PE at Granard

At Granard we believe that regular physical activity has a positive impact on all areas of children’s lives.  We want all our children to be active: both physically active and active participants in lessons, learning and life.

We believe that active bodies create active minds and that skills and discipline learnt doing physical activity and sport lead to a variety of key skills that positively impact on learning across the whole curriculum.  Children develop skills on a personal level: confidence, resilience, staying calm under pressure, taking pride in achievements, commitment, respect and fairness.  In addition, citizenship and life skills develop: leadership, independence and teamwork.

The skills that children develop very much link to metacognition (PLUGS), our approach to teaching pupils to be more independent in their learning, and to our 6Rs: Ready, Responsible, Respectful, Resourceful, Resilient, Reflective.  To this end, we also partner with Regenerate Ashburton who have run a number of successful mentoring programmes with our Year 6 children and Ark Putney Academy (APA), who have sent us sixth form sports specialist students to support PE lessons. 

In line with the National Curriculum, our aim for our children is to:

• be able to take part in and do well in a range of physical activities
• be physically active for sustained periods
• take part in competitive sports and games
• lead healthy and active lives.

As such, we follow a set scheme of work that has planned progression to develop children’s understanding and competency.  This means that as children progress through Granard, they build on the skills that they have learnt and begin to apply the wider skills they gain from sport to their learning and to their lives.

Children at Granard are taught PE by either their class teacher, our in-house coach or an external specialist coach.  We have a swimming pool, which all children use regularly from Reception until Year 4; Years 5 and 6 children walk to Putney Leisure Centre to access the bigger pool there.

We run a variety of after school sports clubs including cricket, dance, football, netball and tennis. Before school, children can come early to join in our morning running club.

Through the year, there are opportunities to take part in inter-school events – inclusive or competitive depending on competency and experience of the children.  There are celebratory ‘festival’ experiences such as athletics and cricket events and also competitive fixtures with other local schools including Years 5 and 6 netball and football at Roehampton Playing Fields and cross country at Richard Evans Memorial Playing Field.

We have established links with a range of local providers who are on our doorstep including Roehampton Playing Fields, Putney Leisure Centre, the LTA National Tennis Centre (NTC) and Roehampton Cricket Club as well as local secondary schools including Ark Putney Academy (APA) and Southfields Academy. 

In school, we have a great range of sports equipment for lessons plus table tennis tables, trim trails and a swimming pool.  During lunchtimes, children have access to a variety of sports equipment. We also have Years 5 and 6 playground leaders in place to support sports activities on the playground.

Through the school day, we encourage children to take active breaks to help them to take ownership in order to be more aware of how to focus and achieve their potential.  These breaks and sessions teach strategies and allow for opportunities to align body and mind such as balance, breathing and yoga and link with our behaviour approach of being ‘In the Zone’: ready to learn.