Ensuring Safety for Children

Drowning is a tragedy that can be prevented, yet it claims many lives every year. In the United Kingdom, water-related incidents are a significant concern, especially for children. Understanding the statistics surrounding child deaths and near drownings and taking simple preventive measures can create a safer environment for our young ones.  In this blog we look at some of the key points surrounding drownings and the up and coming Drowning Prevention Week.

Unfortunately, a distressing number of children lose their lives to drowning in the UK every year. Recent statistics show that approximately 40 children aged 0-19 years die from drowning annually, making it the leading cause of accidental death among this age group. These incidents occur in various settings, including swimming pools, rivers, lakes, and baths.

Drowning and near-drowning incidents

Furthermore, for every child who dies from drowning, many more experience near-drowning incidents. Near drowning refers to situations where a person survives but requires medical attention or exhibits respiratory distress. The number of near drownings in the UK is challenging to determine, as many cases go unreported or undocumented. Nonetheless, these near-misses serve as a wake-up call, emphasising the need for robust drowning prevention strategies.

“People die and suffer life-changing injuries every day as a result of drowning in the UK. Drowning is among the leading causes of accidental death; about 400 people accidentally drown every year, which equates to one person dying every 20 hours.  Some individuals survive drowning events but, many are left with severe, life-changing injuries.” – The UK Drowning Prevention Strategy 2016 – 2026 (National Water Safety Forum)

How can we prevent drownings?

Preventing drowning incidents involves a collective effort from parents, caregivers, and society. By following a few simple steps, we can significantly reduce the risk of such tragedies:

Educational resources for Drowning Prevention Week

The Royal Life Saving Society (RLSS) offers a variety of resources to assist all groups conducting educational sessions for Drowning Prevention Week. These resources are organized into three main categories.

The RLSS has developed a broad range of resources to support different groups in delivering water safety.  These are excellent for use in schools, and there are resources from pre-school through to secondary phase.

Children in the UK are at risk of drowning, but there are steps we can take to keep them safe. Understanding the statistics, raising awareness, and implementing preventive measures are crucial. As responsible adults, we need to provide constant supervision, educate children about water safety, and encourage them to develop their swimming skills. By working together, we can create a safer environment for children and prevent tragic accidents. Remember, every action taken towards drowning prevention can make a difference and help build a safer future for our communities.

Teaching is one of the most noble and fulfilling professions, but it can also be incredibly demanding and stressful.  Teachers must manage a wide range of responsibilities, including planning and preparing lessons, marking books, and supporting their class.  With so many tasks on their plate, it’s no surprise that many teachers struggle with work overload.

In this blog post, we’ll explore five ways to reduce teachers’ workload through effective primary pe planning and preparation of lessons.

1. Use tech to streamline primary PE planning

Technology can be a great ally in reducing teachers’ workload.  Using digital tools and apps, teachers can automate many administrative tasks that typically take up much of their time.  For example, online tools like Google Classroom and Schoology can help teachers organise and distribute tasks or homework.  There are also many primary pe planning resources online which support teachers with the content and progression of their PE lessons.

2. Collaborate with other teachers

Collaboration is another effective way to reduce teachers’ workload.  By working together, teachers can share ideas, resources, and best practices, which can help them streamline their primary PE planning and preparation.  This can be done within your own school or through formal professional development programs or informal networks such as school sports partnerships.

3. Plan lessons in advance

One of the biggest sources of stress for teachers is having to plan lessons at the last minute.  By planning lessons in advance, teachers can reduce their workload and ensure enough time to prepare engaging and effective lesson plans.  This can be done by creating a lesson planning schedule at the beginning of the year or by using online resources like The PE Hub with pre-written lesson plans.

4. Focus on the needs of your pupils

Teachers often feel pressure to cover a certain set of skills or objectives, but what is essential is to focus on what your pupils require to progress.  However, trying to cover too much material can lead to teacher burnout and overwhelm and to children that do not engage with learning.  Instead, focus on what is most important for your pupils to develop; this might be building on an activity already taught to work on deeper understanding or exposing children to a new area to broaden their experiences.

