PE

The curriculum and extra-curricular planning for PE at Tottington High School is based around the mantra of getting students to be ‘more active, more often’. The focus for every lesson is ‘fitness and fun’ with the ambition for students to ‘strive for progress and not perfection’, as they are encouraged to achieve their personal best. We want students to leave PE feeling happy and motivated by the positive experience of physical activity and develop a lasting relationship with being active and healthy.

High quality and engaging PE lessons embedded in a diverse and broad curriculum that offers all learners an opportunity to participate, providing learners with opportunities that encompass the school’s Vision and Values:

Working Together

• Collaboration: providing learning opportunities for pupils to work in pairs, small groups, and as a whole class, as well as using discussion activities.  
• Communication: developing pupils’ understanding and use of physical education terminology and tier 3 vocabulary so that they can interpret and provide structured feedback in relation to the performance of practical skills.

Aiming High

• Resilience: providing pupils with the right level of challenge to strengthen their resolve and use failure as a process of growth and development.
• Aspiration: providing challenge within the curriculum to build their aspirations of becoming better sports performers and physically active.

Achieving Success

• Excellence: Opportunities to succeed in the classroom, representing school and performing on an elite stage provides pupils with the opportunity to excel and demonstrate mastery at their level. 
• Commitment: providing extra-curricular opportunities for all students to access and develop their love of sport and physical activity.

PE Learning Journeys

The curriculum is sequenced over KS3 to develop, apply and consolidate the core and advanced skills and tactics required to prepare learners for competitive sport, an active lifestyle, further education and careers within the sporting sector. The fully inclusive PE Curriculum provides opportunities for enrichment to equip all learners with the knowledge and cultural capital to become educated, active, and healthy citizens. The sequence of sports reflects the Tottington High School sport competition calendar, seasonal weather conditions and pupil voice.

You will see happy pupils taking part in active lessons. Barriers are removed to promote engagement and inclusivity. This is done by offering a varied and flexible curriculum and by adapting sports and activities when required. The focus is to ‘strive for progress and not perfection’ where each pupil is encouraged to achieve their personal best.  We want to see our students arrive to PE with happy faces and leave with red, sweaty and smiley faces.

Each PE teacher will show relentless optimism and positivity to all pupils. They will be their biggest cheerleader and encourage them to achieve their personal goals. The PE department’s positivity will spread contagiously amongst each class and the school community.    

You will see happy and self-confident pupils who enjoy and look forward to PE lessons and understand the mental and social benefits of PE in addition to the physical benefits. These benefits will be seen across the whole school curriculum.    

In PE, we assess the individual holistically using a hybrid assessment model named Head, Heart and Hands.

The Head, Heart, Hands approach facilitates social, emotional and cognitive development and places character strength equally to physical strength.

Pupils will be assessed across these three strands of Physical Education in twelve activities throughout the year. We assess the following across the three strands:

Head – Knowledge, understanding, analysis, feedback, responsibility and rules.

Heart – Communication, leadership, respect, resilience, effort and confidence.

Hands – Physical ability, fitness levels, competitive, technique, tactics and problem solving.

Students will also have the opportunity to develop their academic understanding of the anatomy and physiology of the human body across a number of academic checkpoints linked to their knowledge development in KS3. 

As a department we offer a wide range of opportunities to extend and enrich our curriculum. We offer an extensive two-week extracurricular timetable which is open to all students which is adapted in line with pupil voice, upcoming sporting fixtures and environmental conditions. More diverse activities will be sourced to provide varied offers and opportunities for all. Opportunities to further develop their skills will be provided when representing the school at borough and at national events.

Other ways in which we will aim to provide pupils with the best opportunities are:

• Creating links with local community clubs, empowering pupils to further develop their skills and experience.
• Devise school trips to sporting events, creating opportunities to observe elite performance. 
• Visits from guest speakers to discuss a variety of health and fitness related topics.

Physical education lends itself to a range of careers in sports and fitness as well as other industries that you may not have considered before. Nutritionists, physical therapists and chiropractors are a few examples of jobs where the professional could benefit from having a agree in PE. Some careers that you could consider doing with PE include:

• Sports science
• PE teacher
• Sports Physiotherapy
• Professional sportsperson
• Sports coach/consultant
• Sports policy at local and national level
• Diet and fitness instructor
• Personal trainer

A range of further education opportunities exist that allow students to focus their education into their chosen career path. BTEC Sport level 3 and A level qualifications at further education institutes can lead onto degree level study. Whilst studying for a degree students can tailor their studies towards their desired profession with Sports Science and Sports Business and Management being just two examples.