Physical Education at Weald Primary School: a report by the Specialist Sports Coach, Matt Thacker (Superskills UK)
Teaching PE at Weald Primary School means everything to me - a school in which I started working 8 years ago; running an After-School Football Club.
Since then I have achieved my degree in Sports Science with Professional Football Coaching, all my FA and UEFA coaching licences and am trained in first aid, child protection and child welfare.
I now run the PE for each age group in the school and still run the After-School Football Club.
One of my main aims is to make sure the children learn and take part in a wide range of sports and maintain and improve their fitness and skills within these lessons.
I also like to introduce the children to new sports, which I know they are unlikely to have the opportunity to take part in out of school or in most other schools. This also includes sports that they wouldn’t usually do until in secondary school.
Below are the sports lessons that I teach the children throughout the year:
(Some of these sessions last for 2-3 weeks)
Term 1/2:
Football Cricket
Football Rounders
Rugby
Tag Rugby
Football
Netball
Boxing (training-non-contact!)
Gymnastics
Dance
Term 3/4:
Fitness training / testing
Bleep Test
Circuit Training
Agility & Strength training / tests
Cooper Run
American Football
Basketball
Baseball
Army like sessions (team work, team building exercises)
Bench Ball
Walking Football
Term 5/6:
Volleyball
Rounders
Cricket
Athletics:
Field events such as long jump, triple jump, javelin, shot put & discuss
Athletics:
Track events such as sprinting, middle & long distance running and relay races
Speed Training
Sports Day Practice
Dodge ball
Progression
Progression is very important to me. I will not stop teaching a sport until I know that everyone has learnt something new and they have developed skills and knowledge within that sport.
Each session is taught in small sections with the aim that, by the end of the session or sessions, we can put all these key skills together to play and understand the sport that has been delivered.
Every aspect and area that is key in that sport will be covered by each child, I like to teach in small bite-size steps with the final step being to put all the steps together into one. It has worked really well and the children respond positively.
Results
There are many results that I take over the year to see if the children improve.
A good example of objective progress, which is reliable, is the Bleep Test. This is a fitness test that tests stamina, endurance, speed, aerobic fitness, competitiveness (against yourself) and will power.
Here are the results:
We did the Bleep test 3 times last academic year and I am so happy to say that 100% of the children improved their scores!
That is a great achievement for them. I also calculated class averages and here are the results:
Year R:
Bleep Test 1 - Level 6.9
Bleep Test 2 - Level 7.7
Bleep Test 3 - NA
Year 1:
Bleep Test 1 - Level 9.5
Bleep Test 2 -Level 10.8
Bleep Test 3 - Level 11.0
Year 2:
Bleep Test 1 - Level 8.4
Bleep Test 2 -Level 10.0
Bleep Test 3 - Level 11.2
Year 3:
Bleep Test 1 - Level 10.2
Bleep Test 2 -Level 10.10
Bleep Test 3 - Level 11.12
Year 4/5:
Bleep Test 1 - Level 11.4
Bleep Test 2 -Level 14.12
Bleep Test 3 - Level 15.11
Year 5/6:
Bleep Test 1 - Level 12.10
Bleep Test 2 -Level 14.0
Bleep Test 3 - Level 14.10
These average class scores were fantastic and not only did the class averages improve each time so did all the individual scores, which was very rewarding and pleasing.
Also the teachers all took part in the Bleep test and again each teacher including Mr Pyle’s levels improved!
Although I cannot measure results for confidence, I know that every child in the school has grown in confidence. This is evident through observing and speaking to individuals. It is so rewarding for me that every child really looks forward to my lessons and they are all so enthusiastic. It’s a great feeling.
Last year, I ran the school football team and again the improvement was one of my highlights of the year.
The football team turned up to training week in week out in all kinds of weather. I made a promise to myself that I would push them really hard to see where I could take them.
We ended up only losing one game over the year; which was a fantastic achievement.
The match we lost was a league game against Four Elms Primary School. From the moment the final whistle went I was determined to build the team up even more to enable us to beat them next time our paths crossed.
In the end of season tournament, we continued our amazing performances and we got to the final: only conceding one goal on the way.
We reached the final and played Four Elms Primary School!
We beat them and won the Cup! All the hard work and all the listening from the children paid off in an amazing way! This just shows how much we improved over the year.
I would love to continue working very hard with all the children in Weald Primary School and helping them to become brilliant sports people who are always improving week by week, combining good listening skills and with good attitudes.
I am very proud to have even a small impact on their lives.
Matt Thacker
Head coach of Superskills UK