We are pleased to announce the winners of the 2023 Gill Parry Award for Best Practice in Physical Education: Mosspits Lane Primary School!
Rita Hesford: Presenting Mosspits Lane Primary School with the Gill Parry Award for Best Practice in Physical Education (2023)
PE at Mosspits Lane has been designed with a well thought out, cohesive and progressive curriculum at its heart. PE at Mosspits is for all pupils and all pupils can benefit from a high-quality PE curriculum and teaching and learning – especially those with SEND and from disadvantaged backgrounds. The sequencing of curriculum has been well thought out so that children can access content, develop the competencies which build proficiency and motivation and maximise the opportunities for pupils to make meaningful connections from previous units.
Here are some of the reflective points raised by the teachers at Mosspits:
- Each unit of PE builds on its previous and children are able to practice their learning year on year if not every other year. Revisiting and progressing is vital and providing opportunities for children to continue to use their knowledge and skills outside of PE lessons (such as during lunchtimes) is a vital offering that we have at Mosspits Lane. We have invested in the PALS scheme to upskill KS2 children to become play leaders and we have invested in the playground equipment available during play times and lunch times.
- Developing motor competence, strategy, rules and tactics and healthy participation are the progressive drivers that are embedded at Mosspits Lane when we build the curriculum. PE will be the first time that some pupils are taught how to make confident and controlled motor movements. For children with greater prior knowledge, they are taught how to develop their existing competences.
- After embedding GetSet4PE over 12 months ago, staff voice has shown that teachers who teach PE are confident in delivering high-quality instruction, opportunities to practice, and feedback to enable all pupils to develop their motor competences in a wide range of physical activities. We have invested in our staff and offered CPD to all teaching PE with the use of our dedicated Sports Coach (Ste Kelly) and external agencies such as Lancashire Cricket. This has allowed Teachers to ‘team teach’ and fine tune their teaching practises to ensure high-quality teaching is provided.
- We recognise that it is important for pupils to make connections between their knowledge of health and how it applies to physical activity. PE and PHSE link very closely at Mosspits Lane and PHSE compliment the healthy participation message we embed with our children. For example, pupils’ in KS2 learn how the body works, so that they can understand the relationships between activity and its effect on the body.
- A PE lesson at Mosspits Lane is built on using specific and precise terminology. This enables children to make more careful observations and it enhances intelligent movement. Our curriculum allows teachers to plan vocabulary development carefully so that pupils benefit from repeated encounters with words and so that they have the language required to access a full range of physical activities and sports. Knowing what to do and how to do it are fundamental drivers in PE at Mosspits Lane.
- Our children receive lots of opportunities for practice within one context of the curriculum in order the master the learning intended.
- We believe through experiences and a broad, balanced and progressive curriculum tailored to all children, they will have the motivation, confidence, physical competence, knowledge and understanding to value and take responsibility for their engagement in physical activity, sport and PE throughout their life at Mosspits and
- beyond. We want children to grow up and shine physically, emotionally and socially. Our vision is for children to leave Mosspits as well-rounded individuals physically, socially and mentally as well as growing to become confident, resilient and independent; able to take responsibility for their health and fitness throughout their life.
- We champion sporting values that intertwine with the school ethos. This help our children to maintain a positive physical, social and mental outlook. This is embedded into all lessons, extra-curricular opportunities and competitions. We provide a plethora of physical activities before, during and after school as well as attending weekly out of school competitions, and we have a strong track record of linking our school with outside clubs in order to bridge community links such as Lancashire Cricket, Wavertree Tennis and Woolton Football Club to name a few. Attendance and allocation of clubs is monitored to ensure equality of opportunity for all children to take part in enrichment activities, including pupils entitled to Pupil Premium and those that have a special educational need or disability.
Press Event:
We have signed up again to Living Streets and our children take part in the year-round initiative to get walking! WOW is a pupil-led initiative where children self-report how they get to school every day using the interactive Travel Tracker in class. If the children travel sustainably (walk, cycle, scoot or ‘park and stride’) at least twice a week for a month, they get rewarded with a badge. You can read more about our walk to school event here: https://www.livingstreets.org.uk/news-and-blog/press-media/paula-barker-mp-and-simon-o-brien-walk-to-school-with-pupils which saw Paula Barker (MP) and Simon O’Brien Liverpool City Region Walking and Cycling Commissioner walk to school with over 100 Mosspits Lane children.
Liverpool Gymnastics:
We respond to the needs of our children and undertake pupil voice questionnaires throughout the year to further enhance experiences and learning. From this, we expressed an interest to the World Gymnastics Legacy support programme to be able to enhance our gymnastics offering. We were one of the ten schools chosen to receive this support. We were allocated 12 tickets (10 pupils / 2 staff) to access the men’s qualifying World Gymnastics (held at Liverpool Convention Centre) Championship. Additionally, children had the opportunity to attend a gymnastics session lead by British Gymnastics qualified coaches. Additionally, we received £940 for gymnastics equipment. We have since been able to run gymnastics club as well as utilise specific gymnastics equipment in lessons. Children appeared on ITV’s North West Tonight to talk about their experience when attending the Gymnastics.
The NWCPEA would like to thank colleagues at Mosspits for their dedication to, and promotion of, quality physical education in school.