Physical Education (PE)
Head of Department
Mr A Haworth
Qualifications
- Bachelor of Science in Sports Studies
Curriculum Overview Physical Education
The PE curriculum at Pleckgate High School has been designed to inspire, challenge and motivate all pupils to ‘learn to move’ and ‘move to learn’. This philosophy runs alongside our commitment to ensuring that through the curriculum, pupils continually develop their knowledge up three ‘Pillars of Progression’.
- Motor competence
Motor competence (being able to move in an increasingly expert way) is often misunderstood as a ‘given’ but this pillar entails complex knowledge that often needs to be broken down and taught to pupils in order to move them from novice to expert.
- Rules, strategies & tactics
There is a rich body of knowledge that underpins all sports and allows us to develop our understanding and have increasingly complex conversations about sports and activities. The curriculum at Pleckgate is designed to explicitly teach this knowledge to support pupils to talk like a specialist.
- Healthy Participation
To be a successful participation in a sport, you also need to know about the sport specific dimensions of healthy participation. For example a warm up for football may be different to a warm up in dance as the components of fitness are different across sports. Our curriculum aims to both equip pupils with the knowledge to be healthy and active in their lives, but also develop their understanding of how to be a healthy participant within specific sports
Everyone can get better at PE
Competition and performance are often quite complex tasks and are therefore introduced at the right time in a pupil’s development. Sometimes, a competitor can play a whole game without really getting involved either through chance or choice, It is therefore important that all pupils have opportunities to excel across a range of different activities that inform how pupils are progressing across all three pillars. We understand that considerable learning can often occur without considerable performance gains, but still make exceptional progress in terms of their knowledge of rules, strategies and tactics for example.
Curriculum breadth and depth
We offer a curriculum that allows pupils to both experience a range of sports and activities but also ensures sufficient depth of knowledge across fewer ‘furthered’ sports. At Key stage 3 all students cover a range of sports such as football, netball, table tennis, badminton, handball, cricket, dance, gymnastics, rounders, athletics, fitness, and orienteering. Our deeper learning units are focussed around football and netball. We believe that developing greater competence and confidence in these ’furthered’ sports is an important part of increasing a young person’s longer term participation in sport, well into the future. Where possible, we also develop pupils understanding of how knowledge in PE can be linked across activities to reinforce learning for example the principles of balance that apply across multiple sports.
At Key stage 4 all pupils have one hour of practical PE each week as well as access to the many extra-curricular activities we provide. The aim of lessons is for all pupils to be as active as possible whilst also continuing to develop their knowledge and developing key skills such as resilience, communication, team work and leadership skills.
Students can also opt for one of the following pathways below:
GCSE PE
Students will receive a well‐rounded introduction to the world of PE, sport, and sport science through the combination of physical performance and academic challenges.
They will study towards two final exams worth 60% of the qualification, whilst 40 % of their final mark will come from marks gained whilst taking part, and being assessed in three sports of their own choice.
Cambridge National Sport Studies
This pathway has 3 units. One unit is an exam, based on contemporary issues in sport. One unit is practical and they are assessed in two sports and one unit is coursework based in school looking at the role of the media in sport. They are assessed by the PE staff and moderated by the OCR exam board.
Extra-curricular PE
A crucial part of our PE curriculum is our fully inclusive extra-curricular programme. We have excellent facilities that support all pupils to keep fit and explore their interests. Our extra-curricular offer is open to all pupils regardless of their ability, and we aim to provide as many additional opportunities as we can to engage pupils in the beauty of physical education. We also run a rich and varied programme of trips and visits alongside partnerships with professional organisations that allow pupils to experience sport at the elite level
- Learning Journey – Year 8
- Learning Journey – Year 9
- Learning Journey – GCSE Physical Education
- Learning Journey – CNAT J829
To view links to local sports clubs, please click here
