Tag: 2 hours PE

Physical Education – Dance

Morag Young and Morag Simpson, Physical Education Lead Officers from Falkirk Council Curriculum Support Team organised a Dance twilight for primary class teachers and specialists. This course was led by Anne Murphy,  from Education Scotland. Anne demonstrated how to provide a progressive Dance programme covering the Physical Education Experience and Outcomes, focussing on the Significant Aspects of Learning in PE from Early Level through to Second Level.  She also showed how to incorporate numeracy skills, literacy skills and topic work.  This was a practical course and participants enjoyed the way in which the course was delivered in an extremely inclusive and creative manner. Course participants were able to identify that this method of teaching Dance  would ensure a positive learning experience for all and highlighted that you didn’t need to be a dancer to teach Dance!!

Examples of the very positive feedback are shown below.

“Fantastic ideas for creative dance which I could see working with my class, they would be  motivated and would get a lot of enjoyment from it”

“ How to allow pupils to take ownership and problem solve”

“I did two dance twilights last year and both were difficult to implement. This one was fab! 

“Plan to use these ideas in term 3 and link to literacy”

Physical Education in Early Years

Morag Young and Morag Simpson, PE Lead Officers with Falkirk Council Curriculum Support Team delivered a twilight session at St. Andrew’s Primary School for Early Years Practitioners.  This course demonstrated a variety of activities to develop the childrens’ ability to move well, using ideas from the Better Movers, Better Thinkers programme. Practitioners were also shown how to use PE activities to support the development of Numeracy and Literacy and shared ideas on developing the use of themed activity trails to support topic work. There was an opportunity for everyone to discuss resources and share ideas. This was a very practical course and the presenters would like to thank everyone for their enthusiatic participation.

Initial feedback from the session was extremely positive and a selection of comments are shown below:

“Clearly presented, interactive and helpful”

“Excellent workshop, lots of good ideas, enjoyed topic work”

“Really liked the ideas on how to link PE ideas with numeracy and literacy”

“Great course, fab instructions, I really enjoyed this course”

Gymnastics

Morag Young and Morag Simpson, Physical Education Lead Officers from Falkirk Council Curriculum Support Team organised a Gymnastics twilight for primary class teachers and specialists. This course was led by Anne Murphy,  from Education Scotland. Anne demonstrated how to provide a progressive Gymnastics programme focussing on the Significant Aspects of Learning in PE from Early Level through to Second Level. This was a practical course and participants were very impressed by the way in which the course was delivered in an extremely inclusive manner. Course participants were able to identify that this method of teaching Gymnastics  would ensure a positive learning experience for all.

Examples of the very positive feedback are shown below.

“Better quality lessons and learning experience for the children”

“I think my learners will have a more positive and richer learning experience”

“more valuable experience for all the children especially those who are not so confident in this area”

Kinnaird Primary Joint Fitness Sessions

Morag Young and Morag Simpson, PE Lead Officers, Falkirk Council Curriculum Support Team visited Kinnaird Primary to observe their joint fitness sessions. This involved two or three classes joining together to maximise facility use and help the delivery of their two hour Physical Education programnme. The class teachers take a team teach approach, sharing the responsibility for planning and delivering different aspects of the lesson.

The children enjoyed their learning and were active and engaged throughout. P2-3 were involved with a zumbatonic and fitness session learning about how the body feels during exercise and what is required before and after activity. P3-4 did an outdoor games session where the focus was on personal choice and working together in pairs or small groups. P5-6 were practising and developing different movement patterns in a relay style format. This provided the opportunity for learners to work on their self-determination, motivation and co-ordiantion.

We have already recommended this format to other schools who have limited access to facilities for Physical Education.  Thank you to all staff and pupils involved.

Let’s get pupils more active

Christine Snedden, Curriculum Support Officer, Falkirk Council Education Services in parnership with Morag Simpson, Karen Thomson and Morag Young of the Curriculum Support Team have been looking at options to deliver the 2 hours of Physical Education entitlement.

On Thursday 9th May a pilot project began in which all pupils at Moray Primary school in Grangemouth accessed one hour of physical education in an afternoon. All staff were involved in the planning, preparation and delivery of a variety of activities including, orienteering, games circuits,hockey, fitness, crosscountry, core skill, dance and gymnastics. These activities took place both indoors and outdoors and will continue for a further 3 weeks when the blocks of activities will change. The enthusiaum and energy from both staff and pupils added to the excitement of the afternoon.

For more information and photographs – follow Moray Primary on Twitter