ambitious and ignite passion in their work.
- To provide students with at least 3 life-long skills they could not do before they joined us at The Valley. E.g. swimming and riding a bike.
- To be active physically, demonstrating knowledge and understanding through a variety of physical activities.
- To develop independence through problem-solving, using physical and mental challenges. Students being able to modify techniques and consolidate skills through practise and repetition.
- To create an environment to establish and sustain sportsmanship and encourage recognition of other pupils and their contribution.
- To develop leadership skills, reasonability and self-awareness.
- To support the development of self-esteem through the development of physical confidence and helping pupils to cope with both success and failure in competitive and co-operative activities.
- To develop skills as a team player, including praise for others and motivation skills.
- To recognise the importance of following relevant rules, laws and codes for different activities and events.
- To ensure all pupils leave The Valley School with a PE qualification which reflects the best of their ability.
Implementation – How are we delivering our curriculum?
- Pupils have full access to the Physical Education National Curriculum which is adapted to meet pupils’ learning needs and styles.
- The Physical Education curriculum is designed to be challenging and appropriate to each pupil’s stage of development.
- The Physical Education Curriculum offers opportunities for cross-curricula learning, to ensure pupils make significant personal development, including:
- Inter and intra house tournaments;
- Educational sports trip;
- Sports days
- Football and basketball fixtures and tournaments;
- After school sports clubs;
- Personal exercise programmes at a local gym;
- Sports leadership
- Lunch and break time sports activities
- Disney Active play through shooting stars
- Work with Stevenage FC
- Access to Bikes in school, Balance and Ride and then Bikeability
- Swimming exposure, Water control and swimming badges
- Trampolining
- The Physical Education curriculum is designed to build and expand on previous skills and subject knowledge, over a 5 year period. It also plans for opportunities for repetition to embed knowledge, increasing the chance of information recall and to integrate new knowledge into larger ideas.
- We offer a range of qualifications in Physical Education, which are selected to appropriately challenge, based on each pupil’s stage of development, including:
- WJEC Healthy living and Fitness Entry Level 2 + 3 award and certificate.
- Young leader award- Sports Leaders UK
- Active participation by students in sport is incredibly important to us, we therefore also run an annual mile and whole school sports day.
- We provide additional extra-curricular activities at lunchtime, including:
- Break and lunchtime sports activities.
- Variety of different sport exposure.
Teaching and Learning
- Our pupils are taught by subject specialists.
- Our Physical Education Subject Leader is well qualified, possessing a BSc (Hons) in Physical Education and School Sport and a PGCE.
- The Physical Education curriculum is differentiated broadly into 3 levels of challenge, ‘all’, ‘most’ and ‘some’. Further adaptations and personalisation are implemented when required.
- In Physical Education we have a 3 tiered approach to supporting a pupil’s learning, including:
Universal – this is the teaching your child will receive from the Physical Education subject teachers and will include adaptations to match learning needs. All classes:
- Are supported by a teaching assistant (Learning Partner);
- Have a maximum of 20 pupils per class to ensure there is a high level of support available from the teacher and Learning Partner;
- Are multi-sensory;
- Are dyslexia friendly
- Integrate speech, language and communication support.
- Collaborate with OT and physiotherapist to make personalised exercise programmes for pupils;
- Sensory circuits; and
- Zones of Regulation imbedded in teaching practice.
Targeted – it may be appropriate to consider making additional short term special educational provision to remove or reduce any obstacles to your child’s learning. This takes the form of a graduated four part approach of a) assessing your child’s needs, b) planning the most effective and appropriate intervention, c) providing this intervention and d) reviewing the impact on your child’s progress towards individual learning outcomes.
Interventions may include:
- One to one support from specialist PE Learning Partner;
- Having a strong focus on sportsmanship and positive play in lessons for targeted pupils.
- Making strong club links to encourage students to participate in extra-curricular sports teams.
- Termly PE targets.
- Promoting pupil voice by holding a pupil conference on break and lunchtime activities. Children giving their ideas.
Specialist – it may be necessary to seek specialist advice and regular long term support from a specialist professional in order to plan for the best possible learning outcomes for your child.
Assessment
- Pupils collate Pupil Achievement Books, where they showcase their best work and progress over time in Physical Education. This can be via QR codes and using video evidence.
- Our bespoke Flight Path is used to track the progress of pupils in Physical Education and determine expected outcomes from different starting points.
- Physical Education teachers use a range of formative and summative assessment procedures to assess progress and attainment, including:
- Self/peer assessment;
- Fitness testing;
- Targeted questioning;
- Recording pupil performance on the IPAD;
- Informal/formal examinations
- WJEC exam moderation days
Impact – What difference is the curriculum making to our students?
- The vast majority of pupils usually meet or exceed their expected progress in Physical Education. However, during the Covid-19 pandemic this decreased for the very large majority.
- The vast majority of pupils leave The Valley with at least 3 life-long skills they have learnt at the school for example learning to ride a bike.
- The very large majority of pupils meet or exceed their expected outcomes in Physical Education (external qualifications).
- The vast majority of pupils leave The Valley with at least one formally recognised Physical Education qualification.
- Many pupils join mainstream colleges/sixth forms at post-16 where they study a range of different qualifications and subjects following excellent progress from their starting points in PE and following successful completion of the WJEC qualifications.
- Pupils are well-prepared for the next stage of their education.
- Analysis of Physical Education outcomes and pupil progress indicates that there is little statistical significance between key groups. Where any small differences are identified strategies are implemented swiftly.
- Healthy lifestyles, leadership, sportsmanship, teamwork and physical activity is embedded across the school and feeds in to all subjects. Excellent progress in Physical Education has a significant benefit for pupils in all other subjects.
- Life skills are embedded in the Physical Education curriculum and are personalised for each pupil. This supports pupils to make the leap to post-16 provision and meets their needs when entering the world of work.
- The vast majority of pupils leave The Valley with at least one formally recognised Physical Education qualification.
Key Stage 3 Learning Journey
Key Stage 4 Learning Journey
