Park Street, Thame, Oxford OX9 3HU
Tel: 01844 212291


JOHN HAMPDEN PRIMARY SCHOOL

PE & Sport Policy

Intent Statement

At John Hampden School, we recognise the vital contribution of Physical Education to our children’s physical, cognitive, social and emotional development, and so it is a key principle in our school curriculum. We aim to provide a broad, balanced and inclusive P.E. curriculum, which is intended to develop children’s increasing self-confidence in their abilities through a range of different physical contexts. Through a balance of individual, paired and group activities, we aim to cater for the different strengths, needs and preferences of each child, using differentiated activities where appropriate. We believe that through the variety of opportunities that our PE curriculum offers, all children can develop a sense of personal achievement and improvement, fair play, teamwork, resilience and leadership.

We plan a range of activities that aim to provide children with a broad base of movement knowledge, physical skills and understanding, which they can refine and expand throughout their primary school years. Children are taught to appreciate the importance of a healthy lifestyle and begin to understand those factors which affect health and fitness. Healthy competition is also a key element of our curriculum, both in our PE lessons and through participation in intra and inter school sport. We believe that the PE experiences and opportunities for our children at John Hampden adopt a love of sport and physical activity and have a positive impact on their futures as active, healthy and confident citizens.

Implementation Statement

Our curriculum utilises REAL PE and Get Set 4 PE schemes of work to aid progression of skills, knowledge, confidence and experience across the school. Both schemes are fully aligned to the National Curriculum and Ofsted requirements and provide clear progression in the development of agility, balance and co-ordination, healthy competition and co-operative learning. The comprehensive schemes and resources are valuable teaching tools which support our staff in delivering a high-quality, progressive PE curriculum for all of the children in our school. Every child, of every ability, has the opportunity to build on their previous learning through development of skills, practice, competition and an increasing level of challenge.

REAL PE focuses on a skills-based curriculum. Our children’s PE experiences are broadened further with Get Set 4 PE units of work around specific sports including badminton, football, tag-rugby, hockey, cricket, rounders and athletics. Children in Years 4-6 receive one week of intensive swimming and water safety sessions during each school year (5 hours), with the aim of achieving the minimum National Curriculum swimming requirements by the end of their time in the key stage. Children in Years 5 & 6 who have not met the minimum curriculum requirements will participate in an additional intensive course during the academic year. These sessions are delivered by GLL (the leisure provider at Thame Leisure Centre).

Further information about children’s swimming lessons at GLL can be found here: https://www.better.org.uk/what-we-offer/lessons-and-courses/swimming/children-swim

Our school PE & Sport Progression Map details the full coverage and progression of our PE teaching and learning across our school (available on our school website).

In the EYFS, we encourage the physical development of our children in Foundation Stage as an integral part of their work. We encourage them to develop confidence and control of the way they move and the way they handle tools and equipment. We give all children the opportunity to undertake activities that offer appropriate physical challenge, both indoors and outdoors, using a wide range of resources to support specific skills.

Key Principles of our curriculum:

Our children will:

  • receive two hours of high-quality PE lessons each week
  • be active for as much of each session as possible (teachers will carefully plan activities and routines to make the most of the time available)
  • have access to a sufficient quality and quantity of PE equipment
  • evaluate their own work and the work of other children, supporting and encouraging each other to succeed and to make progress within and across lessons and activities
  • have the opportunity both to collaborate with and compete against each other
  • develop confidence and competence across a range of activities and skills and an understanding of how to succeed in a range of physical activities

Impact Statement

Our pupils will have developed an enthusiasm for PE and physical activity and will have thrived on the experiences and opportunities they have been a part of. Their confidence would have increased across a range of different physical contexts and their self-esteem will have increased. All children will have had the opportunity to participate in competitive opportunities within the curriculum and outside of it and will have developed resilience, fair play, teamwork and leadership as a result of these experiences. They will have had the opportunity to achieve the beyond the minimum National Curriculum requirements for school swimming. All children  at John Hampden will adopt a love of sport and physical activity, which will have a positive impact on their futures as active, healthy and confident citizens.

Outdoor Adventurous Activities

Children have the opportunity to participate in outdoor adventurous activities during their Year 5 and Year 6 residential visits, as well as through specific units in our PE curriculum. These experiences include canoeing, team-building, hill-walking, climbing, caving and orienteering. Throughout their time on residential visits, the children are able to focus on teamwork, pushing themselves physically, leadership, risk-taking, resilience and experiencing new challenges and environments. These are hugely valued and eagerly anticipated learning opportunities for all of our pupils during their time in these year groups.

