PE in Years 7, 8 and 9.

The PE Department follows the National Curriculum. During Key Stage 3 pupils become more expert in their skills and techniques and in their application to different activities. They start to understand what makes a performance effective and how to apply these principles to their own and others' work. They learn to take the initiative and make decisions for themselves about what to do to improve performance. They start to identify the types of activity they prefer to be involved with, and to take a variety of roles such as leader and official.

What will your child study?

Students will be taught through the medium of Games, Athletics, Gymnastics and Swimming. This will be in structured lessons with the reinforcement of skills in games and fixtures. Below is a detailed overview of what will be covered at Key Stage 3.

Knowledge, skills and understanding

The PE Department ensures that, when evaluating and improving performance, connections are made between developing, selecting and applying skills, tactics and compositional ideas, and fitness and health.

Acquire and develop skills

Your child will be taught to:
· refine and adapt existing skills
· develop them into specific techniques that suit different activities and perform those with consistent control

Select and apply skills, tactics and compositional ideas

Your child will be taught to:
· use principles to plan and implement strategies and compositional ideas in individual, pair, group and team activities
· modify and develop plans
· apply rules and conventions for different activities

Evaluate and improve performance

Your child will be taught to:
· be clear about what they want to achieve in their own work and what they have actually achieved
· take the initiative to analyse their own and other's work using this information, to improve its quality

Acquire knowledge and understanding of fitness and health

Your child will be taught to:
· how to prepare for and recover from specific activities
· how different types of activity affect specific aspects of their fitness
· the benefits of regular exercise and good hygiene
· how to go about getting involved in all activities that are good for their personal and social health and well being

How will your child be assessed?

· Your child will be assessed against government guidelines
· They will be observed and a professional judgement by PE teachers will be made about progress and ability
· Your child will be praised with constructive comments from teachers at every opportunity

Lessons will be differentiated by:

· Using small groups for optimum teaching time
· Appropriate groupings to ensure all students are stretched
· Games sessions where all abilities can compete at an appropriate level
· Making use of the expertise of GAP students and other teachers where possible

What other opportunities are available for students?

· Weekly fixtures against other schools
· Occasional Saturday fixtures
· After school sports activities from 4.15 pm to 5.15pm
· Connections with local sports clubs to encourage students to play at a higher level
· Opportunities for able students to attend county trials