The following guidance may be helpful for teachers who want to review or create their own scheme of work.
Defining a key-stage plan
A key-stage plan for PE:
- precedes the development of a scheme of work;
- takes account of the circumstances of the school and its aims and purposes;
- is a whole-school plan agreed by all staff;
- sets out an agreed time allocation and distribution for PE per year for each year group or mixed-age class;
- is based on the requirements for PE for the appropriate key stage;
- makes clear school priorities, for example PSHE;
- makes most effective use of the resources and facilities available.
Constructing a scheme of work for PE within the framework of the key-stage plan
When reviewing or creating a scheme of work for PE, teachers may find it helpful to consider:
- the distinctive contribution of PE to the school curriculum and the programmes of study for key stages 1 and 2;
- the balance between the different areas of activity drawn from the programmes of study;
- the length of time to be spent on activities and how they are to be sequenced for effective learning;
- the relationship between, and the time spent on, areas of activity developed in curriculum time and those supported by extra-curricular provision and activities at home and in the community;
- the organisation of activities to account for the demands of indoor and outdoor work and the use of facilities such as the hall, playground or pool;
- the selection of appropriate teaching activities to excite and motivate children and provide opportunities for progress and attainment;
- how to check children's progress;
- links with other areas of the curriculum;
- the most appropriate ways of achieving continuity in learning through sequencing and connecting units.
Evaluating the extent to which a scheme of work encourages progression in children's learning
To help with long- and medium-term planning, staff will need to consider the following questions.
- What is known about the prior learning achieved by children when they enter the key stage and how has this been accounted for in the pitch of early units?
- What core tasks have been successfully completed and how are the next core tasks more demanding or challenging? What new learning do they need?
- Which knowledge, skills and understanding associated with an area of activity depend upon a secure understanding of previously introduced ideas?
- How can units be sequenced and overlapped to ensure that earlier work lays the necessary foundation for later work without work having to be repeated?
- How are opportunities created for consolidating earlier work that is essential for progress and which some children might find difficult?
- When knowledge, skills and understanding are revisited and reinforced, is the same context used or are activities changed?
- How are children who have some competence or expertise beyond the expected levels challenged?
- How are children who are unable to reach the expected levels challenged?
- Are activities differentiated appropriately to enable children to learn at different levels, rates and with different outcomes?
- For effective learning, is it best to teach a particular unit frequently for short periods of time, for example in three 30-minute swimming lessons a week for five weeks; or would some activities, such as gymnastics, be better distributed over a longer period of time, for example in two 45-minute lessons a week for ten weeks?
Checking progress and attainment
The following questions may help teachers to focus on checking progress and attainment.
- What are the learning objectives for each unit?
- What are the learning outcomes for each unit and do these satisfy the learning objectives?
- Do the teaching activities focus on the learning objectives and make it possible to achieve the learning outcomes?
- How is progress recognised, and how are checks on progress made?
- Do the learning objectives and learning outcomes match the expectations for attainment by the end of each year?
- How are the activities and core tasks pitched to ensure expectations can be met?
- How is progress checked across activities and not just within them?
- How is account taken of learning that takes place outside of lessons? How is it used?
Skills, techniques and key ideas
It is also helpful to ask:
- What are the knowledge, skills and understanding identified within the programme of study for each key stage?
- In terms of the level descriptions, what is the demand of these skills and this knowledge and understanding?
- How can the knowledge, skills and understanding be divided into manageable units, each with an activity focus, so that they are appropriate for the overall aims and purposes of the curriculum at each key stage?
- Is there an appropriate balance between the areas of activity?
- Is there a preferred time of year for teaching some skills, techniques or ideas, for example do they involve going outside?
- Do the resources required for the teaching of a unit influence when it might be taught?
- How do units interrelate so that learning is supported and extended in different units?
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