Physical Education
“The only one who can tell you ‘you can’t win’ is you and you don’t have to listen.“ — Jessica Ennis-Hill, Olympic Champion
At Little Gaddesden Church of England Primary School, we are committed to developing every child’s physical literacy. We ensure that by the time pupils leave us in Year 6, they have built a positive, meaningful relationship with movement and physical activity. Our approach to PE and sport is deeply rooted in our school values:
- Kindness: Demonstrating sportsmanship, fair play, and supportive encouragement for teammates and opponents alike, celebrating everyone’s personal achievements.
- Endeavour: Showing resilience, determination, and effort when mastering new movement skills, tackling physical challenges, or representing the school in sports.
- Understanding: Developing a deep awareness of bodily health, tactical decision-making, and respecting the diverse strengths and needs of others in team environments.
Intent
Our Intent in Physical Education is to equip every pupil with the physical competence, confidence, and emotional development needed to enjoy a healthy, active lifestyle both now and into the future.
- Fundamental Movement & Progression: We aim to build a strong foundation of fundamental movement skills starting in EYFS and KS1, progressively expanding these into sport-specific skills through to Year 6.
- Values in Action: We deliberately integrate Kindness, Endeavour, and Understanding alongside the six key School Games values (Determination, Self-Belief, Respect, Honesty, Teamwork, and Passion) to build character, resilience, and fair play.
- Inclusivity & Lifelong Health: We set ambitious, fully inclusive goals for all pupils—inspiring every child to achieve their personal best, embrace challenge, and build long-term memory recall of healthy movement habits.
Implementation
Our Implementation combines structured curriculum teaching with rich extra-curricular, active-day initiatives.
- Sequenced Timetabled Lessons:
- Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 receive a minimum of two hours of timetabled PE each week across two sporting disciplines per half term. Because PE skills build sequentially around fundamental movement, PE follows a dedicated annual progression rather than a two-year rolling programme.
- In EYFS, timetabled PE begins from Spring Term, where it is complemented by active Child-Initiated Learning (ChIL) and Outdoor Adventurous Activities (‘Learning in the Woods’).
- Swimming and water safety are covered in Class 3 (Years 3 & 4), with targeted booster sessions in Class 4 (Years 5 & 6) ensuring pupils achieve the 25m distance requirement.
- The ‘Head, Heart, Hands’ Model: Lessons follow consistent routines (Warm-Up, Main Learning, Plenary, Cool Down) and encourage collaboration through our holistic framework—evaluating cognitive understanding (Head), social-emotional teamwork (Heart), and physical execution (Hands).
- Active 60 & School Life: We support the national ‘Active 60’ aim through daily movement breaks, the Daily Mile and active lunchtimes led by our Community Champions: Sports Leaders
- Enrichment & Competitions: Pupils take part in intra-school and inter-school competitions (aiming for 100% pupil participation), as well as specialist taster workshops which have included fencing, cultural dance, and outdoor adventurous activities.
Impact
The Impact of our PE curriculum is seen in physically literate, confident, and resilient learners who take ownership of their health and well-being.
- Physically Competent & Active Learners: Children leave Little Gaddesden with the skills, agility, and stamina required to engage confidently in a wide variety of sports and physical activities.
- Values-Led Sportsmanship: Our pupils demonstrate genuine Kindness through inclusive teamwork, show Endeavour by pushing past physical boundaries and setbacks, and display an Understanding of how physical activity positively supports their mental and emotional health.
- Lifelong Wellbeing: Through clear links with PSHE, children understand the importance of self-discipline, personal ownership of health, and the enjoyment that comes from an active lifestyle.
At Little Gaddesden School, we are committed to developing every child’s physical literacy, ensuring that by the time they leave us in year 6 they will have a positive and meaningful relationship with movement and physical activity.
KS1 and 2 have a minimum of two hours of timetabled lessons each week. P.E. at Little Gaddesden is sequenced across the year groups to develop, refine, extend and introduce a range of skills which build upon the 7 fundamental movement skills for use in sport- and game-specific settings. For this reason, the P.E. long-term plan does not adhere to a two-year rolling programme as in other subjects.
In EYFS, there is one hour of timetabled P.E. each week. This is supplemented by active ChIL time and OAA (‘Learning in the Woods’).
As a school, we are dedicated to ensuring children in all year groups are achieving ‘Active 60’. This is the aim to average 60 minutes per day of physical activity across the week. To achieve this, we offer a range of before and after school sport clubs from Monday to Friday; our Year 6 Sports Ambassadors lead lunchtime clubs to encourage active playtimes; we are a Daily Mile school; we have purchased every child their own skipping rope, following the success of a visit from Skip2BFit.