“Preparation for lifelong wellness.”

KS4 Specification

AQA GCSE Physical Education.

Pearson BTEC Tech Award Level 1/2 Sport.

National Curriculum

Gladesmore Community School prides ourselves on delivering the breadth and ambition of the National Curriculum.

Curriculum Intent

PE is an essential part of pupils’ educational experience - ultimately impacting on their ability to acquire the key skills and understanding needed to make appropriate choices about their physical and mental health and impacting on their future lifestyles and lives. Developing an understanding of one’s physical and kinaesthetic awareness in sport and physical activity is crucial to the development of every child.  Discovering who we are, learning to work with others and achieving mutual goals are all key principles that are threaded through the PE curriculum in order to facilitate pupils’ natural development.   By ensuring pupils engage in new, fun and challenging activities within a community where a broad sporting infrastructure often may not exist, we provide opportunities for pupils to better themselves, express themselves and further develop their own self-efficacy in a unique learning environment.

At the same time as following the National Curriculum for PE (with the exception of swimming which is the only significant physical and demographic barrier that we face), our PE curriculum is designed to embrace the ethos and principles of Gladesmore School; in particular those encapsulated in the school’s REACH values which strongly correspond with the key values that PE promotes and embodies as a subject. Whilst children’s learning experiences of PE at KS2 may vary, at Gladesmore, our primary aim is to consolidate and build on the different strengths that pupils have gained at their primary schools.  

The Key Stage 3 PE curriculum, therefore, offers pupils a range of between 12–14 activities a year, all of which fall into the different categories of Games, Individual Sports, Creative Performance and Outdoor Adventurous Activities. We also ensure we offer a broad spectrum of seasonal sports, giving all children the best chance to partake, embrace and succeed in physical activity to the best of their abilities. We, however, recognise that not all learners are visually and kinaesthetically talented; some are cognitively gifted, and these pupils are challenged by, for example, our problem-solving unit. We thus ensure that we create an inclusive and positive learning environment that meets the needs of all our pupils and celebrates their achievements.

At Key Stage 4, our mission is to secure pupils’ engagement with physical activity as they reach later adolescence, ensuring that they hold fast to the core values of physical activity and wellness that they have been taught for life.  Year 10 and 11 Core PE offers a refined curriculum where pupils are given the autonomy to select the physical activities they wish to participate in on a half-termly basis; this is empowering for our pupils, offering them both the necessary sense of security with their individual Physical Education experience and a sense of confidence in their abilities to succeed.

Our Key Stage 4 accreditations aim to further develop our most avid and talented Physical Education pupils by providing opportunity to delve deeper into the theoretical facets of sport. We are able, through our curriculum design and delivery, to advance and enrich what Year 10 and 11 pupils have learnt at Key Stage 3 at a more individual and autonomous level, whilst enabling pupils to make the necessary links between the theoretical and practical aspects of Physical Education. Such approaches are vital not only for preparing students for further education in PE, but in increasing their chances of future careers in the sporting industry; and we are proud to have many students who choose to progress to local sports colleges, well established FE Institutions and universities every year.

The video below showcases all of our facilities we have to offer at Gladesmore and serve as an introduction to our highly skilled PE staff members. 

Curriculum Summary