The role of the PE Co-ordinator  

The PE Co-ordinator at John Hampden has a number of responsibilities, including:

  • the development, organisation and monitoring of the PE curriculum and sporting opportunities within our school
  • updating the PE Policy and ensuring other relevant planning and progression documents reflect the aims and objectives of that policy
  • assisting staff by planning and organising CPD training activities, providing consultancy, advice and support in the classroom
  • specifying and ordering resources, co-ordinating staff requests for resources and monitoring and maintaining the condition and availability of resources
  • writing reports for the school website, including Sport Premium spending and evaluations, school swimming assessments and regular news updates around activities and competitions taking place in and out of school
  • co-ordinating the John Hampden Sports Ambassadors group (a team of Year 6 pupils who run and support sporting events and opportunities throughout the academic year)
  • liaising with the school’s governing body to keep them informed about developments within the subject
  • liaising with the Thame Schools Partnership PE leads to plan and organise our calendar of events each academic year (usually starting with a planning meeting in September)
  • maintaining and promoting a positive ethos for PE at John Hampden, through support, encouragement and opportunities for our children, staff and parents

Equal Opportunities and Special Educational Needs

At John Hampden Primary School, we teach PE to all children, whatever their ability. PE forms part of the school curriculum policy to provide a broad and balanced education to all children. Through our PE teaching, we provide learning opportunities that enable all pupils to make progress by setting suitable learning challenges and responding to every child’s needs.

In accordance with the Special Needs Policy, we are a fully inclusive school and children with special educational needs are included in all lessons. It is the responsibility of our teaching staff to ensure that any additional equipment or support is available to suit the needs of all children and these needs may be noted on some children’s individual learning plans.

Assessment in PE

Our pupils’ achievements and progression within PE is monitored and assessed against the REAL PE and Get Set 4 PE assessment criteria. Every child is assessed through observations against the criteria at the end of each unit, so that teaching staff are able to identify those children working At, Towards or Above the age-related expectations for their year group, and intervene as appropriate. The REAL PE planning and assessment scheme operates within six key areas: Personal, Social, Cognitive, Creative, Physical and Health & Fitness.

PE Kit

We have high expectations of PE kit being used by our children during sessions. Children can wear a black/green John Hampden Sports top or a white polo shirt, black or green shorts/jogging bottoms, trainers and a school jumper/fleece for use in the colder months. We also maintain these high standards when we attend events and competitions; we have a team set of black/green shorts and tops which are loaned to any pupils who don’t have their own. Long hair must be tied back and any jewellery must be removed before children participate in PE and sport sessions.

Competitive Sporting Opportunities

We are very proud of the range of competitive sporting opportunities available to our pupils. We are an active member of the Thame Schools Partnership and the Oxford City & Thame School Games partnership. Both of these provide a range of competitive opportunities throughout the academic year, mainly aimed at our Key Stage 2 pupils, where they are able to put into practice the skills they have developed in their lessons. These usually (but not exclusively) include: cross country, football, tag-rugby, netball, rounders, cricket, squash, swimming and hockey. Our children enjoy participating in these competitions each academic year and we are proud of the successes they achieve and the sportsmanship they show. These opportunities foster a sense of co-operation and team spirit amongst our children, where they experience how to win, and how to lose, well.

Competitive sporting opportunities within school include our inter-house Excalibur challenges that take place three times throughout the year, supported by our Year 6 Sports Ambassador team. All of our Year 1-6 pupils take part in this event where they compete in a range of different sports as their house team. Sports Day takes place each year during our annual Sports Week – all of our children participate a range of different track and field events where they can earn points for their house and compete for the Sports Day Cup.

Extra-curricular Sport

We regularly provide extra-curricular sporting opportunities to our pupils, through both staff-led and coach-led clubs. These often take place after school but also sometimes during lunchtimes (e.g. football, tag-rugby, netball, table tennis, tennis, cricket), and provide an excellent opportunity for all of our children to develop their skills and progress within those areas. Our children are excited to take part and all clubs are regularly well-attended. We have made use of our Sport Premium funding to enable us to offer some of the clubs that are run by experienced sports coaches.

David Nutt (September 2021)

PE Co-ordinator