St. Mary's

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PE Subject Overview

Statement of Intent

At St. Mary’s Catholic Academy, we recognise the importance of PE and the role it has to play in promoting long term healthy lifestyles and making a positive impact on physical, mental and social health. The intent of our PE curriculum is to provide all students with high quality PE and sport provision, not only as a participant but in leadership roles such as a coach, official or choreographer. It is our vision for every child to succeed and achieve their potential, developing their competence in a range of physical activities.

St. Mary’s Catholic Academy is situated in Blackpool, an area with high deprivation and low life expectancy. The links between inactivity and poor health outcomes are well known. Blackpool has a higher percentage of children that are overweight or obese compared to the national average (42% of Year 6 Blackpool pupils compared to 35% nationally). We believe that pupil’s positive PE experiences will encourage them to lead physically active lifestyles beyond their years at secondary school (John 10:10 “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”) Strong community links with local organisations such as Blackpool FC Community Trust & Fylde Community Rugby Trust help to provide external pathways for pupils to pursue sport and exercise outside of school. Both organisations work closely with the school to provide lunchtime and after school clubs alongside curriculum support. Pupils are encouraged to join sports clubs and teams outside of school with a full list provided on PE notice boards and with links on the school website.

Pupils are encouraged to join sports clubs and teams outside of school with a full list provided on PE notice boards and within this LINK.

We strive to inspire our students through fun and engaging PE lessons that are enjoyable, challenging and accessible to all. Through our teaching of PE, we instil core values and transferable life skills such as resilience and mutual respect as well as providing pupils with opportunities to take part in competitive sport through our extensive extra-curricular programme. Our extracurricular programme is open to all our students to attend on a competitive and social basis, which is run throughout the academic year. For those wishing to play competitively there are further opportunities to represent the school locally and regionally in various sporting activities. There is an opportunity for pupils to go skiing in France in Years 9 & 10 and also achieve the Bronze DofE award.

Our Sports Leaders help the department to run various sporting competitions throughout the year and are the ‘student voice’ for the school. These groups provide the department with feedback regarding a range of issues from kit to after school activities, helping to shape the PE and sport offer at SMCA.

Pupils in our Sixth Form have the opportunity to opt for the Sixth Form Sports Academy in Year 12. During this one year course pupils gain a number of leadership and coaching qualifications in a range of sports and activities. They have the opportunity to take part in a number of OAA, developing a range of life skills such as teamwork, resilience and communication. Pupils are helped with preparation for post 18 education through visits to universities in the north west where they have the chance to sample lectures and seminars, tours of the campus and speak to current students and staff.

Subject Overviews
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Year 7 PE

Year 7 PE at SMCA involves the introduction of a number of new sports and activities (and their associated rules, regulations and skills), a drive and focus on the importance of an active healthy lifestyle and a push to encourage pupils to play competitive and non-competitive sport as part of our extracurricular programme. Pupils are taught basic transferable skills and techniques to develop their competency in different sports and activities.  

Year 8 PE

In Year 8 pupils embed the knowledge and skills developed during Year 7. Some recapping of Year 7 work may be necessary for some pupils, especially as it could be a year since that activity was taught. Pupils are required to improve the consistency and accuracy of their performance and in some cases develop new and more complex skills and techniques. Pupils are always encouraged to take up the fantastic extracurricular opportunities at SMCA PE.

Year 9 PE

In Year 9 there is a continued drive to prepare pupils for KS4 OCR PE. This preparation is mainly based around skill development in a range of individual and team sports, continued encouragement to take part in extracurricular activities and an opportunity to continue to develop pupil’s leadership skills. The focus is again to improve the consistency and accuracy of increasingly more complex skills and decision making.

Year 10 & 11 Core PE

At KS4 core PE students are further encouraged to develop a love for sport and exercise in order to continue taking part once they leave SMCA. We continue to signpost pupils to external sports clubs within the community and offer them our extensive extracurricular provision at school. Pupils have the opportunity to coach, lead and referee within lessons. We offer a range of competitive and non-competitive sports that pupils are able to opt into. Pupils are assessed periodically throughout the year on their progress and attitude to learning.

KS3 Curriculum Map

Year 7 Overview
Year 7 PE at SMCA involves the introduction of new sports and activities (and their associated rules, regulations and skills), a drive and focus on the importance of an active healthy lifestyle and a push to encourage pupils to play competitive and non-competitive sport as part of our excellent extracurricular programme.
Year 7 Topics
Year 8 Overview

In Year 8 pupils embed the knowledge and skills developed during Year 7. Some recapping of Year 7 work may be necessary for some pupils, especially as it could be a year since that activity was taught. Pupils are required to improve the consistency and accuracy of their performance and in some cases develop new and more complex skills and techniques in a variety of sports and activities. Pupils continue to learn about the physical, mental and social benefits of PE. They are always encouraged to take up the fantastic extracurricular opportunities at SMCA PE.

