Sports Premium Funding

The Government has continued to give funding for physical education (PE) and school sport. Through the ‘Sports Premium’ the Government has provided £150million, to support the delivery of PE and sport in primary schools.

This funding is ring fenced, and is allocated directly to primary schools across England, providing them with a dedicated resource to purchase in, invaluable expertise and support.

Funding is allocated through a lump sum for each school and a per-pupil top-up mechanism. The formula will reference the number of primary-aged pupils (i.e. children between the ages of 5 and 11).

► At St. James’s we believe that the Premium sports funding should be used for teaching and learning. We endeavour to provide high quality continued professional development training opportunities to up skill our staff and ensure that we raise standards of teaching and learning.

We have enjoyed activity days where external providers have come in to challenge, motivate and inspire us. These days have encouraged children to develop healthy lifestyles and hopefully encourage them to take up a sport. We are organising a visit from an Olympic athlete this academic school year.

► At St James's we subscribe to 5 a day (an interactive 5 min activity), organise basketball sessions for KS1 and have ‘taster’ days for the pupils to try new sports. This year we are also introducing the daily mile.

PE Curriculum

A wide range of activities are delivered in school which aim to engage and inspire all children. We are also committed to ensuring that all children receive high quality, well-planned PE lessons and opportunities.

We do this by having additional coaches to work alongside the teachers in games lessons. Over the year, each child will participate in games, athletics, dance and gymnastics lessons.

All children in KS2 have opportunities to improve their level of swimming in weekly lessons. We offer booster support for children who need additional swimming lessons to improve their confidence. We also offer a club for the most confident swimmers.

The Wider Curriculum

PE and sport have a high profile in our school and permeate many aspects of school life. We aim wherever applicable, to incorporate significant global events into our timetable such as the World Cup, Wimbledon and The Olympics.

During the Year 6 residential visit, the children are given the opportunity to participate in many different activities which may include summer hiking, water sports and assault courses. Children are signposted to local clubs and events to encourage them to develop their skills.

► At St James’s, we also believe it is very important for the children to meet local sporting role models and we try to inspire with visits from Team GB Olympians.

Beyond the School Day

St James’s is keen to provide a wide range of extra-curricular clubs for children throughout the year which are organised by teaching staff and outside providers.

Children enjoy the opportunity to try many sports such as football, hockey, gymnastics, dance, netball, basketball, tag rugby, athletics, boccia, indoor kurling, fencing, tennis, orienteering, multi-skills and swimming.

We try to cater for all our children’s needs and ask the children and parents which clubs they would like to see included during the year. We enter into the Borough school leagues for netball, football and tag rugby and take part in all the Borough festivals including tag rugby, hockey, indoor and outdoor athletics, netball, football, gymnastics and swimming.

We regularly celebrate the success of our sporting achievements in and outside of school through our fortnightly newsletter.

Commitment

St James’s is committed to providing an increasing range of opportunities for children to participate in high quality sports games and PE activities.  The impact that this additional funding has had is an increase in the provision of PE and sport and opportunities for the children and the specialist training will have a lasting, long term impact on sport and PE.

► At St James's we are committed to ensuring all primary school children undertake at least 30 minutes of physical activity in a day at school.

Swimming

In accordance with the national curriculum requirements, Year 6 follow a personal survival swimming programme. All children have the opportunity to swim in years 3 to 6. As a result, nearly all children are able to swim all strokes competently, confidently and proficiently over a distance of 25m or greater and can perform safe self- rescue in different water based situations.