RTS Sport
‘Sports teaches you character, it teaches you to play by the rules, it teaches you to know what it feels like to win and lose-it teaches you about life.‘ Billie Jean King
Vision
Our school mission statement is to, ‘Open minds, unlock potential and celebrate success’. We strongly believe that PE and sport plays an important part in helping us achieve this statement. In addition, we feel that Physical Education develops pupils’ physical competence and confidence in a safe and supportive environment. It provides opportunities for them to be creative as individuals, encouraging healthy lifestyles whilst supporting their emotional wellbeing. Our aim is that all the children should be physically active and develop skills, flexibility and strength. They are encouraged to be responsible members of a team and demonstrate sportsmanship, which is one of our school values.
We recognise the importance of pupil, parent and governor involvement and value their opinions.
PE curriculum
Our main aim is to raise the profile of sport and the participation levels within the school and engage as many children as possible in some form of sporting activity. We recognise and encourage those children who are considered gifted and talented, whilst nurturing and inspiring those who are not automatically motivated. Children have access to two hours of high quality PE weekly following the National Curriculum. In these lessons, they are encouraged to respond to tasks, engage in competitive and cooperative physical activities (both against self and against others), peer or self-assess and improve on their personal performance.
In our lessons, we teach the skills required to enable them to succeed and enjoy a variety of sporting activities. All children have the opportunity to go swimming in year 3, as it is our intention for as many as possible to reach the Nationally Expected Level by the time they start secondary school.
In KS1, pupils develop their fundamental movement skills and access a broad range of opportunities to extend their agility, balance and coordination, individually and with others in a range of increasingly challenging situations.
In KS2, they continue to apply and develop a broader range of skills, enjoy communicating, collaborating and competing with each other.
In all key stages, progress is tracked across the school. Throughout a unit of learning, children have opportunities to self-assess or peer assess.
PE Premium Funding
For the past few years, the Government have given all schools money for them to improve the provision of PE. This year, the Primary PE and School Sports Premium has doubled. This has been linked with the Child Obesity Plan to ensure all primary aged children have access to physical literacy by the time they leave primary school, enabling them to fall in love with movement and develop healthy habits for the rest of their life. In October 2017, with the allocation of the new Primary PE and Sport Premium Grant, there was an emphasis on self-sustaining improvement and that the funds provided is spent correctly towards making a difference for our children. In order to ensure we are compliant with how the funds are spent, we are closely monitoring the impact the funds have on PE and sport using surveys, heat maps and through discussion with parents and our pupils.
Please use the link buttons on the left to access our PE & Sport Premium Report and our Policies.
Inclusion
Inclusive physical education, physical activity and sport offers all children and young people with a disability the opportunity to realise their full potential and to meet their individual needs and abilities. We believe all children and young people can participate fully in curricular, extra-curricular and community programmes through our lesson planning, assessing and attending specific events such as the Parasport Festival.
PE and Sport Extra Curricular programme
Richard Taylor is keen to provide a wide range of extra-curricular clubs for pupils throughout the year, during lunchtimes and at after school clubs. Pupils enjoy the opportunity to try sports such as hockey, street dance, netball, football, rounders and tag rugby. We monitor participation, check uptake, and make available all clubs to everyone. We work in partnership with the Harrogate School Sports Partnership, which enables us to access competitions both during school time and after school closes for all key stages. Opportunities to compete in sport and other activities build character and help to embed values such as fairness and respect.
We are part of The Harrogate School Sports Partnership; a group of over 40 primary schools and two secondary schools. We meet regularly to plan competitions for the children and share good practice.
In year 6, we deliver a sports leadership programme. Our Sports Ambassadors plan and organise intra school competitions, support our younger members of the school and are Change4Life champions, whose main aim is to advocate a healthy lifestyle in school, through inspiring pupils. While in year 5, our Play Squad work to encourage opportunities during playtimes for children to try a variety of activities where they are able to improve on their skills and their personal best. Both our Sports Ambassadors and Play Squad members are selected because they share a love of sport and PE and are excellent role models.
