PE


Curriculum for PE and sport at Drumbeat

 

Physical activity and sport are seen as an integral part of any young person’s education and development. At Drumbeat we strive to ensure that all of our students have access to a wide and varied Physical Education curriculum which allows them to develop and maintain a healthy and active lifestyle alongside supporting their wider learning opportunities. 

The Drumbeat PE curriculum is based around the 4 key principles of the national curriculum for PE: developing competence in physical activities, sustaining physical activity for periods of time, engaging in competitive sport and activities and leading a healthy and active lifestyle. From these 4 key areas targets have been tailored to the needs of our individual students and have been written inline with our framework of drumbeat levels. As the students’ progress through each level they will develop and build the key skills required to take part in physical activity and a range of sports (starting with fundamental movement skills and progressing to sport specific skills) alongside developing knowledge of how to maintain a healthy and active lifestyle and developing fitness levels.

The aim of this curriculum is to ensure that PE at Drumbeat is taught in a progressive and sequential manner while being personalised to each pupil. By targeting the fundamental movement skills and ensuring a good base level of physical literacy in order to allow students to access the higher levels of the curriculum. The students will move on to learning key physical skills and building competence in these before applying the skills into sports and games situations. Alongside this the students will develop their fitness levels and ability to sustain physical activities for periods of time. This progression is reflected in the time period dedicated to PE becoming longer throughout the curriculum. Finally the curriculum provides a framework for progressive learning to take place surrounding healthy and active lifestyles. By following the curriculum the students will build knowledge and independence in applying and generalising this in to all aspects of their lives and futures.

Sport and physical activity has also been proven to support the emotional regulation of young people with ASD and assist them with managing this for themselves on a regular basis. Through the supported intervention of physical activity students can be helped to regulate their emotions and sensory needs which can have a positive impact on their learning ability and how they are able to access other opportunities throughout the school day. Student’s success and progress over time in this area is also captured in the Drumbeat Levels.

PE and sport can be a great way to introduce a range of cross curricular learning including Maths opportunities (timing, counting, measuring, position and direction), Literacy skills (reading, writing, speaking and listening), key communication tools (giving and receiving instructions, identifying others, working alongside one or more peers, following rules and procedures), computing skills (using technology to support exercise, seeking physical activity opportunities in the community, creating and recording exercise routines) and promoting independence (creating own opportunities for exercise, finding opportunities in the community, maintaining key areas of health). Through the key targets for PE at Drumbeat we are looking to reinforce learning from across the school and generalise these skills by applying them to different settings.

The PE curriculum at Drumbeat is also supported by a wide range of interventions and alternative activities such as; The Sherborne movement program, intensive interaction, sensory circuits, bike club, horse riding, as well as the teaching of swimming, which can increase each student’s educational opportunities during their time with us.