PE

Physical Education Curriculum Narrative 

Physical education can challenge and inspire. It can lead to life changes in terms of improved health, learning achievements and the development of positive relationships. PE also plays an important role in our development and proves helpful for better physical, mental, social, emotional and spiritual life. We do not always have time to play indoor or outdoor games in the modern age of technology, but Sport is important for a person’s all-round development and for living a healthy life. 

PE helps in developing the organic system and functioning of the body. It also improves the abilities of a participant to resist fatigue, to remain active and perform efficiently, which in life allows us to be more productive in both our personal and professional lives. It also helps in developing various kinds of intellectual qualities necessary both within and beyond the classroom. Thus, with the help of physical education, we develop intellectually. By participating in a variety of team and individual physical activities, we become more emotionally mature. As PE and sport often work in groups of more than one it allows us to work collaboratively together, including working with different cultures and backgrounds, and through sport we develop an understanding of working towards a common goal with co-operation and co-ordination. By participating in physical activities, qualities of group efforts, loyalty to the team and strong ties can be developed in participants. These qualities help in building a good moral character needed in modern society.  

The PE curriculum here at Harris Academy Greenwich emphasises the connection between theory and practical skills and is designed to emphasise a variety of activities which embeds both practical and theoretical knowledge to develop further interest for either examinations and/or participation in later life. But more than this, the curriculum provides all students with the tools to be able to undertake a multitude of Team and Individual sports that break down social and gender barriers and provide the foundation to foster a lifelong love of sport and physical activity which can be carried with them through life. Undertaking this curriculum allows for students to not only access traditional future careers such as Sports Physiotherapy and PE teaching , but areas such as Sports Marketing and Sports Journalism. It also allows them to study further apprenticeships in areas such as sports coaching and Personal training programmes. 

Key Stage 3 

 

Throughout the students’ journey of key stage 3 in Physical Education the students are taught their content in an interchangeable manner and throughout the year, they make links between the sports that are studied; when teaching the table tennis grip to students, for example, we will make a link between that grip and those that they use in badminton, a sport that they will study within the same academic year. This allows us to develop and draw strong links between the ‘big ideas’ needed in each sport and because every sport that is studied is taught year on year all the way through key stage three, this repetition of sports allows for solid foundations at Year 7 that are then built upon in year 8 and 9. Theory knowledge is interleaved with the practical skills taught lesson by lesson in PE and checked weekly by homework. 

 

 

Year 7 

In year 7, the theoretical focus is on the components of fitness. The students will study the team sports of Rugby, Netball, Handball and Cricket alongside the individual sports of Table Tennis, Badminton and Athletics and cover the wellbeing topics of Fitness and Dance. The curriculum builds itself on the fact that in Year 7 they undertake 3 fundamental skills in each of the sports that they cover. This focuses on the technique of each of these skills and aims to avoid cognitive overload in each sport. In rugby, they will begin by looking at the technique of passing and the pop pass, they will then move on to running with the ball before the final fundamental skill of the correct falling technique. These skills allow for the development in the next year for tackling and rucking to be performed safely and effectively. Within their sports study of netball, they will look at the three different types of pass (Bounce, Chest and Shoulder) before they then focus on the key aspect of footwork in netball. They will finally then learn how to mark a player when defending. Within their handball scheme they will begin by focusing on grip and using one hand to pass which is a change from their netball study where two hands are used. They will then focus on being able to catch with two hands before releasing with one. These techniques are worked on by the bounce and overarm passes. This is then followed by how to dribble using the correct technique before introducing the technique of static shooting. The final team sport they study is cricket, which sees them mastering the grip and stance of batting through the process of the forward defence. They also study the roll and retrieve and long barrier technique for fielding and the final skill of low and high catching. During their study of table tennis, students begin with the fundamentals of the grip and stance; the concept being the same in both cricket and badminton even though the stances and grips may be sports specific. They then study both the forehand and backhand pushes in isolation  before undertaking the forehand serve. Within badminton as in other subjects the year starts with the basic forehand grip and stance. The students then work on underarm contact with the shuttle before extending this to being hit over the net. Once this has been delivered, they look to build on this skill with the overhead clear, before the final skill of the flick serve. Their final induvial sport offer in this year looks at athletics. Within athletics they will begin to look at the fundamentals in running, jumping and throwing. This year will see them study the 100m and the sprint start, as well as the Long jump. Alongside this they will look at the shotput and the throwing technique for this. Their fitness content for this year sees them look at the reasons and ways in which we warm up and cool down. Along with the benefits to taking part in continual exercise. They will then look at 3 different methods of training which is circuit training, continuous training and fartlek training in exactly the same way we have looked at the fundamental skills in other sports. Within their dance thy perform in two different dance styles using the basic dance techniques such as cannon and unison, relationship and examining the idea of aesthetics. 

