Our vision for PE at Bolney is that all children will develop healthy attitudes towards being active. We want to help children develop positive attitudes to fitness; encourage them to regularly exercise and to be aware of the benefits daily exercise has on mood, physical and mental wellbeing and learning. Many researchers have commented on the links between regular physical activity and emotional health. In addition, we want to help children to develop their emotional intelligence – the ability to recognise one’s own emotions and regulate them as well as understand and interpret how others are feeling. These are essential skills for coping in an ever changing world. By developing a love of sport and fitness, children are building these lifelong habits. Choosing to exercise can help children develop emotional resilience and provides social opportunities. This also helps with learning and we promote this though active learning and games. Children work with our sports TA to learn and practise their phonics, maths and spelling skills in fun ways. This overt link between physical activity and learning can build confidence and give children different ways to develop their skills.
PE lessons at Bolney are skills focused. Children have the opportunity to learn and practise new skills in a range of games, gymnastics and dance. They practise and apply them independently, in pairs or small groups and build towards team games and activities. They regularly evaluate their own and others’ performances in order to identify their own strengths and ways forward and help others to recognise their next steps. Children are encouraged to develop leadership skills, communication and cooperation in lessons as well as through sports leadership roles and sports crew.
Whilst competition in sport is motivating for some children; it is not as motivating for others. We therefore encourage children to focus on personal development. We ensure that children have competitive opportunities but this is not the primary focus of PE. By setting challenges for themselves, children are able to identify their own strengths and areas for development. Through this we can ensure that all children access their learning and know how to become even better. This approach encourages children to show resilience, respect, love and honesty in the same way they would be expected to in classroom based lessons.
We are proud that our children show our values of love, honesty, respect and resilience when taking part in competitions or when representing the school at events. We want our children to be competitive in the right way, to enjoy success but also empathise with and encourage others.