Physical Education Curriculum Principles

At Dixons Unity, we are united behind the common purpose of empowering young people from all cultures and

backgrounds to improve their life chances and develop a lifelong love of learning which enriches the local

community.

● Understand and value the long-term positive effects of sport and exercise on physical, mental, and social

wellbeing.

● Students will have improved their motor skills so that they can use movements effectively in a range of

sporting activities gained.

● Have gained tactical and strategic skills that allow them to outwit their opponents.

● Have developed their ability to analyse and act upon, strengths and weaknesses of themselves and others.

● Have comprehensive knowledge of the rules, regulations, scoring system, and roles of officials in a variety of

sports, allowing them to undertake the roles of officials if they chose to pursue this.

● A student in PE will be able to understand and evaluate:

Social issues in sport, governing bodies, etiquette in sport, user groups, advantages + disadvantages of hosting

Our uniting sentence is:

The PE department improved the physical, mental, and social wellbeing of all and instilled a love of sport and

exercise, which inspired students to continue to participate in sport throughout their lives.

In order to truly appreciate the subject and develop a deep schema, PE has been sequenced with the following

rationale:

● The transferable physical skills and theoretically knowledge are taught at an increasingly deeper level year

on year, and applied to a range of sports, including: invasion sports, net wall, striking, fielding, fitness and

weight training, dance and gymnastics, athletics, and emerging sports.

● Activities are taught in six - week blocks in order to expose students to as many sporting activities possible.

● Regular retrieval activities take place to ensure past learning is fully embedded.

● Questioning builds towards higher order skills (compare / contrast / evaluate) to support students in

achieving merit and distinction criteria. Also in developing higher order transferable thinking skills

Our curriculum in PE supports the personal development of students by inclusion for all, with a specific drive on

motivating and developing the confidence of disadvantaged students.

● There is baseline testing of a student's sporting capabilities. This is used to inform planning and teaching for

core PE and beyond.

● All students are taught a rigorous curriculum that exposes them to a wide range of sport, and develops their

and challenged. Every effort is made to ensure that students who lack skill, or have little passion or

engagement with sport, are prioritised for intervention and encouragement.

● Disadvantaged students, SEND students and those identified as under-represented groups are prioritised by

teachers when analysing assessment data. Teachers then incorporate interventions (via their intervention

folders) to narrow the gap before the next assessment.

● A wide range of exciting and inclusive extra-curricular PE activities are used to further engage learners in PE.

Disadvantaged and SEND students are actively encouraged to participate.

● Communication and teamwork are vital for future life skills, and often students from disadvantaged

backgrounds lack these social skills. PE strives to address this area by explicitly teaching these skills. Students

undertake the roles of officials and leaders of teams, as well as coaches. Leadership skills are extremely

PE lessons are imperative for a student to develop their physical health and well-being, but also understand

why being physically healthy is important so that they can thrive in a top job and have a great life. Students

will engage in high levels of activity that have lasting impact on their cardiorespiratory and muscular systems

when sustained. All students will study the negative impact of drugs, unbalanced diets, smoking, lack of

sleep, on health. Diseases / illnesses covered in the Learn now’s include type 2 diabetes, strokes, cancers,

obesity, osteoporosis, coronary heart attacks.

The social development (social health) of our students is nurtured through the challenges that each

individual sport or activity presents. All lessons will require students to communicate effectively with each

other and, at times, work in teams or small groups to overcome barriers. Lessons have been designed to

support students in being confident communicators taking lead where necessary and be comfortable with

improve their self-esteem. Fitness activities that focus on cardiovascular and muscular endurance will help

instil that grit and determination to not give up when faced with difficulty.

Students will be breaking down cultural barriers that exist within sport and society. Students will work

together in mixed ability groups to understand and appreciate different backgrounds such as gender, religion

and disability. For example, all students will take part in activities such as Bhangra, Netball and Rugby. At

KS4 in GCSE PE, students will have time to discuss priority groups in sport and look at some of the barriers

that they must overcome.

Our belief is that homework should consist of purposeful and deliberate practice and interleaved revision of what

is taught in lessons. This knowledge is secured and applied through metacognitive quizzing and low-stakes tests.

development. We have an unrelenting focus on supporting students with aptitude to become a

professional or semi-professional sportsperson, or to pursue sport related learning in Higher

Education. Beyond this, students are exposed to careers such as medical i.e. (physiotherapist,

The PE curriculum is designed to explore cultural domains that go beyond the specification, yet also effectively

prepare students for success in their GCSE examinations:

● The curriculum is designed to go way beyond the official government / exam board specification, in

order to prepare students for life in the real world beyond just passing exams. Lessons cover a wide

and varied range of Cultural capital areas in order to broaden student’s knowledge of the world.

● The PE department offers many extra – curricular clubs after school. These clubs are available to all

students. Clubs include football, martial arts, badminton, table tennis, fitness (via the fitness suite),

dodgeball, gymnastics, dance, netball, cricket, rounders. Students are given many opportunities to

represent the academy at competitions and in league fixtures. These include badminton, table

● Students showing a real interest in sports are actively encouraged to join external clubs in Leeds to

further enhance their progress. PE staff are keen to speak to parents about this area, and advise

them which clubs would be the most suitable for their children. For example Leeds City Athletics

club.

● For each competitive extra – curricular activity taking place, in house competitions are held at the

end (or in between) seasons.