They will in conjunction with Dance they will discover Outdoor and Adventurous Activities for year 7 these will include tent building, Orienteering, Team Building and archery. 

 

Year 8 

In year 8, students develop their knowledge of components of fitness and disciplinary literacy relating to a variety of sports. Within their practical studies they will build onto the 3 fundamental skills learnt in year 7 providing a sound footing to develop these 3 and add two more to make 5 fundamental skills in year 8. During their rugby unit they will recap on the skills learnt in year 7 of passing, running with the ball and falling adding the reasons why we do certain parts of the technique to make it successful They will then add two new skills of tackling and rucking again gaining an understanding of why certain parts of the skill are needed to perform the skill successfully. In netball they will recap and develop on their skills of passing, footwork and marking and why certain aspects are needed to perform the skill successfully. They will then add the skills of shooting and positions. In handball they will recap and build on their passing, dribbling and static shooting skills before adding the two new skills of the jump shot and blocking again looking at the why behind certain aspects. In Cricket there will be a recap of the 3 fundamental skills in year 7 of catching, fielding and forward defence, again taking one lesson to recap before understanding why certain teaching points are key in the execution of the skill. They will then add the forward drive and bowling skills to these to give them 5 fundamental skills. For their individual sports they will again look at table tennis where they will follow the same structure as in their team sports, building on the 3 fundamental skills and adding two. In table tennis they will recap their forehand and backhand push as well as their forehand serve before developing the understanding of why certain aspects are needed to be successful. They will then add the backhand serve and forehand drive skills again looking at the why in the second lesson.  In badminton the students will begin by recapping the skills of the underarm serve, overhead clear and flick serve, once they have done this, they will look at the drop shot before this culminates in the introduction of the net shot. In athletics this year they will recap the athletics disciplines that they covered in year 7 of the shot putt, 100m and long jump again looking at the why for each skill, they will then look to add the Javelin and Relay to these to make their 5 fundamental skills. Looking at their fitness work this year the students will build on the methods of training learnt in year 7 of continuous, fartlek and circuit training by looking at how to make each type of training easier or harder depending on ability, before adding two new methods of HIIT training and weight training. In Dance this year they will learn a different dance style to that learnt within year 7 but will be looking to build onto the dance techniques used of unison, Cannon and relationships and adding to these by looking at actions and space. Due to being in its infancy they will be undertaking a harder variation on the skills taught in Year 7 tent building, Orienteering, Team Building and archery. 

 

Year 9 

In year 9 they begin to diversify their theory knowledge and focus on its application towards sporting examples from their practical sports. This year practically see the students really focus on taking the solid foundations of the 5 fundamental skills that have been taught at year 7 and 8 and looking at how to apply these into a game based context so students can use them effectively. In rugby they will apply the 5 fundamental skills in the following way, Passing they will look at when we should pass and when we should keep hold of the ball. In running with the ball they will look at looking to run at the gaps in the opposition defence. In terms of falling they will look at when they should fall to the ground in possession of the ball ie if they have support or not, tackling is about waiting for a player to come to you in defence rather than rushing out of your defensive line to tackle and finally with rucking when they should look to ruck and when they should look to play the ball quickly. In netball this year the students will look to apply the 5 skills of passing, footwork, marking, shooting and positions to competitive situations. Passing will look at when and where to use each of the passes, footwork will look at how footwork can be dynamic not static to keep an attack moving, marking will look at if you mark to close moving back and having the awareness to do this, shooting will look at how to create shooting opportunities around the D and finally positions will look at how to use each of the positions effectively to try and win. In handball application will come in the 5 fundamental skills of passing, dribbling, static shot, jump shot and blocking. Passing similar to netball will look when and where to use the different types of pass (overarm and bounce), dribbling will look at how to use the three steps effectively in a game situation. Static and jump shot will look at ways to create shooting opportunities, before finishing looking at when to come out and use the block against an attack. Their cricket will see students apply their forward drive, forward defence, catching, fielding and bowling from lower years. They will look with both batting shots at when to use each one depending on where the ball is bowled by the bowler. In terms of fielding their will look at when and where to use each different technique within a competitive situation. Bowling they will look at changing here to bowl dependant on the position of the batter, and in catching looking at when to use each technique in relation to where they are on the field. In their individual sports they will again look at table tennis, badminton and athletics. In table tennis they will Apply their 5 fundamental skills of the forehand and backhand push, forehand and backhand serve and the forehand drive. They will look to apply when to use both the forehand and backhand push in the correct situation in the game. Apply both serves by serving either short or long depending on the position of the opponent similar to how they will apply it in badminton. Finally they will look at when to use the forehand drive in a game situation to win a point. In badminton the skills of underarm serve, overhead clear, flick serve, drop shot and net shot will be applied to competitive situations as follows. The underarm serve and flick serve will look at where to serve either short or long dependent on the opponent as said before similar concept to that in table tennis. Using the overhead clear to push their opponent to the back of the court and the drop shot how to se it once your opponent is at the back of the court. The final skill of the net shot is looking to how to use the skill to win the point normally after a drop shot. In athletics they will look to apply the long jump, javelin, shot putt, relay and 100m into competitive situations which will mean completing the full events and understanding how to compete in a throwing and jumping event. In fitness they will look at the 5 methods of training continuous, fartlek, circuit, HIIT and weight and look to design their own programmes for each method, with support on how the design of this might look. Dance this year they will learn a different dance style to that learnt within year 7 and 8 and again will be looking to build onto the dance techniques used of unison, Cannon and relationships, actions and space and adding the concepts of choreography and dynamics to it. In year 9 OAA they will again study the core OAA skills of tent building, Orienteering, Team Building and archery but look at a wider variety of these skills  

