PE, SPORTS & physical activity
Our school believes that PE, sport and physical activity, experienced in a safe and supportive environment, is a vital contributor to pupils' physical, mental, emotional and social development and well-being.
All pupils engage in at least one hour of physical activity a day. This is through break times, daily Keep Fit (at lunchtimes), 'brain breaks' during and in between lessons and PE lessons. The school aims to increase this further through the provision of a range of morning and after-school physical activities, intra-school and inter-school competitions (festivals and competitions), as well as extra-curricular activities (such as Forest School).
All pupils in the school have equality of opportunity in terms of curriculum balance, curriculum time, use of resources, use of facilities and access to extra-curricular activities.
Curriculum
At Handcross Primary School, all children receive two hours of high-quality PE lessons a week which are taught by Steve, our specialist PE coach from South Coast Sports, and class teachers. The sessions cover the statutory aims and subject content required by the National Curriculum for Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2.
Our overview plan shows the PE lesson focuses for each year group, throughout the academic year. By providing a range of focused activities and sports, children are able to develop their skills as they progress throughout Handcross Primary school.
Our PE Progression Map displays the journey we aim for our children to follow from Year R to Year 6. Lessons, activities and experiences are planned and delivered by staff, to ensure all children have opportunities to develop these key skills, before transitioning to secondary school.
Swimming
Handcross Primary School provides swimming lessons for all children in Year 4 at an offsite pool. The lessons focus on developing the children’s confidence in the water, awareness of how to be safe in the water, as well as their ability to swim using a range of strokes (front crawl, back stroke, breast stroke, butterfly).
Additional catch-up sessions are offered in the Summer term for children in Year 5 and 6 to support them in meeting the end of Key Stage 2 National Curriculum swimming aims. Last year (2021-22), 80% of our Year 6 children met the aims. We are very proud of this and aim to increase it further this academic year.
School Games Mark
PLATINUM School Games Mark Award for PE
We are delighted to announce that Handcross Primary School have achieved the School Games Platinum Mark Award for the 2022/23 academic year - this is the top award that can be achieved by schools. We previously achieved the Platinum Award in 2018-19; we had maintained the title since due to the pandemic.
The School Games Mark is a Government-led award scheme launched in 2012, facilitated by the Youth Sport Trust to reward and recognise school’s engagement (provision and uptake) in the School Games against a national benchmark and to celebrate keeping young people active, and we are delighted to have been recognised for our success.
We are extremely proud of our pupils for their dedication to all aspects of physical activity and school sport, including our Year 6 Sports Leaders, staff and parents who made our events possible. We are committed to using the School Games to try and engage those young people who haven’t previously been active or represented our school and to try and ensure that all our children have a positive experience and want to try out new activities beyond school in our community. We believe in the power of physical activity and school sport as a school and give opportunities to those young people that need it most.
As part of our application, we were asked to fulfil criteria in the areas linked to the five School Games outcomes and we are pleased that the hard work of everyone at our school has been rewarded this year. A special thanks to Miss Bloomfield, Mrs Aylett, Mrs Cribb and Steve who have helped us achieve this fantastic award this year. We are very proud!
We are working towards achieving another Platinum Award status for 2023 - 2024.
Mid Sussex Active (MSA)
Mid Sussex Active (MSA) is an organisation which supports schools with provision of festivals and competitions, professional development and providing community club links. They provide a range of festivals and competitions throughout the school year, within the local area. The festivals focus on encouraging less-active and/or less competitive children to try new sports and develop skills, including those with SEN and/or social, emotional and mental health needs. Events include: boccia, hockey, netball, football, tag rugby and Inclusion festivals.
The competitions where children get to compete against other schools, allow them to apply their skills from lessons and clubs in a more competitive environment (i.e. through matches and tournaments). Events include: tag rugby, hockey, cross country, netball and football. Children from a range of year groups and abilities are provided with opportunities to attend the fixtures – they are always great fun! At Handcross, we aim for all children to have had the opportunity to attend at least one inter-school sports event by the end of Year 6.
All sports events are reported by the children. Please see our PE News page for more information and images about our previous events.
Extra-curricular Clubs
We provide a wide range of sports and physical activity clubs which are tailored to the children's interests. They are run by South Coast Sports, Teaching Assistants and external companies. They include: netball (year 3/4 and year 5/6), Infant football, Junior football (year 3/4 and year 5/6), girls football, Top Hats (dance and drama), multi-skills, running club, dance and cricket/rounders. Visit our Clubs page to view our full list of morning and after-school clubs for each term.
Other Events and Achievements
Pupils are actively encouraged to share achievements from sports/physical activities that they are involved in outside of school. These are celebrated in their classrooms, in Friday Celebration Assemblies and on the PE noticeboard in school.
In the Summer term, the whole school participates in a Dancing Day - a whole day dedicated to trying and learning new dances - as well as Sports Day where families are invited to spectate.
