Physical Education

Physical Education has always been a very important part of the curriculum at Nicker NS and we have a long history of participation in games, athletics, gymnastics and aquatics in school and in competition. With the onset of COVID-19 and the importance of ventialtion and general everyday health, the emphasis on exercise throughout the day has been a significant development in our provision of the PE curriculum. In our efforts to provide much needed movement breaks throughout the day, we have looked at our PE provision and we have improved it in terms of staff CPD, PE equipment and time given to PE.

Whole school planning

As part of the Active Flag programme, we have updated our school Physical Education Plan, and this was sanctioned by the BOM of Nicker NS in December 2021. We chose Games as our strand for development and this has been boosted by new equipment which is monitored by our Active Flag Equipment Managers. CPD undertaken by teaching staff has had a focus on fundamental movement skills and this is evidenced in our termly Active Flag activities, as well as in our use of the new games equipment where we have focused on providing opportunities for children to develop the FMS which are particularly central to the Games strand of PE.

Physical Education Equipment

Some of the new games equipment includes: tennis rackets, tennis balls, hockey sticks, footballs, basketballs, beanbags, parachutes, hula hoops, cones, badminton rackets and shuttlecocks. These add to our existing supplies of footballs, basketballs, rugby balls skipping ropes, athletics equipment such as hurldles and The children have the opportunity to use these as part of structured PE, as well as in movement breaks in the playground, and very importantly, they have access to this equipment at break and lunchtimes where free play with the equipment allows them to develop their skills of throwing, catching, kicking, running, dodging, side stepping, balancing, jumping etc.