Welcome to the Physical Education page!

At St Michael with St John, PE lessons cultivate a positive attitude towards fitness and inspire children to lead an active lifestyle.

Physical Education Intent Statement

At SMSJ, we aim for all children to lead an active lifestyle and understand the importance of life long physical activity. We have therefore selected and tailored the PE curriculum in line with the National Curriculum objectives.  Our aims are for all our children to:

• develop competence to excel in a broad range of physical activities
• are physically active for sustained periods of time
• engage in competitive sports and activities
• lead healthy, active lives.

Our PE scheme of work incorporates the content of the National Curriculum, along with opportunities to meet the very specific needs of our children.  Given that the majority of our children have English as an Additional Language (EAL), these opportunities focus on:

1. Language development and understanding of key PE vocabulary

To encourage language development, Teachers share new vocabulary at the beginning of each PE unit. Teachers reinforce this new vocabulary throughout each lesson and link the vocabulary to the corresponding techniques and movements when teaching new skills. Children are encouraged to use the correct subject terminology and are rewarded when successful in the use of it.  

1. Oracy development

In every lesson, oracy opportunities are planned in to allow pupils to discuss aspects of PE in pairs or small groups. Children are also actively encouraged to use effective communication within games and participate in tactical discussion in their teams. At the end of each PE lesson, children are asked to evaluate and feedback to their partner/team.

1. Learning experiences

In order to broaden children’s life experiences we provide first-hand learning opportunities, which expose children to physical exercise in the world around them, through sports clubs, competitions and residential trips. Each PE unit supports children to develop their fundamentals and equip them with the key skills to be able to achieve the core task at the end of each unit.

As well as this, we have specialist sports coaches to support children’s growth and development in dance and gymnastics. We also recognise the importance of children understanding water safety, both in and out of the water. We therefore provide our Year 3 children the opportunity to build basic water skills and equip them with the techniques to be able to swim up to 25 metres.

In addition, we have an annual Active and Healthy Me Week in school, where children participate in intra school sports competitions (Sport’s day), as well as a variety of different activities that encourage active and healthy lifestyles.

At SMSJ it is our intent that our curriculum inspires children of all abilities to flourish in physical education. Our aim is for our children to master the fundamental movement skills and apply these across a range of sports and physical activities, while engaging imagination and creativity in their tactics and techniques. We aim for our children to develop into independent and confident learners, who are able to improve on their own and others’ performance, able to cooperate, collaborate and communicate with others and able to understand the fairness of play while remaining resilient.

Physical education at SMSJ provides challenging and enjoyable learning through a wide range of activities including: sports competitions, dance, gymnastics, athletics, games, swimming and outdoor adventurous activities. This supports all children from EYFS to Year 6 to develop their knowledge and skills across a broad range of areas and develop a responsible attitude towards their own physical journey.

At SMSJ, we know how important it is for staff to have current, up to date skills in this ever changing society and the subject leader endeavours to share updates on a regular basis which gives staff the subject knowledge and first-hand experience to deliver effective, engaging lessons. New staff also receive hands on training to ensure they are confident in delivering effective PE lessons at SMSJ. Specialist sports coaches deliver some of our physical education lessons which provides our staff with valuable CPD whilst sessions are being delivered to ensure our children are receiving the highest quality physical education.

PE and our School Vision

At SMSJ, we firmly believe that ‘With God, all things are possible’ (Matthew 19:26) and we are dedicated to ensuring that all learners live and breathe this throughout their PE lessons. We nurture all children by providing them with the skills and understanding to live an active and healthy life. We inspire them with exciting opportunities to take part in sports clubs, competitions and events. All of the learners at SMSJ, achieve in their own way, whether that is through gaining physical confidence, learning cooperation and team work, or resilience in accepting good sportsmanship. PE at SMSJ is lead with passion and commitment as we believe that all learners deserve the very best physical education. 

PE curriculum

At St Michael with St John, we use plans which have been developed by Lancashire County Council in KS1 and KS2. As required, we teach dance, games, athletics and gymnastics at Key Stage 1. In Key Stage 2, we teach dance, games and gymnastics, plus two other activities - swimming and water safety (Year 3) and athletics. A combination of indoor and outdoor PE is taught. In Years 4, 5 and 6, an orienteering unit is also taught.  Along with this, pupils in Year 5 also have the opportunity to attend a residential trip to Tower Wood where they engage in many outdoor/adventure activities.

We also have Dance and Gymnastics specialist teachers, who support class teachers in the delivery of Dance and Gymnastics units.

Competitions

During the year, children are given the opportunity to partake in a range of competitive sports including: gymnastics, basketball, netball, football, cricket and rounders tournaments. This allows our children to learn about the importance of respect and fairness as well team work and cooperation.

Swimming

Throughout the year, Year 3 attend weekly swimming lessons. In these lessons the children are taught basic water safety and the skills needed to be able to swim up to 25 meters.

Outdoor adventurous activities

In Year 5, children have the opportunity to attend a 3 day outdoor adventurous residential visit. During this visit, children will experience activities such as; raft building, tree climbing, high rope activities and water activities. Through these different activities the children will learn important skills such as; team building and cooperation. 

Facilities

We have excellent PE and sports facilities at St Michael with St John. Our Galaxy Centre includes a sports hall that we use for PE lessons. We also have our own large Astroturf pitch that is used for outdoor games and competitive sports events.

PE News

Keep up to date with the latest competition news and PE events in school.

Virtual Schools Rugby World Cup Project Competition:

In November 2020 Y5 and Y6 took part in a Rugby Skills challenge, hosted by BRCT in partnership with Wigan Warriors. Y5 and Y6 competed in the first round of the BwD SSP Rugby World Cup Tournament with over 500 other children from across Blackburn with Darwen. Based on the results our children have been paired with a country that is taking part in the Inspiration Rugby League World Cup 2021. The country our children has been paired with is... Tonga!

Our children will now complete a series of tasks, which have been designed to test creative, artistic skills and improve world wide country knowledge, covering topics of art, history, geography, music and Rugby League knowledge. 

PE Home Learning Activities

As we are unable to be in school at this time, weekly PE activities are being set on your child's class page. These activities do not need much equipment and can be done inside.