Vision

Human beings are born to move and be active. From the moment of birth, a person is striving to develop and learn predominantly through the physical. Gestures and actions are used to express wants, needs and emotions long before speech and language develop. The physical being is unique as it is visible to others all the time, it cannot be hidden away. The physical curriculum represents the learning that children need for expression, empowerment and self-belief that enables them to be who they really are and develop into the person that they want to be. If you observe a person after they have moved, be it though team sport, running, dance, jumping or playing chase they are usually euphoric and smiling. Their spirit is shining. It has been shown that those physical beings who are continually developing are, compared to any other group:

• Happier,
• Healthier and
• More successful in the worlds of living, learning and enterprise.

To serve our children best we must ensure that everything we do is designed to enable all of the children at our school to discover and develop:

• A love of being active
• Physical skilfulness and pride in accomplishment
• A sense of wellbeing and self-belief
• A positive outlook on living their life

At Northiam, we are determined to deliver both high quality and a varied amount of PE and School sports for every child, to give them every chance to be active and informed of the importance of living a healthy life. Children are taught two sessions per week of PE throughout the school.

Early Years and Key Stage 1

Children develop fundamental movement skills, becoming increasingly competent and confident. They access a broad range of opportunities to extend their agility, balance and coordination, individually and with others. They engage in competitive (both against self and others) and co-operative physical activities in a range of increasingly challenging situations.

Children are taught to:

• Master basic movements including running, jumping, throwing and catching, as well as developing balance, agility and co-ordination and beginning to apply these in a range of activities.
• Participate in team games, developing simple tactics for attacking and defending.
• Perform dances using simple movement patterns.

Key Stage 2

Children continue to apply and develop a broader range of skills, learning how to use them in different ways and link them to make actions and sequences of movement. They enjoy communicating, collaborating and competing with each other. They develop an understanding of how to improve in different physical activities and sports, and learn to evaluate and recognise their own success.

Children are taught to:

• Use running, jumping, throwing and catching in isolation and combination.
• Play competitive games, modified where appropriate (for example, badminton, basketball, cricket, football, hockey, netball, rounders and tennis) and apply basic principles suitable for attacking and defending.
• Develop flexibility, strength, technique, control and balance (for example, through athletics and gymnastics).
• Take part in outdoor and adventurous activity challenges both individually and within a team.
• Compare their performances with previous ones and demonstrate improvement to achieve their personal best.

Swimming

We deliver swimming lessons at … to all of our … pupils. Living close to the sea we believe children should feel confident within the water.

Children are taught to:

• Swim competently, confidently and proficiently over a distance of at least 25 metres.
• Use a range of strokes effectively (for example, front crawl, backstroke and breaststroke).
• Perform safe self-rescue in different water-based situations.