5. Use formative assessments to guide lesson planning

Formative assessments are an effective way to monitor pupils’ progress and adjust lesson plans accordingly.  By using regular assessment for learning, teachers can quickly identify areas where children need further help and change their lesson plans to provide additional support.  Effective assessment of pupils’ current levels reduces workload by only planning what the pupils need.

Reducing teachers’ workload requires a thoughtful and intentional approach to lesson planning and preparation.  By using technology, collaborating with other teachers, planning lessons in advance, focusing on the needs of your pupils, and using formative assessments to guide sessions, teachers can streamline their workload and provide progressive and exciting lessons.

EYFS update 2021: What you need to know

The EYFS sets the standards that all early years providers must meet to ensure that children learn and develop well. Department for Education (DfE) has introduced minor modifications to the EYFS update 2021 to improve clarity for everyone. The updates will impact early years environments around England, including childminders and nursery leaders. The new guidance has been mandatory since 1st September 2021.

Why have there been changes to the EYFS?

It is important to note that no significant changes are needed over the coming terms. The Government has implemented these changes to:

We want to highlight the main changes that have been made to the Government statutory guidance for EYFS early years framework to help anyone concerned about future learning. Here is a breakdown of the major updates:

Development Matters

Development Matters is not compulsory, but it has been revised to reflect feedback from early adopter schools. The age bands have been simplified, and the document is shorter to allow for more flexibility and freedom. It is not compulsory, but it is recommended and works alongside the new guidance.

Reducing Unnecessary Paperwork

Less paperwork is always a good thing for busy early years practitioners. Reducing the amount of time spent on paperwork means teachers can spend more time engaging and observing children, but how do you ensure you effectively record development without EYFS statements? Observation is still vital, but it is now more about quality rather than quantity. The updated guidance highlights the importance of observational evidence rather than cold data. Planning, review, and record-keeping should work in harmony in a continuously improving setting.

The Early Learning Goals

The seven areas of learning and development remain unchanged, but the wording of the ELG’s have been reviewed to make them more explicit and more specific. This will help with a child’s learning and development by allowing teachers to make more accurate observations. Additionally, the “exceeding” judgment criteria have been removed from the EYFSP which gives teachers more free time.

Birth to 5 Matters

There is new Birth to 5 Matters guidance after a consultation period which provided information on best practices for play, characteristics of effective learning, and self-regulation. The guidance is flexible and allows practitioners to adapt what works for their children.

Safeguarding and Welfare

“Promoting the good health of children” will now need to include oral health and added support for choking prevention.

You can download a quick guide to all of the changes here.

How We Responded

We wanted to ensure The PE Hub falls in line with the guidelines to provide the best for children. We thoroughly checked that all our content met the updated framework criteria. We established where we needed to make changes in line with the new outcomes and made necessary amendments to our assessment to clearly show the links between our curriculum and the updated EYFS Development Matters outcomes. Although the changes are minor, we understand how important it is to teachers, parents and carers that we are up to date and compliant.

We hope the information and links provided have answered any questions you make have about the EYFS 2021 update. If you’d like to find out more about how we’re moving PE forward, please get in touch with the PE Hub team.

After school clubs

“Schools must make time for sports, trips and clubs or risk prolonging the ‘loss’ of social skills caused by lockdowns, the head of Ofsted urges.

Amanda Spielman suggests heads could extend the school day to bring back ‘once cherished’ activities like football, drama club and music.” Read more via the Mail on Sunday

How to create a long-term PE plan 

One of the most common questions we are asked is ‘Is there a specific order in which we should teach different activity areas?’ The simple answer is – no! You have free reign to pick and choose how your pupils experience PE and how they learn and develop.

With any subject, planning is key to ensure children are meeting all the objectives and hitting the planned milestones as they develop their confidence and skills. Planning your PE lessons are no different. As a teacher, specifically the PE Leader, you need to choose what you would like your pupils’ to learn depending on their age, ability, and school local facilities and go from there.