Year 8 Topics
Year 9 Overview

In Year 9 there is a continued drive to prepare pupils for KS4 OCR PE. This preparation is mainly based around skill development in a range of individual and team sports, continued encouragement to take part in extracurricular activities and an opportunity to develop pupils’ leadership skills. The focus is again to improve the consistency and accuracy of increasingly more complex skills and tactical decision making.

Year 9 Topics

KS4 Curriculum Map

KS4 Overview

Students who opt to study Physical Education further at KS4 complete the OCR Cambridge National Level 2 in Sports Studies. Students are required to study three units over two years:

R184: Contemporary issues in sport
Students explore a range of topical and contemporary issues in sport, such as participation levels and barriers, promoting values and ethical behaviour, and how sport contributes to society as a whole beyond simply providing entertainment.

R185: Performance and leadership in sports activities.
Students try out a range of sports-related skills and techniques, including different practice methods for improving both their own performance and that of others. They develop their knowledge of the use of tactics and strategies in both individual and team sporting activities as well as their understanding of the rules, enabling them to carry out a number of officiating roles within the activities. Students learn about some of the knowledge, understanding and practical skills required to be an effective sport leader. They put their knowledge into practice by planning and delivering safe and effective sporting activity sessions. Afterwards they review their performance.

R186: Sport and the media
Students explore the relationship between sports and the media: How sport uses the media to promote itself and the media uses sport to expand and maintain uptake of its products. They look at the differences in sports coverage across a range of media outlets and over time and the effect that media has had on public interest and involvement in sport.

Year 10 Topics
Year 11 Topics

BTEC Level 3 in Sport Extended Certificate Curriculum Map

BTEC Overview

Unit 1 Anatomy & Physiology – 120GLH with an external exam for assessment

Having an understanding of body systems is imperative in the sports industry so that professionals can help support people who are taking part in sport and exercise. The human body is made up of many different systems that interrelate to allow us to take part in a huge variety of sport and exercise activities. For example, an athlete can go from rest to sprinting in a matter of seconds, whereas an endurance athlete can continue exercising for many hours at a time. In order to appreciate how each of these systems function, you will explore the structure of the skeletal, muscular, cardiovascular, respiratory and energy systems as well as additional factors which affect sport and exercise performance. The anatomy and physiology of each body system and their processes are very different but work together to produce movement. You will gain a full appreciation of how the body is able to take part in sport and exercise through understanding the interrelationships between these body systems. This unit will give you the detailed core knowledge required to progress to coaching and instruction in the sports industry or further study.

Unit 2 – Fitness Training and Programming for Health, Sport and Well-being – 120GLH with an external controlled assessment

Students learn how to evaluate and modify clients lifestyle, diet and exercise to improve their fitness and health. Students explore the process required for screening clients and assessing their lifestyle and nutritional intake. They learn how to interpret the information and make judgements on a specific individual’s current lifestyle and then suggest modifications to help improve the individual’s fitness, health and overall well-being. Fitness training methods will be examined for each component of physical and skill-related fitness. The selection of appropriate training methods for a selected individual and their application into a training programme will then be explored. In this unit, students draw on their learning from across the programme to complete the assessment task. The controlled assessment will be based around a real life scenario in which students put into practice their gained knowledge to improve the health and wellbeing of the given individual.

Unit 7 Practical Sports Performance – 60GLH – Assessment via coursework

This unit gives you the opportunity to improve your own knowledge and practical ability in a selection of individual and team sports. You will develop your own practical performance in selected sports, focusing on the application of skills, techniques and tactics and reflecting on your performance. This will be achieved through participation in practical activities, followed by a reflection on your performance. You will have the opportunity to practise and refine your individual skills and techniques, investigating and experiencing different areas of tactics and techniques. The rules and regulations of the selected sports are also investigated, since an awareness of the rules can often lead to an improvement in performance. To complete the assessment tasks within this unit you will need to draw on your learning from across your programme of study. This unit develops skills which help learners improve practical performance no matter what level of ability and can lead to a number of career pathways. Gaining all-round knowledge of practical sports performance will also help progression to roles as a sports leader, coach, sports instructor or physical education teacher through further study.

Unit 3 Professional Development in the Sports Industry – 60GLH – Assessment via coursework.

In this unit, you will research the different possible careers and the associated job roles in the sports industry, then action plan your development towards achieving a selected career aim. You will analyse your own skills and identify how to develop them into a career through the use of a career plan. You will research your chosen career to understand how to access and progress within it. You will take part in application and interview assessment activities for a selected career pathway, drawing on knowledge and skills from across the qualification to identify your own strengths and gaps in knowledge and skills. You will evaluate your own performance to gain an understanding of the generic employability and specific-technical knowledge and skills required to access and progress in a selected career pathway in the sports industry. This unit will prepare you for progression to a career in the sports industry either directly or through higher education, by developing your understanding of investigation, career planning and awareness of the skills and qualities that sports employers look for in a potential employee

Year 12 Topics
Year 13 Topics