Introduction 

At Our Lady of Hartley Catholic Primary School, we understand the importance Physical Education (PE) plays in the curriculum and are dedicated to provide all children with opportunities to engage fully in PE, physical activity and school sport. We believe that PE should develop the whole child through their ‘head, hands and heart’.

PE at Our Lady of Hartley enables children to become confident and creative decision makers; it allows children to develop their skill through knowledge and understanding; it develops their social and emotional well-being and instils values of sportsmanship, fairness and respect.

Every week, the children will have two PE lessons and will be taught a range of sports such as Handball, Swimming, Netball, Golf and Tennis across their time at school. The children will also have opportunities to participate in class competitions and competitions against schools in the local area.

PE in the Early Years

Under the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage, Physical Development is one of the three ‘prime areas’ of learning. The document goes on to define Physical Development:

‘Physical development involves providing opportunities for young children to be active and interactive; and to develop their co-ordination, control, and movement. Children must also be helped to understand the importance of physical activity6, and to make healthy choices in relation to food.’

Physical development is then further broken down into the following two categories:

Moving and handling: children show good control and co-ordination in large and small movements. They move confidently in a range of ways, safely negotiating space. They handle equipment and tools effectively, including pencils for writing. 

Health and self-care: children know the importance for good health of physical exercise, and a healthy diet, and talk about ways to keep healthy and safe. They manage their own basic hygiene and personal needs successfully, including dressing and going to the toilet independently. 

At Our Lady of Hartley, we are big advocates of encouraging and developing PE in the Early Years though a mixture of adult led sessions and child initiated play.

Alongside a variety of activities within both the inside and outside learning environments encouraging children to develop co-ordination, the children have weekly P.E. lessons in which a variety of skills are taught. These skills are built upon when the children go up to Year 1. In this way, Our Lady of Hartley is a school that is very much built from the bottom up. 

Alongside P.E. lessons, a variety of different learning opportunities are used to teach health and self-care. We fully understand the importance of learning these life skills which seem more pertitnant now than ever before. 

Top Tips for Staying Healthy and Active

Eating well and staying active are really important for our bodies and minds. Exercise builds the brain.

It is recommended that child are physically active for an hour every day, with thirty minutes of this taking place in school.

Here is a list of things that we promote and encourage at Our Lady of Hartley to keep our children healthy and active!

• Eating five different coloured pieces of fruit and vegetables a day 🥕🥦🍎🍇🍌
• Planning meals using guidance from the eat-well plate to ensure a balanced diet 🍽
• Drinking between 1 and 2 litres of water a day 💧
• Promoting meat-free Mondays 🌮🥗🥙
• Promoting healthy snacks at break-time 🍓🥝🍒🍉🍊
• Teaching one hour PE lessons, twice a week 🎾🏑⚾️🏏
• Completing the Daily Mile – Jogging and walking around the school playground for 15 laps 🏃‍♀️ 🏃‍♂️ 
• Offering children opportunities to join active after school clubs such as football, golf, dance and judo ⚽️⛳️🩰🥋
• Playing exercise videos for children through-out the day from ‘Go Noodles’, ‘BBC Super Movers’ or ‘Joe Wicks’ 5 Minute Move Videos’ 💃 
• Taking Whitby for a walk around the school grounds 🐶 
• Promoting active break times and lunchtimes 🤾‍♂️🤾‍♀️
• Offering a dance club and football club at lunch time 🩰⚽️
• Providing opportunities for children to be active in a lesson e.g. – standing up to answer a question 👩🏼‍🏫 
• Teaching times-tables actively eg – recall whilst marching/jogging/stretching arms 🙆‍♀️ 🙆‍♂️ 
• Regular stretching opportunities through-out lessons 🤸‍♀️
• Encouraging children to walk to and from school 🚶‍♀️🚶‍♂️ 

PE News

During Lockdown, Spencer, in St Paul’s Class, wrote a letter and poem to one of England’s Rugby Players - Jonny May. 
 

Jonny May took the time to write a very inspirational letter back to Spencer which you can read below! 
 

Amazing! 🏉 🌟 

The children represented the school brilliantly in the Dartford School Games Handball Tournament on Wednesday 4th March. They came 6th and won the sportsmanship award for the day. They have been invited to Canterbury to play 'handball on the beach'. These courts were used by the British volleyball team during the run up to the 2012 Olympic Games. Well done!