As physical education (PE) plays a pivotal role in the holistic development of children, it's essential to ensure inclusivity so that all students, including those with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), can participate and benefit from sports and physical activities. Engaging SEND pupils in PE and school sports can be challenging due to diverse abilities and needs, but you can create an inclusive and supportive environment with the right strategies. Here are some practical tips to help you effectively engage SEND pupils in your PE classes and school sports programmes.

Understanding individual needs

1. Conduct thorough assessments
Before designing your PE activities, complete comprehensive assessments to understand each SEND pupil's unique needs and abilities. Work closely with SEND coordinators, occupational therapists, and parents to gather detailed information. This will help you tailor your activities to ensure they are accessible and beneficial for all students.

2. D...

Managing behaviour effectively in primary Physical Education (PE) lessons is crucial for creating an environment conducive to learning, safety, and enjoyment. Knowing how to manage young pupils effectively is essential in an era where primary PE plays a pivotal role in children's development. This blog will explore top techniques for managing behaviour while keeping your PE lessons active and engaging.

Why behaviour management in primary PE matters

Behaviour management in primary PE lessons goes beyond discipline; it enhances the pupils' overall educational experience. It helps maintain order, prevents injuries, and promotes inclusivity. Educators can dedicate more time to teaching and nurturing essential physical and social skills with well-managed classes.

Top techniques for managing behaviour in Primary PE

1. Set clear expectations

Establishing clear rules and expectations at the beginning of the school year is fundamental. Effective behaviour management in primary PE starts...

A key date in the school sports calendar is coming up.

Sports Day is a chance to celebrate physical activity, improve teamwork, develop social skills, create healthy competition, build resilience and inspire active lives.

But with opportunity comes responsibility.

It’s your job to plan your primary school’s Sports Day, but it’s also your job to stay on top of everything else whilst doing it.

And it’s not just the time it takes. You also want the day to be engaging, inclusive, educational and enjoyable for pupils, teachers and parents. And you need to strike the right balance between competition and fun.

So, how can you do all that with speed and ease?

With this ready-to-go Inclusive Sports Day resource.

A free downloadable resource you can use to plan a circuit-based Sports Day for all ages and abilities at your primary school.

How does the resource help you plan your primary school Sports Day?

The printable booklet ensures you’ve got all the key details and plans in place for...

This week on the podcast we’re joined by class teacher and PE Coordinator Louisa Mulvey.

Who is Louisa Mulvey?

Louisa is a qualified teacher based in Hampshire. Louisa has been working in primary schools since 2014 where her career began on the sunny, leafy side of Wimbledon Village. Louisa spent three years teaching PE exclusively before qualifying in 2017 where she managed the role of class teacher alongside PE coordinator.

Louisa’s teaching journey began after graduating university armed with a 2:2 in Sports Science and minimal career advice. During summers Louisa worked as a children’s camp manager. The company proceeded to offer Louisa a job as a site manager/PE teacher/lunchtime supervisor/afterschool club manager/ competition coordinator. The following three years saw Louisa manage numerous apprentices alongside the continuation of full-time teaching.

At the beginning of Louisa’s third year in teaching she decided she needed to progress her career and gained qualified t...

This week on the podcast we welcome two of the team from Wodensfield Primary School, Deputy Headteacher Liam Gould and PE Lead Teresa Shackleton.

Who is Liam Gould?

Liam is Deputy Headteacher of Wodensfield Primary School. Liam has over twenty years’ experience working in schools and leadership roles, but his passion has always been in sport and PE.  

From a young age Liam’s parents provided him with lots of opportunities to play and participate in different sports.  Liam’s first official participation in sport was playing for a local junior football team, as he moved into his teens this expanded to cricket, tennis, table tennis and golf.  This engagement with sports has continued into adulthood. Liam continues to play golf and has a handicap of 5, he coaches his son’s (U12’s) and daughter’s (U9’s) football teams, valuing the chance to provide his own children and their teammates with key opportunities to lead healthy lives. All this means most of Liam’s days are taken up by sp...