 

Key stage 4  

 

For those students who opt to take PE at KS4 there are two pathways; GCSE or Cambridge National. Within these they have the opportunity to build upon the foundations set practically in KS3, further exploring the way in which parts of the human body work and function during physical activity and the physiological adaptations that can occur during training.   

 

GCSE 

At GCSE the students have the opportunity to interleave learning from a range of topics including; The cardiovascular system, Deviance in sport, Short term and long term effects of exercise and Engagement in physical activity and sport in the UK. Each topic is broken down into small segments which allows the students to cover bitesize content from each topic throughout year 10 and 11. This method of interleaving has proven invaluable in preventing students “forgetting”; let’s not learn all of the cardiovascular system at the start of year 10 but build and develop bitesize knowledge throughout the two year course allowing for much powerful learning and embedding of knowledge. By the end of year 10, students will have covered three quarters of the theory content required for their final summer exams in year 11 with the final quarter being delivered between September and Christmas of year 11. At this stage, the more challenging content from exam one will be mastered allowing for less time for this content to be “forgotten” prior to the summer exams. Between January and March of year 11, students will have the opportunity to apply their previous learning to an element of coursework. This will involve the students analysing key skills required and evaluating their own performance within a chosen sport, considering strengths/weaknesses, and designing a training programme to improve a personal weakness of theirs. Further to theory lessons, students will use their new found knowledge and apply it within practical lessons. Students will administer and conduct fitness tests, collate data and analyse performance within a practical setting. Students will partake in a range of individual and team sports and with the assistance of their teacher will work towards choosing three sports to take forward for final assessment in year 11. 

 

Cambridge National 

 

At the beginning of year 10 students will begin to study about practical analysis of their own performance before looking at sports leadership. 

 To start this unit of study they study practical lessons which focus on developing their practical skills in both team and individual sports ranging from basketball, netball, handball and cricket, to the individual sports of table tennis/badminton and athletics. They are assessed technically in their sport specific skills and the ability to perform tactically within these sports during each unit of study. They also will be assessed in their communication and teamwork skills when participating in these sports. Afterwards, they begin to analyse their performance, finding strengths, weaknesses and the impact that these will have on their game. They then find methods and tools such as the different types of practice and the different skill types to help them begin to plan a way that will help support an improvement in areas of weakness that they have discovered in the form of a six week training plan, before they discuss the varying methods of monitoring their performance throughout the plan and the reasoning to why they might use this. Sports leadership see them discuss the major roles and responsibilities of a leader/coach and why these are important, before discussing the possible risk factors that may affect their session and producing a risk assessment to limit these factors. They follow this by planning and delivering a progressive coaching session to younger students following a structure that they are familiar with from their lessons at KS3, before analysing their success and recommending improvements. 

 

 This then leads into year 11 where they focus their studies on their terminal unit 1 exam on contemporary issues in sport and Sport and the Media.  The year starts with them discovering the relationship of sport and the media. They look at the different forms of media that are available before looking at both positives and negatives and how each need each other to be successful. They then look at how sport has been reported through time and the differences between today's age of social media to previous decades where this was not as prominent, before analysing these concepts in relation to a sport set by the exam board. They then culminate their year studying for their unit 1 exam where the content begins by them studying factors and participation rates that affect sport in the U.K, as well as the modern Olympic games and its moto. They will then focus on the impact ethical issues such as performance enhancing drugs have on Sport and the ways in which the governing bodies are trying to ensure a level playing field. They will look at possible sporting initiatives that have been put in place by national governing bodies to allow people from all backgrounds to enjoy their sport, as well as the way technology is used within sport. Finally, in the exam the students will look at the ways in which sports are governed by these bodies, what part of sports they oversee, and the roles in which they play in making sure that sport is accessible for all 

