How to Plan a PE Lesson
Planning is one of the most important parts of a teacher's role. A well-planned lesson ensures pupils progress, stay engaged, and understand why they are learning what they are learning. However, this process can be difficult across all the subjects taught by a primary school teacher. Teachers may have some areas they feel less confident in, due to a lack of subject knowledge, experience or just their own perception of their ability to plan and deliver that lesson. One of the most common subjects affected by this is PE.
So, if you’ve ever wondered how to plan a PE lesson or what a PE lesson plan looks like, this guide will take you through the key steps.
Step 1: Start with Clear Outcomes
Every effective PE lesson begins with clarity about what you want pupils to know, understand, and be able to do by the end of the session.
For example:
· “By the end of this lesson, pupils will be able to demonstrate the correct technique for an underarm throw.”
· “Pupils will attempt to find and use space effectively in invasion games.”
Having clarity of the outcomes helps you avoid “busy” lessons with no real learning. It keeps both the teacher and pupils focused.
Step 2: Plan the Lesson Structure
A good PE lesson follows a clear structure:
1. Warm-up/Starter Activity - This is not just physical but mental preparation, too. Short activities that introduce a skill or concept being taught in the lesson.
2. Skill introduction and practice - Explicitly teach the skill, break it down, then allow for guided practice.
3. Application through game play/performance - Let pupils apply what they’ve learned in conditioned games or performances.
4. Cool down and reflection - Time to recover, consolidate knowledge, and link back to the learning outcome.
This framework keeps lessons purposeful and balanced.
Step 3: Differentiate for All Abilities
One of the challenges in PE is catering to a wide range of ability and confidence levels. To plan a good PE lesson, always consider adapting activities. The STEP principle is a simple way to achieve this. STEP stands for Space, Task, Equipment, and People. You can read more about it in our blog here.
· Space – Change the working space’s size to increase or decrease the difficulty.
· Task – Modify the task itself, while maintaining the same end goal.
· Equipment – Change the resources and equipment used in a task.
· People – Increase or decrease the number of children involved in a task.
This gives every pupil the best chance to feel included and to progress.
Step 4: Consider Time and Transitions
Time management is an important part of any lesson. Giving children enough time on each activity is crucial to giving them an opportunity to improve and master any skill. Smooth transitions between activities reduce downtime and keep energy high. Prepare equipment beforehand, use pupil helpers, and have clear signals for moving between activities.
Remember, the lesson should always end with time for a cool-down and a moment to reflect. It is always best for pupils to feel calm and not rushed at the end of any lesson.
Step 5: Reflection and Assessment
Assessment doesn’t need to be formal, but it should be intentional. Questioning, peer feedback, or short self-reflection activities can identify how pupils have done within a lesson, and how much they have learned.
For example, ask pupils:
· “What did you learn about finding space today?”
· “Can you show me the correct technique for pivoting?”
These moments reinforce learning and allow you to gauge how much children have learned and retained, which will feed into future planning.
Planning can be a time-consuming process, which takes time to develop. One way to help save time is with ready-to-use lesson plans, knowledge organisers, assessments, and more. These can all be found here at The PE Hub. So, if you’d like to see what we offer, subscribe to The PE Hub today.