Physical Education Core

Head of Department: Mr M Wilce

What is Core PE?

Physical Education is a core subject which will be taken by all pupils. Our Key Stage 4 curriculum aims to suit pupils’ individual needs and allows them a choice in which physical activities they would like to take part in.  Our purpose is to ensure students understand how to maintain a healthy active lifestyle when they leave school and develop life skills such as resilience, collaboration and empathy ready for the ‘workplace’. Core PE also gives KS4 students much needed stress relief from their exam subjects.

What skills will I develop?

Students will physically exercise, work hard and increase their heart rate to maintain their healthy active lifestyle and provide time out from their exam subjects.  They will have an opportunity to improve and develop existing practical skills in addition to leading, coaching and officiating.  Perhaps most importantly students will develop life skills such as resilience, responsibility, integrity, communication, influencing others, evaluation, empathy and innovation.

What syllabus will I follow?

There is no exam syllabus.  Curriculum lessons are delivered based on the activity pathway chosen.

What will the course look like?

Students can opt from several different pathways:

Performance Competitive – for those that enjoy competitive games-based activities of a more physical nature such as football, rugby and dodgeball.

Performance – for those who enjoy competitive games-based activities such as football, hockey and badminton.

Performance Plus – a sports leadership pathway where students learn to lead and coach other students in addition to taking part in the physical activities themselves.  All leadership academy students must follow this pathway, but pupils don’t have to be an academy student to do this pathway.  Students who follow this pathway are selected to lead and coach younger students at the various primary events we co-ordinate and support throughout the year. 

Adventure – for those that enjoy outdoor, alternative challenging activities such as mountain biking, climbing and orienteering.

Healthy Active Lifestyles Games – for those that enjoy less competitive games and individual activities that will improve fitness such as badminton, trampolining and circuits.

Healthy Active Lifestyles – for those that do not enjoy games and would like to work on maintaining or improving fitness levels

through more individual activities such as yoga, Zumba, aerobics, rowing and trampolining.

Students stay on the same pathway for the whole year – they will opt for their pathway at the end of year 9.  Students will have an opportunity to opt for a different pathway in year 11.  This process will be done at the end of year 10.

What homework will I get?

Students following the performance plus pathway may have session plans to write up or evaluate at home.

We expect students to be exercising and participating in physical activity outside of school to maintain their healthy active lifestyle.

How will I be assessed?

Students will be assessed using our Comberton KS4 Core PE assessment levels.  Students are assessed in three strands: Enjoyment, Lifelong Activity and Employability Skills.  The levels use the same language as the KS3 assessment lower down the school and the criteria is centred around the vision and purpose of Core PE at Comberton. These levels do not correlate to GCSE at all.

What jobs or further courses of study might this lead to?

Core PE ensures that students are successful in whatever they chose to do next by:

• Helping to ensure they are healthy and free from illness
• Maintaining fitness levels to cope with everyday demands
• Providing stress relief and good mental health to cope with pressure and difficult circumstances
• Developing life skills and employability
• Developing confidence and self-esteem to ensure they are ambitious and achieve their potential

Are there any entry requirements for this course?

All students participate in Core PE.  Students need to ensure they are well organised for lessons with their PE kit and are actively involved in all activities.

If I need additional support, what can I access?

After-school PE clubs run as usual for KS4 students.  If students want to participate in more activities and increase their physical activity levels, then we would like to see them attend these clubs.  This will also help students to develop the positive habit of exercising outside of Core PE lessons.

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