 

Core PE 

At Harris Academy Greenwich all students take part in Physical Education even if they chose not to carry it on as an examinable subject. They are given the opportunity to take part in activities that allows them to continue to lead a healthy and active lifestyle and that will give them the confidence and opportunities to explore sport both with school and outside in the community, leading to the using sport to provide a balanced lifestyle in post Academy life. These sports are New and emerging and include lacrosse, volleyball, American football, softball/rounders to all students to give them a fresh perspective on different options that are available to them upon them leaving the academy. We also have a fitness unit of study as we believe that this is the likely route for most students to stay fit and healthy and providing them with the tools to do this effectively and safely is a massive part to maintain a healthy and active lifestyle. To allow this to occur fully at Key Stage 4 we allow students to take part in 6 week blocks due to the fact that they go from having 2 PE lessons a week at Key Stage 3 to 1 at Key Stage 4. 

 

Key stage 5  

 

By the time students reach KS5 where two options are available to students are A level and Cambridge Technical. This allows students who have studied at Key stage 4 the opportunity to continue building on their core knowledge that has been delivered at Key stage 4.  

Physical education can challenge and inspire. It can lead to life changes in terms of improved health, learning achievements and the development of positive relationships. PE also plays an important role in our development and proves helpful for better physical, mental, social, emotional and spiritual life. In A level PE, there are three key areas studied; physiological aspects which focuses on the impact of physical activity on the body systems; psychological aspects such as how memory models can improve movement skills and finally students will develop knowledge of the emergence and evolution of modern sport. Students will develop theoretical knowledge and an understanding of the factors that underpin physical activity and sport and use this knowledge to improve performance. Students will be assessed practically in one chosen sport throughout the two-year course through video recording collection. 

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Cambridge Technical Level 3 provides an exciting opportunity for all students who have a passion for sport and are interested in how excellence in coaching and leadership can be developed. Students will follow a vocationally specific qualification which will develop a range of personal skills and knowledge that will be essential for successful performance in working life. In year 12, students develop their knowledge of Anatomy and Physiology in an examined unit, which works on the major bones, muscles and joints (a skill that has been interleaved throughout KS3,4 and now 5) and their adaptations during both the short- and long-term during exercise. They will also study how the respiratory and cardiovascular systems work in relation to our performance and their long- and short-term effects. This finishes with a study of the makeup of the body’s three energy systems and when each is needed during different sporting events. After a January exam, students move on to Sports Development, in which they will study the structure of sport within the UK and the roles of UK government departments and national governing bodies and supportive bodies in supporting the development of sports that are experiencing either a fall in popularity or lack of facilities. They will then study the sport development triangle and the possible barriers at each stage and how they can use the sporting bodies to help overcome these barriers. This continues by looking at the target groups and what the major barriers to participation are (a strong link for those that study Cambridge National Level 2 at KS4). It emphasises the links between the bodies and these target groups and the measures that can be taken about trying to improve their participation. Once the measures have been identified they will then look at the success criteria of the measures spoken about, before discussing the possible impact they may have. Finally, they will look into the advantages and disadvantages of sports development as a whole before undertaking their unit 3 exam in May.  

As they transition into year 13 the focus moves from exam studies to coursework based topics of study. They will begin the year looking at developing their coaching skills from KS4 and develop it into delivering a progressive and sequenced series of leadership sessions to others before using this knowledge to organise and plan their own sports competition and performing a variety of roles to make this successful; they have foundation knowledge of these aspects from Key Stage 4 in delivering a standalone sports session. Here there is more focus placed on the individual needs of people in the group, but also how they may have to adapt each of their sessions to cater for the varying levels of ability of the participants. They also have to understand the theories of group dynamics and Steiner’s Model of Group effectiveness to allow them to plan effectively and learn how different learners may perceive them and how to get the best out of them. They will then evaluate their performance across these sessions in relation to how they feel the students have achieved and where and when they may have had to adapt the sessions and the impact that that has had. The next Unit of Studi is Organising Sports Events, this is designed for them to develop skills in planning, promoting and delivering a sports event. With the focus primarily on set of specific roles as well as working as part of a team, reflecting on your input and future personal development. This unit enables students to establish transferable skills which can be used within sport and active leisure as well as within the fitness industry. It will also enhance skills such as teamwork, organisation and safeguarding awareness. The final topic of study is Sports Injuries and rehabilitation. This unit will teach students how to recognise and treat common sports injuries both immediately and through a long term rehabilitation programme, the possible psychological impacts of sports injuries and how to minimise the risk of sports injuries occurring in the first instance.