SPORTS

Our sports curriculum provides pupils with the opportunity to develop and apply their skills in a range of physical activities, including expressive movement, gymnastics and games. Pupils collaborate together in team activities, which helps them to develop self-confidence and an awareness of each other. Pupils benefit from at least two hours of sports activities each week.

Pupils can further enhance their skills by taking on extra-curricular sports through our Leadership Academies, which include football and cricket.

We enjoy close links with Laisterdyke Leadership Academy and regularly participate in tournaments organised by the Academy. We are also members of the Youth Sport Trust.

Pupils have the opportunity to participate in two “adventurous activity” days each year, where they learn essential life skills, such as cycling, as well as negotiating challenging activities such as high ropes, climbing, archery and canoeing. We intend to build an on-site traversing wall for pupils once building works are complete and will be starting a cycling club in the near future.

The variety of clubs and sports on offer reflect the breadth and talents of our pupils and ensure that all pupils have an opportunity to participate in sports they enjoy and excel in.

We encourage all our pupils to take up sports in order to increase motivation, self-confidence, stamina, fitness, spatial awareness and creative thinking.

Through our school’s sports programmes, our pupils learn teamwork, leadership, self-discipline, focus and competitiveness – all of which will stand them in good stead for the future. They also learn important lessons in humility, such as how to lose graciously and the importance of striving for continuous improvement.

Sports Captain

All of our Academy’s sports teams have a Sports Captain, a member of the team who is elected to a leadership role by their peers because of their ability to motivate others. The Sports Captain is chosen on the strength of their performance, their ability to strategize and assess the strengths and weaknesses of their opponents, and the level of their enthusiasm and commitment. Sports Captains help to lead their teammates to success because they can be relied upon to perform consistently and remain calm under pressure. As with all good leaders, they keep their team’s spirits high, even when things are not going well.

Swimming

Swimming is part of the national curriculum and is widely regarded as one of the most effective forms of exercise. Swimming helps to tone muscle, build strength and endurance, and improve cardiovascular fitness, without putting unnecessary strain on the body. We aim to ensure that all of our Year 6 pupils leave school as strong and confident swimmers, with an in-depth understanding of water safety. The information below sets out the progress we have made in teaching our pupils how to swim and stay safe in water-based environments.

Statutory Information Statistics
Total number of pupils in Year 6 cohort 60
Number of pupils who can swim a distance of at least 25 metres competently, confidently and proficiently 47
Number of pupils who can use a range of different strokes effectively 35
Number of pupils who can perform safe self-rescue in different water-based situations 32