At Suffolks, we believe Physical Education is vital as it builds a love of sport, physical activity and an understanding of what makes up an active, healthy lifestyle. P.E can be an extremely effective outlet for children to develop and showcase their talents outside of the ‘core subjects’ as well as giving the children confidence to tackle challenges when back in a classroom environment. We offer a broad, balanced and inclusive curriculum which structures a child’s learning of PE from EYFS right the way through their primary school journey so that they develop life-long skills and attitudes. This allows children to make healthier choices in terms of what they would like to eat, the activities they take part in at lunch times as well as outside of school. We aim to inspire all children to participate and succeed in sport and physically challenging activities from a young age.

Each year, all children participate in a Sports Day, where parents are invited to watch and cheer for their children.

Throughout the year, we enter a range of competitions from athletics to netball, football to boccia to give children the experience of representing Suffolks. Throughout their time with us, the children are invited along to special sporting events, these have included; dance festivals, cycling events, hockey events and even performing the Haka!

In Key stage 1, pupils will be taught to:

• Develop their movement skills (running, jumping, throwing and catching) and are given opportunities to develop their agility, balance and co-ordination across a range of activities including individual and group based. This is the children’s first opportunity to be able to explore what they are physically capable of and can involve a lot of trial and error and exploration.
• Take part in competitive activities where they compete against themselves as well as others, as well as co-operative activities. These activities should include team games where pupils learn to develop simple tactics for attacking and defending. This is the children’s first opportunity to use movement skills ‘under pressure’ which gives the children the additional challenge of decision making.
• To perform dances using simple movement patterns. This gives the children an opportunity to explore how they can move to the sound of music. The children learn how to listen to the beat and rhythm of the music and can use basic movements in time with the music. The children also learn about being light on their feet, flexion and extension of their body parts as well as encouraging core strength.

In Key stage 2, Pupils will be taught to:

• Continue to develop their movement skills (running, jumping, throwing and catching) in isolation and in combination. These skills are the fundamentals for any sport and gives the children a platform to be able to play in competitive sports.
• To play competitive sports (including football, tag rugby, netball, tennis, rounders, and hockey) to develop strategies and principles for both attacking and defending. Children can use their knowledge of one sport to impact their performance in other sports. E.g. Netball is a brilliant sport to learn how to move when out of possession of the ball and the strategies can cross over into football and other invasion games.
• Perform dances using a range of different movement patterns which allows children to explore different ways of piecing together movements on their own and in groups. This also gives children the chance to work to the beat of the music so they can think about the speed and duration of movements.
• Engage in outdoor and adventurous activities such as orienteering both individually and as part of a team.
• Compare performances in activities or matches with previous performances and to understand what it takes to achieve progress.

Swimming is really important in the curriculum and for a lot of children, it is their first opportunity to learn how to swim. Like riding a bike, once you have learnt to swim, it is a skill that you have for life. Our swimming curriculum gives children an understanding of how to control their body and the difference this has on their ability to swim.

In KS2, Children are taught to:

• Swim confidently over a distance of 25 metres.
• Use a range of swimming strokes (front crawl, back stroke breaststroke).
• Perform safe self-rescue in different situations.