Active Children do better in every possible way - they perform better in school and are better behaved. Regular physical activity can increase both attendance rates and the levels of concentration in learners.
Today’s generation of children is the least active in history. With each passing year, our young people engage less in active play and sport and have fewer opportunities for high quality physical education. The cost of this inactivity is high and our children are paying the price.
Creating an Active School is an investment in our children. By providing our children with fun options for daily physical activity both before, during and after school we can ensure that they are set up for success, both now and in the future.
Schools can help ensure that pupils are provided with a range of opportunities to be physically active, that they understand how physical activity can help them to be healthier, and how physical activity can improve and be part of their everyday lives.
The Healthy Learning programme will help child-focused settings to promote a range of opportunities to be physically active and highlight how physical activity can improve and be part of their learners’ everyday lives.
The potential benefits of regular participation in moderate intensity activity include:
- Improved overall health
- Healthy growth and development
- Improved muscular strength, endurance and flexibility
- Maintenance of energy balance (in order to encourage a healthy weight)
- Reduced risk of developing adult diseases and conditions such as heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure
- A sense of wellbeing
- Enhanced self-esteem
- Reduction in anxiety and stress
- Opportunities for social interaction
- Improved social and moral development
- Improved cognitive functioning and academic achievement in school
Impact of the changes to Ofsted on PE
Under the new CIF, inspectors will make graded judgements on the same areas across all providers, from early years to schools and further education providers. This should give greater coherence and comparability between different providers who cater for similar ages, and when learners move between institutions.
Inspectors will assess overall effectiveness based on graded judgements in four key areas:
- Effectiveness of leadership and management
- Quality of teaching, learning and assessment
- Personal development, behaviour and welfare
- Outcomes for children and learners
How can PE play a key role in supporting the whole school inspection?
Inspectors will have access to the school website before they visit so this is a vital tool in setting a great first impression. Your website should include a statement on the use of pupil premium and for primary schools unpick the impact of PE and sport premium. High quality provision should still be embedded in the day-to-day practice of every teacher in a successful PE department for the benefit of all learners.
What contributions can PE make to the effectiveness of a school as a whole?
The visible and collaborative nature of PE means that the subject has a strong role to play in helping schools demonstrate their work on the fundamental values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty as well as mutual respect and tolerance for people of different faiths and beliefs.
Ofsted’s Guide to ‘raising the quality of PE’
A “high-quality” PE curriculum goes beyond normal lesson time and is inclusive of all pupils, Ofsted has said.
Chief inspector Amanda Spielman said that an ambitious PE curriculum “levels the playing field by giving all pupils the benefits of physical activity” and said she hoped Ofsted’s review “helps raise the quality of PE for all young people”.
As with its previous reviews, Ofsted notes there “is no single way” of achieving high-quality PE, but has identified common traits of successful approaches.
Here are some of the key pieces of advice.
- Build a ‘strong foundation’ of fundamental movement skills
Ofsted said a “strong foundation of fundamental movement skills” (FMS) should be developed – starting in early years.
FMS are “basic learned motor patterns” that don’t occur naturally and are divided into three skill sets: locomotor skills (like running), stability skills (like balancing) and manipulation skills (like catching).
The review states FMS are “best developed” between the ages of three and eight and “once secure…form the building blocks for more complex movement skills”.
Research has found younger pupils in England are “not competent in basic FMS”, especially when compared to other countries, but Ofsted said they were a “precondition to accessing the later, more specialised movement patterns required for competence in sport and physical activity”.
- Make sure pupils’ movement is ‘context-related’
Mastering FMS may make pupils’ movement efficient and effective, but it must also be “intelligent and context-related”.
Pupils need to be “explicitly taught the knowledge that informs and successfully directs their movement: that is, knowledge of rules, strategies and tactics”.
For example a pass in football may be powerful, but if it is to the wrong person it is “ineffective”.
Not all activities have their own rules but all have “strategies for success”, which pupils should know.
- All pupils should feel included
Ofsted said the curriculum should meet the needs of all pupils, including those with special education needs or disabilities (SEND).
A high-quality curriculum will make “all pupils feel included and able to succeed within the subject”.
Studies found SEND pupils still faced “significant exclusion” from PE and were commonly given officiating roles such as “holding the stopwatch”.
Instead, teachers should “plan fully for inclusion and recognise that adaptations might be required for some pupils”.
- Pupils ‘participate beyond their PE lessons’
An extra-curricular offer should be available to all pupils to provide the opportunity to “build, develop and refine knowledge”, Ofsted said.
A “systematic approach” to planning and delivering these offers will give pupils more time to practise and can help to put PE “at the heart of the school community”.
Extra-curricular provision should not be restricted to outside school hours, but can include opportunities for pupils to participate in physical activity and sport during breaks and lunchtimes.
- Feedback nurtures belief pupils can ‘know more and do more’
It is important schools create a “supportive environment” where attainment is not viewed as fixed, Ofsted said.
In PE, pupils should “see their attainment as incremental and not defined by sex, ethnicity or other personal characteristics”.
Instruction and feedback in lessons should enable pupils to “develop their competency, reinforcing the important message that everyone can improve”.
This is particularly important for SEND pupils who typically participate less than their peers.
- Allow pupils to ‘revisit’ important knowledge
Ofsted said in high quality PE, teachers “recognise that learning takes time” and make sure “pupils have enough time to revisit and develop their knowledge within a context before moving too quickly on to a new sport or physical activity”.
The watchdog said that without practising activities and revisiting prior learning, “it is more likely that memories of past performance will fade and pupils will have to relearn rather than revisit”.