At Mount Street Primary we are committed to providing at least two sessions of high quality PE per week for all our pupils including games, dance, gymnastics, swimming and other outdoor education activities. It is important to us that our children are encouraged to live healthy, active lifestyles and they enjoy and participate in physical activity. We encourage our children to take part in competitions between their peers at Mount Street and also between some of our local schools, as well as providing a range of sports they wouldn't normally get the chance to take part in during some of their PE sessions. To learn more about the opportunities we are providing through the Primary Sports Funding see our Sports premium statement and strategy document in the Sports Premium section of our website.

Intent |

Physical Education is an integral part of our curriculum and lifestyle here at Mount Street Primary School. It is our intention that all pupils are given opportunities to use their bodies and minds in a healthy way through a range of sports, competitions and experiences. A sense of having ‘an active body’ is promoted by all staff, encouraging children to stay well through moving their bodies and enjoying sport. As pupils revisit previous sports they have been taught and have participated in, they will build upon what they already know and challenge themselves further by expanding their skill set and knowledge in order to play and compete with their peers successfully. All children at Mount Street will benefit from an inclusive, exciting and progressive PE curriculum using both ‘Real PE’ and the ‘DDMIX’ dance scheme. As the children move through each year group and key stage, their knowledge and expertise will become more refined, therefore increasing their confidence in a range of different sports and skills. In early years, children will be offered opportunities through play and the environment to explore what their bodies can do and how to navigate their growing bodies in the space in which they are in. They will move in a range of exciting ways, express themselves through dance and movement and will learn what it means to be ‘active’ through their current learning theme. In KS1, children will begin to learn and be equipped with the fundamental skills they need when being physical. They will then be able to apply their skills to basic games within lesson time where staff will ensure opportunities are given to learn and play competitively. In KS2, children’s skills develop quickly through revisiting them and using them frequently in lesson time. Children will be given opportunities to learn new sports, practise skills in game time and compete with their peers both here at Mount Street and across the city.

Implementation | How and when do we teach what we teach?

As being active and leading a healthy lifestyle is imperative here at Mount Street Primary School, PE across KS1 and KS2 is taught twice a week in two different sessions. In early years, physical development is interwoven throughout both the curriculum and environment as well as explicit sessions taught throughout the termly timetable. PE is taught with the driver of our ‘head, hands, heart’ model in everything we do. We ensure the children are exposed to this model as they move through the school through our teaching and from visuals across our display board. We feel the ‘head, hands, heart’ model allows all children to be successful in physical education, even if their strength isn’t the physical skill of the area of learning. Progressive skills allow children to retrieve previous learning and practise before building upon what they know in new games and sports to ensure they become physically literature when moving onto secondary school and for their future life. We endeavour for children to think being active is the norm. Real PE teaching allows children to visually see skills taught through picture and video with steps to make the learning trickier and challenge them if required. Children are able to watch the video, talk through and understand the learning with the class teacher before having a go at demonstrating their understanding for themselves. Children can then carry their learning through to application when a game or activity takes place that uses that skill.

Impact | How do we assess the impact of what we teach via pupil outcomes?

The children at Mount Street are assessed against our newly introduced ‘head, hands, heart’ model. We ensure that assessment doesn‘t just take place for the physical application of skills, but assesses our children as all-round sportsmen and sportswomen. We feel this is essential to ensure children are equipped with the skills that modern day athletes have as inspiration for the children who may want to continue with sport and have active lifestyles into their later, everyday lives. We award bronze, silver and gold medal marks against a variety of head (evaluative, knowledge based skills), hand (physical, tactical based skills) and heart (communication and effort based skills) on units of learning taught across the year. This ensures that we produce successful, physically literature children who are ready to take on both their future school career, and later life as fit and healthy people. Children at Mount Street will develop a love for Physical Education where all children are given opportunities to be active and healthy in both mind and body, and are given chances to learn sports and skills where they will succeed.

At Mount Street Primary School, we then develop the children's conceptual knowledge and understanding through 'Big Ideas' which develop both in depth and knowledge as the children progress through the school. Please see the concepts demonstrated below:

At Mount Street Primary School, we work in partnership with PSSP (Plymouth Schools Sports Partnership). They come to school to deliver lessons, loan us specialised equipment, organise events and competitions that we enjoy attending and support us in any way we need in terms of our Physical Education curriculum. More information about who they are and what they do can be found here on their website:

https://www.plymouthssp.co.uk/ 

In 2026, we were awarded with the Gold School Games Mark for a third year running; an excellent achievement for our school. and something we are extremely proud of and have worked hard for.  Throughout the year Mount Street worked hard to compete in various competitions, deliver 2 sessions of PE a week and ticked off many other Games Mark criteria in order to achieve our award. More information about the award can be found here on their website:

https://www.yourschoolgames.com/how-it-works/school-games-mark/