Physical Education

Physical Education has continued to have a high profile within the school, and is considered to be a thriving and successful department by students, staff, parents and the local community. Our aim is to provide opportunities for all students to develop a range of skills in an exciting and challenging environment. We believe that it is essential that students feel confident and at ease, allowing them to push themselves in order to achieve great feats whilst ensuring they only take appropriate risk.

We aim to foster personal responsibility within our students, equip them with lifelong skills that they will transfer into their everyday lives, and give them the opportunity to develop into healthy, active citizens in the future. We aim to provide opportunities in an enthusiastic and enjoyable environment, while offering the opportunities for progress along the pathway to excellence for our more talented students.

Facilities

The school has superb facilities. Outdoor facilities include a floodlit synthetic hockey pitch which converts to 8 tennis courts, and 3 netball courts - also floodlit - which convert to 3 tennis courts. The field houses a 400m grass track, the centre of which accommodates other games such as rounders, golf, tag rugby and a football pitch. We also have a discus cage on the field.  Indoor facilities include a 4-badminton court sports hall which opened in February 2005, and a recently refurbished gym. The gym has a sprung floor and a range of gymnastic equipment; we also have three portable dance mirrors. We are also fortunate enough to have a 19 station fitness gym which opened in September 2005. We have a theoretical teaching room where we teach both PE and Dance at GCSE, AS and A2. This has its own interactive white board.

Key Stage 3

The KS3 curriculum has been radically updated to fall in line with the new 2008 Curriculum. Students are now offered greater flexibility and personalised learning experiences. We have moved away from the traditional games approach which had governed our curriculum in recent years and moved towards a more inclusive curriculum which offers choice and diversity. In year 7-9, students have two lessons of PE in a week. Students follow a programme of activities from the following; hockey, netball, badminton, volleyball, tennis, rounders, athletics, dance, gymnastics, team building, trampolining and health related fitness.

Throughout these lessons the department has focused on developing students as independent learners. Students are encouraged to develop a range of roles within the lesson, including that of coach, leader, official, observer and performer. Students are taught using a variety of teaching strategies and resources, including the use of ICT in the form of CD-ROMS, Motion Coach, Camcorders and Projector.

 

Key Stage 4

In Year 10 students again receive 2 hours of lessons per week in two one hour lessons. The students choose from a range of activities offered and create their own personalised pathway throughout the year. Activities offered include netball, trampolining, lacrosse, football, volleyball, ultimate frisbee, fitness gym, team building, orienteering, tag rugby, basketball, volleyball, badminton and golf.

All year 10 students follow the Level 1 Sports Leaders Award, this is a nationally recognised qualification that enables successful candidates to lead small groups in simple sport and recreational activities whilst under the direct supervision of their Tutor. This provides opportunities to develop student’s leadership skills. A number of personal skills are developed including their communication skills, social skills, teamwork, creativity, independent planning.

 

Sixth Form

See also Sixth Form subjects. In Y12, students have the opportunity to follow the very popular one-year Level 2 Community Sports Leaders Course. Within the course they all participate in Basic First Aid training. Students are required to lead activity sessions and lead activities within the school, including organising and leading inter house events, extra-curricular clubs and assisting in KS3 lessons. Students also complete the Playground Leaders course and work with primary schools within our hub SSCO family. As part requirement of the course, all students have to participate in 10 hours of voluntary community work. Year 12 students who do not participate in Sport Leaders can choose to participate in a broad sports programme involving the use of the new fitness gym, or off-site facilities such as the local fitness gym, and squash club.

 

Examination Courses

Students are offered the choice to study AQA GCSE PE which consists of both practical and theoretical work. Students receive 5 hours of lessons over a two week period. The course is 60% practical and students are practically assessed on their ability to perform in four areas of activities. Students can choose to study the double award where they are required to submit eight practical areas for assessment and sit an additional exam paper.  Students study many theoretical aspects associated with sport including anatomy, physiology, psychology, social aspects and cultural aspects of sports and how sport is organised. Results to date have been outstanding with all students achieving 100% A*/A.

As expected, the uptake for the A level course has continued to increase, currently we have 17 students taking AS, and 17 at A2. The A level courses follows the AQA syllabus and again there is both theoretical and practical areas of assessment. Students are required to be practically assessed in two roles either as a performer, coach or official in any chosen activity. Students also study many theoretical aspects including more advanced anatomy, physiology, biomechanics, psychology, history, skill acquisition and contemporary issues related to sport.

 

Extra Curricular Activities and School Teams

The PE curriculum is well supported by an extensive range of extra-curricular activities offered both at lunchtime and after school. Club activities encourage a large membership irrespective of ability, but from the clubs, students are selected to join squads who have further training sessions to prepare them for inter school competition in netball, hockey, rounders, tennis, cricket, football, basketball, athletics, cross-country and gymnastics. Girls also compete in rowing, trampoline and swimming.

In the last 8 years, a total of 30 teams have reached National Finals in 7 different sports in 6 different age groups. This year is no exception as we have already equalled last year’s record of 7 teams in National Schools Finals with the possibility of more in the forthcoming weeks so taking our tally to 37. Our greatest achievement to date is the success of the Under 16 Netball squad who won the Schools National Championships last year. The netball teams are extremely successful and each year reach the National Finals. We have also reached National Finals in Gymnastics, Swimming, Athletics and Cross Country. We have also reached Regional Finals in Hockey.

Inter house competitions are held annually in netball, hockey, tennis, trampolining, cross-country, athletics and gymnastics. This provides an opportunity for all students to participate. In addition to competitive sports, we have several active dance clubs for all ages and abilities.  Dance has a superb reputation within the school and local community and is offered as both an examination subject and as an extra curricular activity. For more information specific to dance, please follow the Dance link on the website.

Since 2006, we have taken the Under 16 Netball and Hockey squads on a biannual sports tour of Australia. The students are billeted by Australian students who provide them with an insight into the local culture where sport is highly valued. We play in 9 highly competitive matches whilst taking in the sights along the East Coast.