Specifically here at The PE Hub, we are asked if our wide range of activities should be taught in a particular order, but there is no specific order in which you should teach any units, other than we suggest you lead a Unit 1 before Unit 2 as all units are progressive in this way. This will usually be the case for other PE Schemes of work.

So, let’s get into how you can use The PE Hub resources to create a broad and balanced, long-term PE plan.

What is a long-term PE plan?

Every year, the Government allocates a certain amount of money to each school to facilitate PE. Your plan should show progression, development, and continuity of learning and provide evidence of how aims and objectives will be achieved. It is a working document that can be updated and amended at any time and should be regularly reviewed.  You should also plan for any unforeseen circumstances such as:

What should be included in a long-term PE plan?

PE is unique as there is so much variety in the units available. As a teacher, you should consider what can be realistically included in your long-term PE plan and try to include a range of activities throughout the term. Be clear on the needs of your pupils. Our units are designed to be flexible and tailored to your school’s individual circumstances. No school is the same and units should be taught with needs of the pupils and the key stage curriculum in mind. You can find examples of our PE units and lessons plans here.

All you need to decide is, which units will you teach first?

Showing progress

Your long-term PE plan should be supported with skills progression information that clearly conveys how the children will be meeting their objectives. PE is more than physical activity. It builds confidence, emotional strength, and social skills to name a few. In our skills progression document, we provide an example of how we use the ‘Head, Hand, Heart’ system to showcase how children are getting the most out of each unit.

How to create a long-term PE document

When you’re getting started with a long-term PE document you should consider the best way to present and share with the rest of your staff.  You can then transfer your plan onto a final document ready for editing and distribution. At The PE Hub, we have a specific curriculum planning tool that you can use to create your long term plan and share it with all teachers and leadership teams.

Share your PE plan with others

Once you have your long-term PE plan ready, share it with your colleagues so they know what is expected and help them plan their lessons effectively. A long-term PE plan will also provide valuable guidance in the event of staff illness or absence, so any temporary or long term cover staff have a clear plan that will keep children on track with their physical education.

Our resources are designed by our expert team to offer simple solutions to your PE planning needs. But if you would like any further guidance or have anything specific you would like to discuss, we’re happy to help. Get in touch with us today.

Recently my friend ‘had Ofsted’, and the usual stress ensued at her school.  My friend is a good teacher, in fact, a great teacher, and her school know it.  Listening to her talk about the stresses and strains of the event I was left to question what makes a great teacher.

I regularly speak with this friend about her classroom experiences. I enjoy hearing the developments, the successes, failures and everything in-between of her pupils.  But what makes her a great teacher is what she considers to be a success, and how she goes about drawing out this success in her pupils.

Listening empowers you as a teacher

She listens and listens deeply.  She’s never told me this, and I’ve never seen her teach, but I know it’s what she does.  I can tell because she knows exactly how to support the pupils to progress.  She can tell you all about what her children do in and out of school and the things they enjoy and are worried about.  This helps her teach excellent lessons.

Listening is a skill

Ever been with a friend for a coffee and left thinking, gosh all I did was talk about myself?  I’ve done it.  It’s a horrible feeling and makes you feel a bad friend and a little bit selfish.  The same thing is true in teaching, even though we have the best intentions.  We spend a lot of time talking and very little time listening.   We expect the children to do all the listening and then regurgitate the past hour on to paper or through demonstration.

Stop, Look, Listen

To listen we need to ask questions.  We need to create space to watch pupils on task to listen to their concerns or help them to solve their problems through trial and error.

PE is an outstanding opportunity to develop your listening skills as a teacher.  PE and after-school clubs can help you increase your observation of the pupils;

The simple stuff.  But it takes practice, maybe start with listening to your friend or colleague over that coffee, I know I shall!

 

 

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In January the BBC launched their latest offering to schools.  With the help of teachers, BBC Super movers is designed to get school children more active.  Super movers has teamed up with the Premier League to inspire children across the country.

The BBC are undertaking this project as part of their Royal Charter.