Harrogate School Sports Partnership
The Harrogate School Sports Partnership is a partnership of Primary & Secondary Schools across Harrogate, Knaresborough, Ripon & Nidderdale. The vision of the partnership is to create a sustainable PE, School Sport and Physical Activity system as part of the core provision for all children and young people. Their mission therefore is to positively impact on the lives of every young person attending partnership schools through the opportunities they provide. Both their vision and mission is promoted through their core School Games values of Determination, Honesty, Passion, Respect, Self-belief and Teamwork.
As a member of the Harrogate School Sports Partnership, we pay an all-inclusive annual fee. For this, we gain access to their vision and mission through the following provision:
- A comprehensive calendar of competitive and non-competitive competitions, festivals and events covering over 25 different sports.
- A dedicated and experienced full time Partnership Development Manager
- A dedicated and expereinced full time Competitions & Events Officer
- Youth Sport Trust Membership (£300 value) including 6 Subject Leader Modules (3 per year)
- Multiple national courses centrally co-ordinated
- Over 13 different subject specific CPD training courses
- Whole school training (midday supervisor, activate, lunchtime timetabling)
- Change4life provision and training including Champions leadership training
- Playground Leaders, School Sports Crew organisers & Young Ambassadors training
- Harrogate SSP Leadership Academy holiday programme of over 10 different bespoke leadership courses including the Playmakers leadership Award
- Harrogate SSP Gifted & Talented Transition Academy holiday programme to support talented young athletes in their development through into secondary school.
- Established links with community sport clubs and National Governing Bodies
- Personalised School Games Mark & Quality Mark Application support
- Co-ordinated approach to Sport across the area with funding application support
- ‘Try before you buy’ equipment loan scheme with over 20 different items of equipment including a fleet of 20 mountain bikes, full Sportshall Athletics provision and electronic Orienteering equipment
- A structured website providing support for all thing PE, School Sport and Physical Activity
To find out more information on the Harrogate School Sports Partnership and the up to date list of the Primary Inclusive Events please visit www.harrogatessp.com
Active Schools
Through the purchase of a software program, we can identify those children who are least active in and out of school hours. Our aim is to encourage all pupils to participate and enjoy increased levels of activity by attending extra-curricular clubs, joining in with playtime activities and being part of the Change4Life club.
Each class teacher has identified times of the day when the children are less active by completing a ‘heat map’- a statistical tool that was provided by the Youth Sports Trust. Based on our findings, they encourage short bursts of activity throughout the day. The children thoroughly enjoy taking part in this and feel it helps them with their concentration levels.
Children’s comments about how they feel about having extra activities during the school day:
“I love running around the school in the morning, I would like to do it every day!” Jay Reception
“I think I feel better, because it gets my mind working.” Sophie Year 5
“If you go to school and you feel tired or bad about yourself, a small run wakes you up and makes you feel better.” Ben Year 6
Community Links
Throughout the year, we encourage links with sporting clubs and individuals within the community. During our annual Sports Week, all children have the opportunity to experience taster sessions, which are delivered by both parents and club leaders. In addition to this, our link with St Aidan’s Secondary School enables their Sports Leaders (some of whom are past pupils) to help run our Sports Day activities.
Sports Ambassadors and Primary Crew
We have an active group of pupils who form our Sports Ambassadors (year 6) and Primary Crew (year 5). These children plan and deliver intra school competitions throughout the school year, run and manage our Change4Life club, report on both our website and the School Games website and are a strong and effective pupil voice. They understand the importance of self-improvement and encourage, through different activities and competitions, children to achieve and exceed their personal best.
Way forward
We aim to ensure that the voice of young people remain at the forefront of decision making allowing us to build a sports curriculum that meets the needs of all children in our school.