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