At Galliard, we want our children to be fit, healthy individuals who enjoy participating in sport and who recognise the value of keeping fit for life. High quality PE is a physical and cultural entitlement, enabling children to learn new skills and keep fit and healthy as well as giving access to an enriching aspect of our communal life, which builds character and helps embed values such as fairness and respect.
We teach to the National Curriculum for PE which aims to ensure that all pupils:
- Develop competence to excel in a broad range of physical activities
- Are physically active for sustained periods of time
- Engage in competitive sports and activities
- Lead healthy, active lives
In order to enable our children to develop the necessary motor skills for full engagement in PE and sport, it is important that the PE curriculum provides well-designed opportunities for children to learn and practice these skills in a progressive manner through the school, starting in Early Years. Each year group’s curriculum builds on the learning from previous years, recognising that, without certain skills in place and regular practice, new skills cannot be learned and embedded effectively. By the end of year 6, we want our children to have developed high level skills, high levels of fitness and a real enjoyment of sport and exercise that will stand them in good stead for secondary school and beyond.
At Galliard, we follow the Enfield PE syllabus which is planned to ensure practice and progression through the school. Class teachers teach the indoor PE curriculum, whilst we use an in-school sports specialist who teaches the outdoor curriculum.
A key part of our PE curriculum is the building of cultural capital for our children and we recognise the PE taught curriculum can play a vital role in broadening access to important knowledge and skills for all pupils. Opportunities to play competitively as part of a team are given though regular after school sessions, in sports days and in competitions against other schools within the Local Authority. Looking ahead, we hope to give our children the opportunity to visit the Tottenham stadium and to explore opportunities to bring in sporting professionals into Galliard as part of our wider PE curriculum.
Keeping physically active for sustained periods of time is key to improving fitness levels and reducing obesity, a significant problem for children in Edmonton compared to national figures. Our aim is to provide many opportunities for children to be as active as possible throughout the school day and not just in the 2 hours of taught PE each week. We promote active lunchtimes so that all children can be engaged in some sort of activity and we are eager to embrace programmes run by local community groups to support our pupils improve their fitness such as ‘Wake up and Shake up’.
Vocabulary enrichment runs through our whole curriculum and therefore we ensure that children learn new vocabulary through PE that is transferrable to other areas of the curriculum to deepen their knowledge and understanding.
Click here for the Progression document for PE
The School Games Mark
The School Games Mark is a government-led awards scheme launched in 2012 to reward schools for their commitment to the development of competition across their school and into the community. At Galliard, we are committed to creating positive sporting experiences for our children. School games provide our children with the opportunity to enjoy themselves and learn through competition to achieve their personal best. In July 2023, Galliard proudly received the Gold Sports Mark.