PULSE


stories of success and experiences that they have been involved in. They also love imparting their knowledge to and leading events for the younger members of the school.


You have also used funding to pay for adventurous activities; can you explain what these were and why you chose to do this?


We have done a variety of adventurous activities such as Kayaking, Climbing, Archery, Fencing, High Ropes, Horse Riding, Trampolining, Fencing, Bellboating, Tobogganing and Skiing. The biggest opportunity we offered our children was a carousel of activities for all of KS2 using www. altitudeevents.org/ they provided an amazing day of activities that the children will hopefully talk about forever. We believe that this type of activity is just as important as competitive sport. It offers the children a totally different set of skills and challenges and encourages team work. In some ways the challenges are greater as fears are overcome, anxieties are faced and all children push themselves to their personal limit. It is lovely to see children supporting and encouraging each other and showing a love for being active. It is especially encouraging when children push themselves that extra mile and go further than they thought was possible. These skills more than any other, are seen within the classroom environment as perseverance, dedication and commitment are all evident and fundamental to learning.


Have you invested in CPD for your staff and if so what sort of CPD and who was it for?


We have invested in the CPD package as part of the offer from our local partnership. All staff are welcome to attend any CPD that is on offer and staff are keen to develop their skills. We have particularly found the new and minority sports useful and have managed to form links with the clubs and coaches developing them. This in turn has led to greater participation from the children as workshops have been held within school or as after school clubs.


Has the confidence and skills of teachers improved? How do you know?


Our staff were pretty confident in the delivery of PE before the funding as we have a wide range of expertise which is able to be shared within the school. However, specific training increases the skill set within the school and improves confidence of


individual teachers. The more sport that is on offer the wider the amount of staff which are needed to attend competitions and clubs. This has also increased their knowledge of sport in different contexts and benefits that it has.


weaknesses striving to reach their full potential. Sport gives children ample opportunities to develop these skills, put their faith into action and can act as a catharsis for channelling any frustrations that they may have.


Have you noticed a difference in pupils’ attitudes and behaviour towards learning since increasing the amount of sport you offer?


Do you promote health and wellbeing amongst all of your pupils and if so, what sort of activities do you do?


Our school is a ‘Healthy School,’ this is delivered through a variety of PSHE, Science, RE and PE topics. We also have wrap around care which provides a balanced meal at breakfast, lunch and dinner time. Visitors regularly come into school to present and run workshops in this area. Trips are also arranged to the local sports centre that provide workshops on healthy living.


Do you use PE as a tool for whole school improvement?


Yes, as you can see we believe that sport is an integral part of school life alongside the academic subjects, Art, RE and Music. Educating the child as a whole enables them to develop as an individual to find their strengths in all areas of life and to work on their


As stated earlier children love coming to school, their behaviour has been noted by Ofsted as being outstanding. This is particularly impressive due to the catchment area that we are from. We also have excellent attendance figures showing that pupils want to be here and take advantage of what is being offered to them. Children’s attitudes to learning are exemplary both in and outside the classroom. All children are keen to be involved in extracurricular activities showing a positive attitude towards physical activity. This is particularly evident since the tracing of physical activity. Last year 100% of the school took part in five or more extra curricular and 54% of KS2 took part in twenty or more activities!


Has pupils’ participation in competitive school sport increased?


We have always believed that competition is integral to sport. We therefore always take two teams to events and where possible take three or four teams to enable maximum participation. This has not changed due to the premium so although our participation levels have definitely increased with the funding the level of competitive sport is hard to increase as we already entered as much as possible.


Since you started receiving the sport premium funding, has there been a measurable and sustained improvement in PE and sport in your school (e.g progress made, percentage take up of attendance at competitive or after-school sport opportunities, the tracker system Russ has created)?


Success within our sporting teams was a rare event when we first took over the sport within the school. We have found that with an increase in opportunities offered and a commitment to sport across the school the children’s generic sporting skills have really improved. This has led to children being able to pick up new sports very quickly and has developed skills at a younger ages.


This in turn has led to us becoming more and more successful in terms of placings at competitions in a wide variety of sports and at all age ranges. It has also made it a lot harder to select teams to attend competitions as so many children are excelling within PE lessons.


If another school were to ask you why they should take PE and School Sport seriously, what would you say to them?


PE and sport have a direct impact on children’s wellbeing, behaviour and social skills. All of these in turn feed into academic success and wider life skills. Above all it is a life-long habit which we would like to instil in the children to ensure they live a happy and healthy life. Seeing the way the children develop, work together and enjoy sport makes all the hard work, hours and effort worthwhile.


The Kent & Medway School Sports Magazine 13


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