All areas of our curriculum at Boldon School, is successfully adapted, designed and developed to be ambitious and meet the needs of all students. Each subject area develops their knowledge, skills and abilities to apply what they know and can do this with increasing fluency and independence.
Our teachers check pupils’ understanding systematically, identify misconceptions accurately and provide clear, direct feedback. They respond and adapt their teaching as necessary without unnecessarily elaborate or individualised approaches. This is to get the very best outcomes for our students whether they are SEND, disadvantaged or to challenge our higher ability students. This will ensure that students are ready for their next stage of education, employment or training to gain qualifications that allow them to go on to destinations that meet their interests and aspirations and the intention of their course of study.
How the pe Curriculum supports our SEND students:
The Department for Education states, ‘Children and young people with SEND all have learning difficulties or disabilities that make it harder for them to learn than most children and young people of the same age. These children and young people may need extra or different help from that given to others.’
Boldon School is an inclusive school where every student is encouraged to develop a thirst for knowledge, to enjoy their curriculum and feel valued as a member of our school community. We are committed to the progress, inclusion and resilience of each student and support the learning journey that they require. Our curriculum is successfully adapted, designed or developed to be ambitious and meet the needs of pupils with SEND, developing their knowledge, skills and abilities to apply what they know and can do with increasing fluency and independence across all subject areas.
Students with SEND are supported in PE where there is an inclusive environment, established by high quality teaching enabling diverse learning needs to be met. Careful monitoring of students with medical conditions is helped with additional staff presence in lessons, which helps our students access the learning. There are opportunities for our SEND students to adopt different roles and responsibilities in lessons and this is assessed using our head, heart and hands framework which allows for progression in a wide range of areas. Students will have access to multi-sensory approaches such as modern technology used for sports analysis, as well as a wide range of equipment to remove any barriers for learning. Suitable learning challenges being set for our students is a huge strength within our faculty. Students are monitored through Head, Heart and Hands assessment criteria and have the ability to track their progress through tracking documents, knowing areas they need to develop in order to progress. We provide differentiated activities in all lessons and as part of all lessons. These resources or challenges are accessible yet still stretch. These follow the whole school strategy of BAR tasks for students independent enquiry. Key tasks, techniques, skills and tactics are simplified and demonstrated which allows learners to build their confidence and develop their practice in PE.
How the pe Curriculum supports our disadvantaged students:
The Secretary of State for Education set out the government’s national plan to support children and young people to reach their full potential, regardless of their backgrounds. With an overarching goal and aim of improving social mobility through education, and delivering better educational and career outcomes more evenly across England.
At Boldon School we have 50% of our students with high levels of deprivation, but strive to raise the attainment and aspirations of all students regardless of social background. We have a robust allocation system of pupil premium funding to obtain the most successful outcomes for our students and to narrow the gaps in attainment across all subject areas.
Disadvantaged students are supported in PE at Boldon by having access to a fantastic core PE curriculum where each year group has 2 hours of high quality PE per week. We offer a broad and balanced curriculum which incorporates new emerging sports and activities such as Tchoukball and American Football. The curriculum progresses from year 7, where students’ abilities are assessed holistically through our ‘Heads, Hearts and Hands’ framework, to year 9. In Key Stage 4, students are given more ownership over their PE curriculum and our hard-to-reach students can choose from a wide range of sports and activities. Our teachers know our students and their abilities very well through assessment and monitoring. Boldon School PE and Sport work closely with external partners such as dance teachers, coaches and instructors that are used to deliver a positive learning experience for all students which occasionally, allow our students to learn off school site. These opportunities are also promoted to students and parents/carers to help create an overall positive learning experience. Teaching staff anticipate and plan for any potential barriers that our students may face. Positive attitudes are at the forefront of our teaching and this helps to discover intervention methods in lessons. There are strategies in place that are fast and effective in identifying and supporting under-performing students. Staff in the PE department go above and beyond to ensure an outstanding, inclusive extra curricular programme which gives every student the opportunity to participate in sport outside of school hours.
How the pe Curriculum supports our higher ability students:
HM Chief Inspector stated, If we are going to succeed as an economy and as a society, we have to make more of our most able young people. We need them to become the political, commercial and professional leaders of tomorrow.
At Boldon school we aim to nurture scholastic excellence through a challenging curriculum where the work given to students is demanding and matches the aims of the curriculum in being coherently planned and sequenced towards cumulatively sufficient knowledge. We recognise the need to stretch and challenge all students but especially our MAT and higher ability students to obtain maximum progress.
Higher ability students are supported in PE, where they are able to use and develop their talents further. This can be through building on existing knowledge or challenging them with new sports where tactics and techniques need to be transferred and embedded in new areas. Our higher ability students are continually stretched and challenged through differentiated BAR tasks, higher order questioning and given extra responsibility. Through clear and meticulous planning of schemes of work, higher ability students have the opportunity to participate in collaborative tasks, which may involve taking on leadership roles for problem-solving tasks, as well as self and peer assessment work. Students are also given the opportunity to officiate, coach peers, and provide regular student demonstrations. Students are not only assessed for their technical and tactical ability, but also their decision-making and ability to work collaboratively towards achieving a common goal. Our students have access to certain technologies which will enable them to analyse their performance and identify strengths and areas for improvement. Our higher ability students also represent the school in a range of extracurricular sports and will regularly captain the team acting as a role model for others.