Curriculum Statement for Physical Education

Physical Education at Da Vinci Academy aims to encourage all of our students in Years 7-11 to actively engage in lifelong physical activity. This is not only as a participant but in other important roles such as a leader, coach and official. We offer a broad, balanced and varied curriculum that will encourage participation and inspire our pupils to lead a healthy active lifestyle. Through all of the activities we deliver we teach pupils how to be healthy and what are the life-long benefits of being healthy and active throughout their lives.

Programmes of Study at KS3 and 4

Students at KS3 will study a minimum of 7 different activities per academic year, broken down into; Net wall activities, Games, Gymnastics, Fitness and Athletics. All of our activities are supported by an extensive Extra-Curricular programme before school, during lunchtimes and after school. The PE department also enters teams to compete in the Derby City School sports leagues throughout the academic year. We encourage all of our students to make the most of our extra-curricular programme and actively encourage them to attend as many activities as possible.

All pupils take part in Core PE as part of their school curriculum. Students in years 7-9 receive two hours of quality PE each week, this drops to one hour in Year 10 and 11, where pupils have a broad practical curriculum in which they participate in a range of sports. Students can chose to do extra PE as part of the KS4 Options process. The BTEC SPORT Tech Award course we deliver is from Pearson. We also run the Edexcel GCSE PE course, running alongside the BTEC SPORT option. These courses have proven to be a very popular option with between 40-45 students per year group choosing this option.

Expectations/Approaches/Policies

We would like every student to fully participate in every lesson in full Da Vinci PE kit at KS3 and correct sporting clothing at KS4. We can fully support students who forget kit with our extensive stock of clean, laundered kit which can be borrowed from the department. We understand, that at times, students cannot participate in their PE lesson for numerous reasons. To be excused a parent or carer must either email or write a note explaining the reason why the pupil cannot take part and possibly indicate when they will be able to do PE lessons again. Even if injured or not participating, our students will be expected to take part in the lesson in some capacity, whether it is as a coach, leader or official. Students who forget kit will be expected to borrow clean kit provided by the department. However, if this becomes an issue, we would expect the student and parents/carers to work with us to ascertain the reasons why and for us to work together to resolve the issue as soon as possible. All students will be expected to follow the Department and Academy behaviour policies during their PE lessons.

Marking and Assessment

Students at KS3 will be regularly assessed during each activity area and given a grade linked to the PE department’s assessment policy in line with whole academy assessment.

Please feel free to contact the Curriculum Leader (Mr Schmidt) if you wish to discuss the assessment policy and how your child is assessed with Physical Education or if you wish to have your own copy of the policy. Students will be given feedback from their individual teachers on how they can continue to make further progress in each activity area. PE staff will also reward students within their groups in line with the Academy Rewards policy and also the PE department’s policy on rewarding sporting excellence and achievement

Careers leading on from PE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmPYlFOu1Rc

Extra-Curricular Activities

Please see the Da Vinci Academy website for our full and extensive ECA programme which is updated for every half term during the Academic year.

If you have any questions regarding the ECA programme, please email Mr Thompson at the Academy.

How parents can support their children

Parents/carers are continually contacted regarding fixtures and extra-curricular opportunities that occur within the PE department. We wish to build strong, positive and engaging working relationships with our parents/carers and we recognise the value of their support.

We would actively encourage parents/carers to contact their child’s individual teacher for any support, guidance or questions they may have as soon as possible so we can work together to resolve any issues that may possibly arise.