What does Physical Education look like at Unicorn?

At Unicorn we recognise the importance of daily physical activity. Research has shown that physical activity has a positive influence on memory, concentration and classroom behaviour. Throughout the school day we give our children as many opportunities to undertake physical daily activities. These include participating in the ‘Daily Mile’ running initiative, Skip2Bfit skipping challenge, as well as having the opportunity to undertake active playtimes whether it be playing table tennis or climbing on our climbing apparatus. Within the classroom, teachers in EYFS and Key Stage 1 use the ‘5-a-day-tv’ dance routines to ensure that children have the opportunity to re-energise and have regular brain breaks through movement. Teachers in Key Stage 2 use the BBC ‘super movers’ to get pupils moving while supporting learning in a range of curriculum areas.

Our physical education curriculum is carefully planned to include a range of indoor and outdoor based lessons throughout the year and provides a varied and progressive learning programme. All children receive at least 2 hours of Physical Education lessons a week which comprise of 1 hour of outside activity which focuses on games and another hour which takes place inside with a focus on gymnastics or dance. Please see the ‘what will my child be learning in PE’ which outlines the learning that takes place in PE lessons over the course of the year. Swimming is taught in Year 4 and intense ‘top-up’ swimming lessons are provided in Year 6 for those children who are unable to swim 25 metres. Children from Years R to 3 receive Forest School sessions every other week which take place in the Nature Reserve on the school site. Further details about how Forest School lessons run can be seen on the website.

Each half term intra-competitions are held within year groups which link to the themes taught within the Physical Education lessons. These competitions allow all children to experience healthy competition both individually and for a team. Each child represents their assigned school team throughout their time at Unicorn. The school teams are as follows:

Wind (yellow), Water (blue), Earth (green) and Fire (red)

We hold an annual sports day on our field, where children have the opportunity to represent their school team.

As well as intra-competitions, children have the opportunity to represent Unicorn at Borough-wide sporting competitions and events. We belong to the School Games programme which supports children to aspire to be physically active through positive experiences of daily activity and competition. We have received a gold award from the School Games Organisers which shows our commitment to developing competition across the school and into the community, and opportunities for our children to be physically active. Events entered in the past include football, cross-country, gymnastics, athletics, cheerleading and Korfball, to name but a few. We celebrate our children’s sporting achievements and team successes in school assemblies, in our half-termly sports newsletters and on the School Games website.

We provide many extra-curricular sporting clubs and activities which take place before and after school as well as at lunchtimes. Some clubs are run by specialist coaches from local clubs which are quality assured, while other clubs are run free of charge by teachers. We have made strong links with local sporting clubs and encourage our children to continue to attend these clubs outside of school. Please see the sporting clubs’ timetable for clubs offered throughout the year and the links we have to local sporting clubs.