What does PE look like in primary school

[AllienBea]

My DD is due to start primary after the summer, I’m not really sure what to expect from PE.
I know in the upper years they travel offsite for Athletics, Cross country, Tennis, Swimming and Bikeability but I’m not sure what the deal is in the early years. Is it real sports? Or just being active?

DD hates sports, we’ve tried it all, multi-sports clubs, gymnastics, dance, swimming. She doesn’t even like riding her bike or jumping on the trampoline so actually dreading PE for her! I don’t know how to prepare her to make the most from it as I’m not sure what to expect. So on that note what does PE look like in primary school?

I think you’re over thinking. It will probably be some kind of organised running at least to start with
my ds now 10 who loathes any kind of proper sport has never particularly complained about school PE.

DS is in Reception. He's not sporty at all but they have an hour of PE once a week. It's pretty low key - they played dodgeball the other day, they do things like 'What's the time Mr Wolf?' and occasionally run around with a ball.

A pre schooler has tried all those sports clubs already. Way too young. Swimming is obviously a good idea but - unless they say they want to - I would not sign them up for anything very formal before they are school aged. Most PE at primary is low key unless you are at a private school where it is often organised sports from a very early age.

My son's in Reception. Based on the photos we've had of PE this year, it's some running, throwing, catching type activities, some little obstacle courses, a term where one PE lesson a week was yoga, and a term where they did gymnastics on the apparatus in the hall. Nothing particularly strenuous or stressful.

I'd say it's unusual for a pre-schooler to have already tried so many different sports. Maybe she's just not physically ready yet? Something like dance and even proper gymnastics needs a certain level of strength and physical ability. My son started swimming lessons when he started school in September, and it's only now he seems to have the strength to actually propel himself in the water and stay afloat.

I think I felt pressure from those around us. Her nursery class has 10 girls, 7 go to ballet after school on a Wednesday. 1 of them does Swimming and Tennis on top of that and seems to love it.
It’s not just DD doesn’t like active sports, she doesn’t really like running around at the park, cycling her bike, jumping on the trampoline etc.

DD hates sports, we’ve tried it all, multi-sports clubs, gymnastics, dance, swimming.

and she hasn't even started school yet?
I'd focus on increasing her activity levels, which is good for her health anyway and basic coordination skills which will prepare her well for whatever they do at school. Long walks, skipping, hand eye coordination through catching a ball.
Swimming is a life skill. The swimming she didn't like, was that lessons or going with you? If the former, just take her in the pool with you, , don't worry about the actual swimming, make it fun, develop her confidence in the water

Very simple at our school, they don't get changed most of the time. Sometimes, they'll do stretching/dancing in the classroom, other times it'll be trying to pass a ball to eachother, a mini obstacle course, playing with equipment.

One thing, she won't be the only one, and the school will be used to that. It'll all be done in a fun way for her age group, as it's about gently incorporating them into school ife.

I meant running ABOUT not just running.

as pp said I think it’s a bit unusual that your DD has tried all those things already. At 4 (presumably) she’s very little. Proper hand eye coordination for my DSs didn’t really kick in until they were 6/7.

It definitely won't be anything formal or competitive. They play games (Silent Ball being a favourite of the teachers ) and do lots of running and moving. Every term they tell us what their theme is, and I remember in reception they spent one term "exploring ways of moving", which meant a lot of jumping like kangaroos and bear walking and doing the worm.

Infant teacher here! To start with I do games to get them used to listening, following instructions, moving around safely. These games often become part of the warm up as the year progresses. We then go onto movement skills, (hopping, jumping 2 feet to 1 foot and the reverse like hopscotch, sidestepping and skipping) its usually done in stations so the kids move around and practice different skills throughout a session). At the same time we introduce throwing and catching (over arm, under arm, throwing at a target, dribbling a ball with our feet and passing a ball to another person. The way we do it is that there is one skill that the teacher is directly teaching each session but the other skills are consolidated at the other stations. Then there's games that we play as a whole class that will have some element that's been taught such as skipping tig. This all takes a long time! Much later in the year we tend to have a gymnastics focus. Their little faces when you bring out the huge wall bar apparatus is so adorable! Hope that helps!

We do something called Real PE - which is an emphasis on skills rather than competitive sport so things like balancing, catching etc.
Also following the same scheme are units on dance and gymnastics but again very chilled and non competitive focusing on core skills.
As they get older they will go to swimming for some terms, continue with the Real PE scheme but will also sometimes have sports coaches come in to do football, netball and other games like that with them. At our school the sports coaches are super lovely and its all about cheering each other on and just having a go.
We also do orienteering units which the children love and so good for learning map reading skills etc.
I think overall there’s a lot of variety and hopefully there’s something in there that most children will enjoy.
Of course every school is different but some thing will be the same - for example it’s a requirement all schools offer swimming and to be honest Real PE is such a big scheme many schools I know do follow it now.

I’m a classroom assistant in Scotland, so it might vary a little but normally P2- 7 change “sport” every 6/7 weeks, P1 keep their sport for about 12 weeks instead.
Block 1 - Jumping, skipping, throwing, catching etc.
Block 2 - Gymnastics
Block 3 - Ball, Racket and running skills (think deconstructed rounders)

In primary 2 and 3 they have a “sport” but it’s taught very much deconstructed. So if the sport is basketball for example it’s really a lot of catching and throwing, if it’s tennis is more balancing balls on rackets or similar. They also do Scottish dance from P3 up.

In P4-7 they do the same idea of picking a sport and deconstructing it, but that’s when Athletics (high jump, sprint etc.) are introduced, bike-ability is done in P5,6 and 7, cross country just P6 and 7, swimming just P5.

There is almost no competitive aspect it’s lots of skill learning and deconstruction.
They do two 45min/1 hour sessions a week and a lot of that is spent getting changed, warming up etc. so it’s more about being active than really learning the sports!