Sport and Physical Education

The Principles & Purpose of the Sport & Physical Education Curriculum

The purpose of the United Learning Physical Education and Health curriculum is to provide a knowledge-rich curriculum that develops Accrington Academy pupils’ physical, mental, and social health, and ensures that being active forms part of their life-long identity. The curriculum is driven by the three themes: performance, leadership, and health. These themes form a framework which is designed to progressively improve pupils’ knowledge, skills and understanding, whilst building their character and leadership skills, and provide opportunities to show their creative flair. The curriculum framework sets out the learning to be undertaken by our pupils; each school then designs their own, unique curriculum to meet the needs of their pupils and reflect their local context.

Here we explore the UL principles in the context of the PE curriculum:

Entitlement:

The curriculum allows pupils to develop the confidence to excel in a broad range of physical activities, through PE, school sport and physical activity. Accrington Academy’s provision will be accessible and equitable for all pupils. It will actively seek to overcome any barriers to participation which young people may face because of their race, gender identity or any aspect of SEND.

Coherence:

In addition to the National Curriculum, our curriculum seeks to build aspects of pupils’ character including resilience and empathy, as well as skills in leadership, decisionmaking andproblem-solving.

Mastery:

Through the curriculum pupils become physically skillful young people with the knowledge and understanding in the areas of performance, leadership, and health, to succeed at Key Stage 3 and transition to Key Stage 4 study. These skills will develop year on year and will transfer into their academic life and endure into adulthood.

Adaptability:

Our curriculum framework allows Accrington Academy to reflect our pupils’ distinctive identity in the activities we offer. The curriculum has also enabled pupils to be independently active outside of school through digital resources, virtual challenges and competitions, weekly physical activity timetables and links to other online providers.

Representation:

The curriculum is supported by our Diversity and Inclusion pledge. The aim is forthe provision in Accrington Academy to be as inclusive as possible. This includes ensuring there is diverse representation throughout.

Education with character:

The curriculum seeks to develop aspects of character, such as resilience, the spirit of fair play, empathy, and the confidence to perform under pressure. A pupil’s experience of physical education in Accrington Academy should increase their selfconfidence and their ability to trust in others.

National Curriculum

Pupils should build on and embed the physical development and skills learned in Key Stages 1 and 2, become more competent, confident, and expert in their techniques, and apply them across different sports and physical activities. They should understand what makes a performance effective and how to apply these principles to their own and others’ work. They should develop the confidence and interest to get involved in exercise, sports and activities outside of school and in later life and understand and apply the long-term health benefits of physical activity.

Pupils should be taught to:

use a range of tactics and strategies to overcome opponentsin direct competition through team and individual games [e.g., badminton, handball, cricket, football, table tennis, netball, rounders and rugby]
develop their technique and improve their performance in other competitive sports [e.g., athletics and gymnastics]
perform dances using advanced dance techniques within a range of dance styles and forms
take part in outdoor and adventurous activities which present intellectual and physical challenges and be encouraged to work in a team, building on trust and developing skills to solve problems, either individually or as a group
analyse their performances compared to previous ones and demonstrate improvement to achieve their personal best
take part in competitive sports and activities outside school through community links or sports clubs

Performance

Use progressively challenging and competitive situations through which students can:

demonstrate a high level of physical competence, knowledge, technical skills, tactical understanding, and decision-making
create and choreograph routines in aesthetic activities
devise tactics and set plays in modified games
apply knowledge of rules and regulations

Where appropriate, include elements of choice of and within activity. The former enables students to deepen learning and select activities relevant to their identity with physical activity; the latter gives students some autonomy in and ownership of their learning.

Progressively increase the use of performance analysis, enabling students to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of both technical and tactical aspects of performance. In doing so, support whole-school discipline-specific literacy through having high expectations of oracy skills and ensuring that knowledge of subjectspecific terminology is embedded in long-term memory.

These would typically be achieved through the following genres of sports, with at least one individual activity and one team game being studied in more depth:

Games (e.g., invasion; net/wall; striking and fielding; target)
Aesthetic activities (e.g., gymnastics; trampolining; dance)
Athletic activities (e.g., track and field athletics; orienteering)
Adventurous activities (e.g., climbing; mountain-biking; team-building activities;scooting/boarding)
Aquatic activities (e.g., swimming; lifesaving; water polo)
Paralympic/adapted sports (e.g., goalball; sitting volleyball; boccia)
Multi-skills/fundamental movement skills

Leadership

The curriculum should provide students with opportunities to:

learn and practice the knowledge and organisational skills required to lead small group warm-ups and cool downs
learn and practice the knowledge and skills required to lead small practices for peers or younger pupils independently or in small groups
learn how to confidently undertake officiating roles in lessons
learn, practice, and demonstrate the communication skills and leadership competencies required to achieve the ‘Fit to Lead’ bronze, silver, and gold awards

Health & Wellbeing

Students should be taught how to improve and sustain their physical, mental, and social wellbeing through PE.

The curriculum should:

contribute to the CMO’s recommendation of an hour a day of moderate to vigorous physical activity and provide students with the knowledge of how they can do this independently on non-PE days
incorporate activities whereby students learn trust and cooperation (i.e., climbing, lifesaving, paired/group work in aesthetic activities)
enable students to learn and apply age-appropriate knowledge of aspects of the body systems and the principles and methods of training
provide specific opportunities for students to develop/strengthen aspects of their character such as confidence and resilience and opportunities which develop empathy for others through PE

Intra-school competitions occur within the curriculum as a means of teaching respect and teamwork as well as developing the confidence to perform under pressure in a safe environment.

Curriculum Map