Physical education for the body to be effective must be rigorous and detailed, far sighted and methodological. This will be translated into habits. These habits should be controlled and disciplined, while remaining flexible enough to adapt themselves to circumstances and to the needs of growth and development of the being.

Sri Aurobindo

Intent

Throughout the teaching of PE at Baydon is the core idea to give children the tools and understanding in order to make a positive impact in their own long term physical health and well-being. During their time at our school we aim for all children to experience a wide variety of sports and physical skills to inspire interest and love but also develop core basic skills that can be applied in other sports that they will have the opportunity  We want PE to challenge and promote children’s self-esteem through the development of physical confidence and problem solving. Through all sessions we strive to teach children to cope with both success and failure in competitive, individual and team based physical activities. Dance sessions provide opportunities to explore their personal and spiritual identity, while gymnastics sessions provide an understanding of what their body is capable of achieving. 

PE curriculum is structured to provide a range of sports experiences during which every child participates to develop their skills and learning through competitive, team and individual sports. Children with additional needs are provided with appropriate support to enable them to take part and gain confidence in skills, understanding and motivation. We teach the National Curriculum, supported by a clear skills and knowledge progression. This ensures that skills and knowledge are built on year by year and sequenced appropriately to maximise learning for all children. Children gain experience of a variety of fundamental skills. This has a focus on agility, balance, co- ordination and fitness. Children take part in individual skills, group skills and team games, using PE equipment appropriate for their age. During their time at Baydon pupils will have the opportunity to participate in swimming sessions.

Competitive Sport

At Baydon pupils have opportunities to participate in competitive tournaments with the schools in Marlborough area plus the small schools tournaments in the area as well. We recognise one of the difficulties we have in our area is transport to and from venues. We are fortunate to have a parent body that are happy to support these tournaments on a regular basis, including transporting their children.

To see how money from the PE and Support Funding is spent please see here.

Healthy Eating

All pupils throughout the school have cooking sessions throughout the year learning a variety of ways to create meals. Pupils are also actively encouraged to bring in healthy snacks and making balanced choices in their diet.

PE in EYFS

Physical development educational programme (taken from the EYFS Framework 2024)

Physical activity is vital in children’s all-round development, enabling them to pursue happy, healthy and active lives. Gross and fine motor experiences develop incrementally throughout early childhood, starting with sensory explorations and the development of a child’s strength, co-ordination and positional awareness through tummy time, crawling and play movement with both objects and adults. By creating games and providing opportunities for play both indoors and outdoors, adults can support children to develop their core strength, stability, balance, spatial awareness, co-ordination and agility. Gross motor skills provide the foundation for developing healthy bodies and social and emotional well-being. Fine motor control and precision helps with hand-eye co-ordination which is later linked to early literacy. Repeated and varied opportunities to explore and play with small world activities, puzzles, arts and crafts and the practise of using small tools, with feedback and support from adults, allow children to develop proficiency, control and confidence.

Early learning goals that link to PE:

EYFS Physical development

ELG Gross motor skills

• Negotiate space and obstacles safely, with consideration for themselves and others.
• Demonstrate strength, balance and coordination when playing.
• Move energetically, such as running, jumping, hopping, skipping and climbing.

In foundation stage pupils will:

• Are physically active every day both indoors and outdoors.
• Have regular access to a range of resources to develop strength, balance and co-ordination eg wheeled toys, climbing equipment, bats and balls, large tyres, a parachute and equipment to build obstacle courses etc
• Have many opportunities outdoors to be energetic. We operate free-flow system indoors and outdoors at specific times of day so that children who learn better when physically active can choose to spend more time than others outside.