Physical education aims to provide children with an understanding of health and fitness, developing good exercise habits and give them life-long skills that they are able to use throughout their adult lives. It forges skills required to work well in a team environment and gives opportunity for personal challenge. A high-quality physical education curriculum inspires all pupils to succeed and excel in competitive sport and other physically-demanding activities. It should provide opportunities for pupils to become physically confident in a way which supports their health and fitness. Opportunities to compete in sport and other activities build character and help to embed values such as fairness and respect.

Our PE curriculum is designed to give EVERY child the physical literacy, emotional and thinking skills to achieve in PE, Sport and life.  Skills that are taught in PE, such as resilience, supporting others and learning from mistakes are transferable to all areas of school and beyond. The aim of the scheme of work is to support children with a growth mindset attitude, at the same time as building upon fundamental movement skills and a knowledge of health and fitness that they take with them throughout their lives.  It is designed to instil a love of PE and physical movement whilst fostering teamwork, sportsmanship and emotional intelligence.

The national curriculum for PE aims to ensure that all pupils:

(KS1)

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

Children will be taught to:

• master basic movements including running, jumping, throwing and catching, as well as developing balance, agility and co-ordination, and begin 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.

(KS2)

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

Children will be taught to

• use running, jumping, throwing and catching in isolation and in 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]
• perform dances using a range of movement patterns
• 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.

Our PE curriculum is about creating positive relationships with physical activity for life and developing the whole child through PE. With God at the centre of our school, every child is valued.  We prepare them to be a member of a class, school, local community and for their future role in modern Britain and as a global citizen. Our quality first teaching will engage and inspire.  We will share with them the knowledge and skills required to ensure that every child “shines”

PE has always been held in high regard at Highfield St. Matthew’s, with all children in Years 1-6 undertaking 2 hours of physical education per week. Reception children have 1 discreet lesson per week,  strands being covered in Continuous Provision for Physical Development.  Our aim is to give EVERY child the physical literacy, emotional and thinking skills to achieve in PE, sport and life.  Through our curriculum map, we concentrate on the development of Fundamental Movement Skills that are built upon in each year group.  Further to this, we place equal emphasis on the key skills and abilities that are required to be successful in PE and sport and across the curriculum. 

At Highfield St Matthew’s, we engage in a unique child-centred approach that engages and challenges EVERY child and equips them with skills that are transferable to every area of their education and beyond, following the Real PE scheme. We encourage all our children to take part in extra curricular activity and run a wide range of clubs.  As well as the more traditional sports such as football and rugby, Highfield St. Matthew’s offers alternative opportunities in sporting areas such as archery and fencing, to appeal to as many of our children as possible. 

Inter-school competition is an important part of our sporting calendar and as a school, we attend many local events and festivals.  Some of these events are to promote excellence in a particular field, such as the swimming galas; some to encourage participation and are just for fun, such as the girls only events, and others promote inclusion such as the Boccia competition and Just Join In events.

Highfield St Matthew's is awarded the  School Games Virtual Award for encouraging physical activity amongst our children during lockdown learning.

Highfield has been awarded School Games Gold Status since 2017