To think 'jumping' is a bit naff for a year 2 PE lesson

[orangechairs]

My DD had PE today. She's 6 and in year 2. Her PE lesson was jumping. Doing a quarter turn, half a turn and a full turn jump. Then they jumped in pairs. She said that's all they did for the full PE lesson. They did some jumping to music, but mostly the teacher telling them what jump to do. Some on their own and some in pairs.

I asked one of the other parents and her child also said the same, so I think it's correct. I also think it's pretty reflective of their general PE lessons. (My 4 year old says they just run around outside during his PE lesson, which is what they basically do most of the time in reception anyway).

Is this what a year 2 PE lesson is? It just seems a bit basic to me. I thought they'd be learning how to play a sport in year 2, or inside doing some more movement type classes. I remember at infant school we climbed up the walls, ran along benches, climbed ropes and jumped over the vault in PE lessons, like a mini obstacle course. Or we were learning actual sports.

Please help me and share what your year 2 child does in a PE lesson!

This is state school BTW. But I am interested to hear what all year 2 PE lessons are like, state and private.

YABU - jumping is a perfectly normal PE lesson for year 2

YANBU - jumping is not a good PE lesson for year 2.

I can honestly say I never gave a shit what DC did for PE.

Ks1 teacher here…it’s absolutely a standard lesson for y2 children. PE in ks1 mainly focuses on fundamental skills, with actual games and rules being taught in ks2.

It’s not ‘just’ jumping, of course. Toddlers can do that! But they will be taught to do standing jumps, running jumps and jumping from a height. This involves keeping knees soft for a safe landing and also the correct transfer of weight. They will then work on improving their technique and take these skills into ks2 when they play games.

I really never cared what the kids did in PE. It was just to be active. If they’d liked sports I would have signed them up for after school classes (much better because similar levels of interest).

My son is 8 and afaik they aren't learning how to do a sport

I was going to give a similar reply to that given by @ChittyChittyBoomBoom . I teach KS2 and we use a local gymnastics centre for a term each year. If they haven’t learned to jump with control and land safely, using the equipment is carnage.
There will be children in year 2 who gave no spatial awareness, no stamina and in many cases who cannot get both feet off the floor at the same time. Our PE lessons have had to take a step back this year as physical development is definitely not where we would expect it to be.

Going by the year 7-9s, large numbers of children can barely manage to hold themselves up at their desks or stand on their feet without their legs caving in following 2 years of lockdowns, never mind having the core strength and balance to be able to make a quarter turn jump without spraining an ankle or falling over. A significant proportion (slim, mostly MC children) have become near hysterical when they've got a bit out of breath in PE because they've assumed it means they're about to die and they need to go home immediately.

Not everybody's Dad took them out on an hour's run every day through lockdown or were at school doing Joe Wicks each morning because Mum was an essential worker. Not everybody had a garden and trampoline or access to sport - no mixing meant no games of football or going to playgrounds/friends with climbing frames. And it shows on children physically.

It's essential conditioning before sporting activities, always necessary for many, now for even more than ever before.

In my experience over multiple state schools that age group is usually multi sports. So different sports each week to work on working as a team, catching and throwing skills, balance skills etc jumping sounds a bit odd.

My son is in year, PE for him today, he says they played tig 🤷 so I guess organized jumping is on a par.

Don’t forget Pe lessons for the last two years have been so hit and miss that they will have missed a lot of key skill development

If you look at the school’s website, curriculum section, you should be able to see a run down of what it is they’re doing. For example the attached screenshots are from a primary school, curriculum section, PE section, Year 2 section- jumping comes into both the athletics and the gymnastics sections.
As others have said it’s a basic skill that needs to be mastered before moving on to other things, and there’s no point moving on too quickly.

Sounds standard infants PE.
Plus a bit of practical maths with the turns.

Dancing to a ghost busters and a space cat dance 😂😂

Yabu.

Games and PE should be taught by specialist teachers. In state schools it is unusual to have a specialist come in and teach each year group.
In the private sector, Games and PE are taught by qualified coaches/teachers who have excelled in their sport. Pre-Prep children (Year 1and 2) will have a PE lesson but will also do Hockey/TAG Rugby/ Football/Netball in winter and Athletics, Cricket and Rounders in summer. A weekly swimming lesson is also part of the timetable and not all schools have a private pool. The difference between both sectors in sport is staggering and I always feel annoyed at how short changed many state school children are regarding sport. I have had children attend both state and private.

Two words: over invested.

Jumping great for balance and coordination, listening and following instructions. Totally fine. I have a DD in P2 and asked her what she does in PE, she said 'standing around then sitting rolling or climbing' so God alone knows what that was about.

I can remember being mortified in primary school as we had to do a lame dance to 'walk of life' by dire straits.

Just to add to the wealth of other ‘ya I’ answers; this lesson also covers some maths objectives for ks1 with quarter/half/whole turns and clockwise/anti clockwise etc. And may have been planned as a practical maths lesson, disguised as PE. Sounds good to me!

Sorry, typo… ‘yabu’ answers

@Bananabrush

PE is generally crap in state primaries. There is a reason a high proportion of Olympians come from private schools. So if you're in state, sorry, that's the situation we're in. If you're paying you should definitely expect more.

All kids including private ones need to master jumping

Look up physical literacy.
If kids don't master the basics before age 7, they are much more likely to never master a sport.
Huge numbers of 6 year olds can't jump. They can't get their feet off the floor.
Huge numbers can't catch a ball so can never master netball or similar later.
Huge numbers can't walk a mile a day.
High % of Yr4-6 kids can't pull them selves out of a swimming pool.
Without mastering the basics you are hindered for life.

So yes it's fine if that's what's needed

@Bananabrush

PE is generally crap in state primaries. There is a reason a high proportion of Olympians come from private schools. So if you're in state, sorry, that's the situation we're in. If you're paying you should definitely expect more.

I agree entirely.

School sport in state schools is massively underfunded and not taken seriously.

@Bananabrush the gulf between state & private yes means eg in hockey / tennis / fencing / cricket etc there are more private high performers.
Bank of mum & dad also normally pays for extra coaching, 1-2-1 lessons, travel, kits etc etc etc
It's certainly not just due to the school

I'm teaching gymnastics to 6-year-olds tomorrow. They'll be rolling around on the floor for most of the lesson...Last lesson, they tried to stand in different ways without falling over. (We did individual and partner balances.)
I probably wouldn't be doing simple turns for the entire lesson, but ours is over 2 hours long.

Oh, I don't teach at a state primary.
We'll also start to use the equipment at a later stage. Mine love using the rings and the beams and everything...

I work in a Y2 class and jumping is a skill that is taught explicitly. There are plenty in the class that can't move in a controlled way. They are taught how to land on the balls of their feet, how to jump from one to two feet, how to jump and turn and how to jump over objects. Next week might be balancing and then moving in different ways, building up to a simple dynastic routine at the end of the half term.

They don't really teach sports as such in year 2- they are only 6! It's more skills based and then using skills in paired work or small teams and games. The may learn basic skills like batting, throwing, catching, kicking and controlling a ball. They might play simplified versions of cricket, tag games, or relay games.