You have until 31^st July to publish the details of your PE and sport premium spend on your school’s website.

The Department for Education (DfE) monitors your online reporting to make sure the premium is being used for its purpose: to make additional and sustainable improvements to the quality of the PE, school sport and physical activity (PESSPA) provided.

Misuse can result in a school having to repay the premium and future payments being withheld.

So, how do you make sure you’re spending the premium effectively?

You need to benchmark your PESSPA provision against the DfE’s five key indicators.

Here we’ll show you how.

What are the DfE’s 5 key indicators?

First, a reminder of the DfE’s indicators of effective usage:

• Engagement of all pupils in regular physical activity
• The profile of PE and sport is raised across the school as a tool for whole-school improvement
• Increased confidence, knowledge and skills of all staff in teaching PE and sport
• Broader experience of a rang
...

This week on the podcast we’re joined by primary school PE lead John Haycock.

Who is John Haycock?

John has been a teacher at Chilcote primary school for 11 years, both as PE and class teacher.

Joining the school with a view to take over PE, John completed his NQT and became PE lead in his second year. 10 years on, John’s passion for sport and physical activity combined with his drive has put PE, school sport and physical activity at the heart of school life 

What’s discussed in the episode?

• Where to go to get support as a PE lead
• The role of a PE lead over the last 10 years
• Observing lessons - best practice
• Making PE and physical activity the heart of school life
• Helping children to become young leaders
• Opportunities for those less active
• Split role as a class teacher and a PE lead

We’ve recently added two new printable resources which are bound to be popular this winter. Make sure you check them out!  

Wet Weather Task Cards 

Wet play can ruin everyone’s day. Children feel cooped up and can’t get their excess energy out; Lunchtime supervision staff spend the time sorting out arguments and trying to get the volume down; Teachers have to deal with the fallout for the rest of the afternoon. 

But what if it could be different? 

This set of cards is packed full of ideas for how to get children active even when they need to stay indoors. We’ve got ideas for games which require minimal equipment but that will help burn some energy, keep children engaged and hopefully make wet play a lot less painful for everyone.  

English on the Move Christmas Activities 

These festive, physically active learning English activities will keep your pupils active, engaged and thinking during the run up to Christmas. These resources are not just a time filler; they are a grea...

One of the teachers who attended the WMPESS Conference said,  

“It’s been a really good opportunity to get to know some of the different things available to us as a school and to get to know some other people around Birmingham leading PE in different ways.” 

Words like these make us incredibly proud, because they sum up the very reason why we created the conference in the first place.  

With 50 delegates, 3 keynote speakers, 7 workshop leaders, 2 movement break leaders and 18 stands in the marketplace, it was an action-packed day with an abundance of learning and networking. Although Covid-19 still casts a bit of a shadow on everything at the moment, everyone in attendance seemed to enjoy the chance to meet in person and chat in ways that just don’t quite happen on Zoom. 

As everyone made their personal selection from the range of workshops it was clear to see that we had catered well for different interests, and as always we had lots of people keen to get active by participa...

In the penultimate episode of this series of The PE Huddle, Dan meets Ryan Ellis to talk about what Ryan sees happening in schools and his tips and tricks for juggling the many demands on you as a PE Lead, including pointing out that the National Curriculum for PE doesn’t actually require you to teach specific sports.

Who is Ryan Ellis?

‘The PE Umbrella Man’, as he is often called, lived a childhood filled with sport and physical activity and always had a burning desire to teach PE. After several years of coaching and then teaching, Ryan turned his full focus towards making a bigger impact in primary PE.

In 2015, Ryan set up The PE Umbrella which has evolved from a podcast platform into a consulting career allowing him to provide training for schools, universities and SCITTs.

Listen to this week’s episode of The PE Huddle: Make PE the golden thread in your school to hear Ryan’s words of wisdom.

In the podcast, we discuss

• Why you don’t need to pressure yourself to ...