To support learning for people of all ages; accessible, engaging, inspiring and challenging.

The BBC should provide specialist educational content to help support learning for children and teenagers across the United Kingdom.

It should encourage people to explore new subjects through partnerships with educational, sporting and cultural institutions… BBC Royal Charter 2017

Activity levels falling – Can BBC super movers help?

The Government recommends that children should be getting 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity each day.  However, activity rates in children have fallen dramatically in the last 40 years.  Research suggests that activity is set to reduce further still.  A frightening 15% more by 2030.

Development of Super movers

The BBC hope to play their part in reversing the rise of inactivity. Physical activity helps shape young minds as well as developing self-confidence and self-esteem.  The Super movers videos enable teachers to bring activity to their classrooms and at the same time cover key numeracy and literacy topics.

Characters such as ‘Moon Bean’ will teach children their times table through catchy songs. The videos also contain simple dance steps and are fun to use in the classroom but are also suitable for teachers to set as active homework!  Topics covered at key stage 1 include times tables, reading out loud and fractions.  For key stage 2 BBC Super Movers looks at algebra, money handling and word families.

The BBC will also be rolling out an ‘at home’ series for families to get involved.  It is rumoured to include some of our favourite strictly come dancing stars!  Watch this space.

Have you started using BBC Super Movers yet?  If so how are you getting on?  Does it work for your school or family?

Ready to take your school’s PE to the next level?  Sign up now using coupon code SUP5and receive 5% off your chosen subscription package!

Enter your details to receive information on how we work with schools & organisations like yours. Or if you have a question, either contact us or fill out the form below. 

In the second part of our two part blog on initial teacher training and PE, we look at some simple steps to ensure you have everything you need to make a success of teaching PE in your early career, regardless of your previous training.  We look at

Contact your PE coordinator

Every primary school will have a PE coordinator and they should be your first point of contact.  Your PE coordinator’s job is to ensure equipment, planning resources and a curriculum plan are all in place.

Your PE coordinator can sign post you to any relevant courses and training in your area.  These might be activity specific such as gymnastics or directly aimed at new teachers.

Planning

It sounds obvious but be sure you know what you’re teaching.  If possible choose an activity you’re familiar with e.g. you may have played netball in your own time, or were keen on it at school.  Find an appropriate assessment for learning task for lesson 1.  Selecting an activity you are familiar with will help build your confidence when getting to know your class in the PE setting.

When you’ve decided what planning you will use, annotate it to shape the lesson to suit your school’s facilities and equipment and your class’s ability.

Preparation

Head down to the PE cupboard and see that everything you need for your first lesson is there.  If not, can you adapt or improvise so your class still experience what you’d planned?  For example, if there’s only one set of netball posts, how can you ensure there is somewhere for each team to shoot? Can you rotate groups so all get to use the proper equipment?

‘Set’ your pupils ready for the first lesson and the assessment for learning task – who do you think will be in your lower, middle, and upper band?  Remember you can always move individuals during the lessons if they make more or less progress than you would expect.  These groups are simply a starting point.

External ideas

Although your school should have plenty of resources, there’s a lot to be gained by looking at those of National Governing Bodies (NGB’s such as England Hockey).  One such site I found useful when developing my tag rugby teaching included a video on the rules developed by England Rugby.

The step by step nature of the video as well as seeing things ‘play out’ was invaluable for me as an inexperienced teacher of rugby!  With a bit of time exploring the web you can find some extremely helpful content.

Model others

When I was a new PE teacher I spent much of my PPA time watching other teachers.  I sought out teachers that I knew were considered outstanding or real experts in their subject.  I’d watch maths and see if any of the pedagogical methods could be transferred to my practically based lessons.

You may find watching experienced teachers lead PE valuable or even ask to go to the local secondary school to see what methods they use to deliver fun, effective and progressive PE.

It can seem that due to the lack of attention PE receives during ITT that it is a second rate subject.  Some of the things I’ve shared here may seem time-consuming and that you’d be better focusing your attention elsewhere during the high pressure of your NQT year – but teaching good PE pays dividends with your class.  We all know of the health benefits but the relationships you build with your pupils spills over in to other aspects of their learning.

