PE

At St Mewan we believe Physical Education is vital, not just as a subject discipline, but as a tool for well-being, social development and health both now and in later life. It also provides opportunities for pupils to develop problem-solving and team-work skills. We believe physical education is a right for all pupils and ensure all our provision is fully inclusive regardless of physical ability or SEN need. St Mewan is recognised locally as a school with strong physical education provision and it is something which we pride ourselves on. 

We are passionate about ensuring we deliver a Physical Education curriculum which provides pupils with the knowledge and skills to live healthy lives in which physical education plays an important role. We have links with many local sports clubs and teams and involve sporting professionals in our delivery of PE and extra-curricular activities in the hope that this will not only benefit children now but provide aspirations for later life. For example, the Cornish Pirates deliver Rugby sessions, swimming coaches from the local pool teach swimming, we visit the local golf club for golf sessions and work with local secondaries to provide additional opportunities in dance, athletics and team sports.  

As a rural school near the coast, we believe every child should have the opportunity to learn to swim as early as Year 2 to enable them to fully enjoy their locality and enrich their lives.  

We aim to provide challenge within our physical education curriculum and extra-curricular opportunities so that all pupils can achieve their full potential in physical activity.  

Implementation: 

At St Mewan we use the Arena scheme of work for our delivery of all aspects of physical education – with the exception of swimming which is taught by focusing on key swimming skills following assessments by a swimming coach. The scheme is structured to ensure a progression of skills in each area of the physical education curriculum building upon the fundamental movement skills acquired in the early years. We allocate two hours a week of our timetable to delivering the PE curriculum in addition to multiple extra-curricular activities. Differentiation within the Arena planning is provided through STEP (Space, Task, Equipment, People) principles and ensures inclusivity as well as the opportunity to provide pupils with the language and evaluative skills to discuss sports and improve their performance further. Swimming is delivered from Year 2 to Year 6, in line with the curriculum, on a rotational basis. Pupils are ability grouped for swimming and taught by a swimming coach alongside class teachers to ensure every child’s ability is catered for. Additional swimming and water-based activities are provided for pupils for whom swimming raises concerns and exceptional swimmers are challenged and extended through a speed-swimming club.  

Outdoor adventurous education is provided throughout the year through beach and forest school sessions for all, and residential trips for Years 3-6. Through this we expose pupils to local physical pursuits which inspires them to pursue these as hobbies and interests beyond school, for example kayaking, archery, surfing.  Dance forms an important part of our school and we provide opportunities for pupils to perform beyond the school. The school is well-resourced for the delivery of gymnastics and makes use of local gymnastics instructors to provide additional opportunities, support and guidance.  

Impact: 

Pupils' successes in PE are demonstrated through the achievements locally in sport. Our sports teams achieve well locally and within the county and every year we have many teams and individuals representing the county for sport. Locally secondaries comment on the ability and enthusiasm of our pupils for PE. This is evident through their use of our past-pupils as young sport leaders within the community. Our pupils are passionate about physical education in all forms and this is evidence through uptake of clubs (which are often over-subscribed, leading to us providing additional opportunities); pupil voice in conferencing with the subject leaders and PE governor and our reputation for sports locally. Pupils are able to discuss their ability, progress and enthusiasm for particular physical activities at length and with appropriate vocabulary and passion. They are able to evaluate theirs and other’s performance in sport articulately and to develop their own sports and rules. Through our local community we are aware that a large number of our pupils go forward to have a life-long participation in sport both for fitness and competitively.  

The PE leaders evaluate the impact of PE annually as part of the PE funding process and full details can be found in the documents ‘Evidencing the Impact of PE.’ These are available from 2017 and are used to inform the following year’s PE action plan. In addition to this, the PE subject leaders take part in subject monitoring in-line with other subjects as identified in the school’s over-arching curriculum impact statement.