Our vision is for all children at The Downs Primary School to experience excellent physical education, school sport and physical activity that will lead to life-long participation.

Our PE curriculum aims to ensure that all pupils develop the fundamental skills and competence to excel in a wide range of physical activities by providing a broad and balanced curriculum with opportunities for all to be enjoyed.

A high quality PE curriculum will develop physical literacy and will allow pupils to learn about themselves, the importance of a healthy lifestyle, self-expression and concepts such fair play and respect. It also contributes to the development of a range of important cognitive skills such as decision-making and analysis, and social skills such as teamwork and communication.

Our PE curriculum will be inclusive and ensure that pupils of all abilities access the range of activities we offer and that they are physically active for sustained periods of time in order to encourage them to lead healthy, active lives. There will also be opportunities for pupils to take on leadership roles in which they can build character and embed values such as fairness and respect.  Regular participation in sport and physical activity can help to reduce the risk of heart failure; improve physical fitness; help with weight management; promote good health; instil self- discipline; develop skill; improve self- confidence; reduce stress and develop lifelong learning skills.

A high quality physical education curriculum can inspire all pupils to succeed and excel in competitive sport and other physically demanding activities. We are improving our programme of intra and inter school competitions, which will provide opportunities for pupils to participate in competitive sports and activities both in and beyond the curriculum.

Our mission is to improve and increase the quality and quantity of high quality PE for pupils, to show how PE can enhance pupils’ attainment and achievement and to create pathways for them to continue to be active beyond school. We will be developing our links to outside agencies and clubs, which will help to generate positive interaction in the community.

We are striving towards improving the delivery of the teaching and learning of PE in order to promote participation, progress and performance.  Our school also recognises the impact that the provision of a high quality PE and school sport curriculum has on the whole school and that it can lead to whole school improvements.

Developing pupil’s personal qualities through PE can affect their attitudes towards school and learning. When PE and school sport provision is of the highest quality, all pupils will, to the best of their abilities, develop and demonstrate the following personal qualities:

· A strong desire to learn and make progress;

· High levels of dedication, attendance and involvement in PE and school sport;

· High levels of commitment to PE and school sport;

· Good levels of positive behaviour such as politeness, fair play and helpfulness.

By implementing a monitoring and reviewing assessment system of PE, we can measure the impact and progress of the quality and provision within our school, which will lead to overall whole school improvement.