Children learn trust, respect and resilience and that they will know that it is you that they shared this process with.

If your school needs planning for both new and experienced staff, take a look at what we do at The PE Hub our lesson plans and schemes of work offer support across a wide range of PE activities.

Enter your details to receive information on how we work with schools & organisations like yours. Or if you have a question, either contact us or fill out the form below. 

Initial teacher training and PE

It is now longer than I care to remember, that I fulfilled my dream of training to be a secondary school PE teacher.  Little did I know that I would spend the greatest amount of my time in primary education and ultimately, find my true passion.  However, I feel that if initial teacher training and PE (ITT) for primary teachers had been what it should, I’d never have stepped through the front door of our campus primary school back in 2002.  Sadly, it appears not much has changed in the proceeding 15 years.

At 22 and fresh out of university I was sent as a ‘specialist’ to work within the primary school and help train the staff.  As an NQT because I’d only just learned these skills for myself, I felt ill-equipped to lead others.  Who was I to tell a professional of 30 years how to teach a lesson?!

This was not the first time I was part of the ‘training’ of new teachers.  During my PGCE we had practical sessions covering the rules, skills, and teaching practices of the main activity areas such as invasion games and gymnastics.  One afternoon we were told that we would be teaching the primary PGCE students to play hockey…and this was to complete their 4 hours of PE as a foundation subject.   4 hours of students teaching students.

Changes in initial teacher training

While conducting research for my blog, I was interested to see what changes had occurred in initial teacher training and PE. I looked at 3 universities that run the PGCE and Teach First routes.  First of all, I expected to see a huge amount of change because of the recent investment in schools for PE, sport, and physical activity.  Maybe the government is now insisting institutions prepare their students better?

University of Cambridge  ‘Two half-day visits’

PE is different from other foundations subjects due to its practical nature; so in my next blog, I will explore these differences.  The blog will cover ways in which new teachers can prepare themselves to overcome these obstacles to delivering PE.

If your school needs planning for both new and experienced staff, take a look at what we do at The PE Hub our lesson plans and schemes of work offer support across a wide range of PE activities.

Enter your details to receive information on how we work with schools & organisations like yours. Or if you have a question, either contact us or fill out the form below. 

Background

When we started the PE Hub it was with one mission, to transfer ideas from our head to yours!  On March 1st I’m heading back in to the school where I was first given the idea for The PE Hub.  I was delivering athletics CPD for primary teachers and at the end I was asked where to get hold of ‘my plans’.  Well I didn’t have any plans! I used my experience and previous learning to shape each session so I would plan as and when needed.  I asked the teachers what they wanted, and their answer was what is now, The PE Hub.  A key feature of the PE hub is our teaching resource cards which now feature brand new illustrations.

Adding Value

When Sammy and I started our subscription service for schools we knew it was essential that we always added value, year on year.  We ask for feedback and are committed to bringing teachers, PE coordinators and senior management what you want.  We work hard to write and deliver new content in the form of units of work and launched our latest this week, Year 2 dance Unit 2.  But we also know the resources that support these PE lesson plans are equally important.

Brand New Illustrations

We’ve been working closely with an illustration company to create 52 new pictures for the website.  These will replace the photos we currently have.  What benefits do these illustrations have over our current photos?

  1. Clearer and more accurate depiction of skills and positions
  2. Cheaper reproduction costs – we want you to use the pictures and our simple line drawn format will reduce ink costs for printing and photocopying
  3. Easier for us to respond to specific requests – for example if we receive repeated requests we can commission specific images to meet demand
How you can use the illustrations

We will be uploading the illustrations over the next week or so and will contact all subscribers to let you know when they are available.  If you’re not yet a subscribero get your school set with AfPE approved PE lesson plans and resources.

Enter your details to receive information on how we work with schools & organisations like yours. Or if you have a question, either contact us or fill out the form below.