The North Wester Counties PE Association holds an annual award ceremony, and on Friday 18th September this ceremony also celebrated out 101st year of existence. The Gill Parry Award is for best practice in schools and the winners were:

Primary School

Woodfold Primary School - The opportunities for ALL children to engage in PE and extra-curricular clubs are excellent. The percentage of children attending clubs for children with EAL, SEN and pupil premium is outstanding. An impressive feature was the bespoke PE curriculum and evidence provided of assessment and tracking of pupil progress, especially FMS and use of digital technology. 

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Special School

Manchester Hospital School – PE has been reimagined for children undergoing medical treatment at Manchester Hospital School. The PE delivery in non-traditional environments of bedside, corridors and small communal areas, a highly personalised curriculum where staff design activities creatively and adapt the learning to meet individual medical needs so PE remains meaningful is outstanding. The recognition of how PE can play a role in physical recovery and emotional resilience is impressive. Activities are shaped in partnership with pupils and a real focus on the holistic development along with embedding movement throughout the day is excellent. Sharing of the practice is imperative so other children in other hospitals can benefit from purposeful PE.

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High School

Whalley Range High School – The school has gone from strength-to-strength but rarely ‘blows its own trumpet.’ The nomination fails to mention the extremely diverse nature of its cohort, a huge percentage of Muslim girls, an equally large percentage of EAL and Pupil Premium girls. The school has constantly striven to be all inclusive and all active, realising the importance of PESSPA in the development of its pupils.  Moreover, the faculty deputy Sarah Clarke recently ran a workshop at the afPE conference in Leeds, sharing the ways in which the D of E can be integrated into the secondary curriculum.

 It is clear that the Physical Education Department has received excellent support from the school’s senior leadership team in enabling the PE faculty to plan, introduce and embed leadership and volunteering opportunities leading to OAA and the D of E award across both key stage 3 & 4. Through its whole school development, it has made a significant contribution to the school culture. This has enabled students, who may never have experienced outdoor activity due to their own cultural background develop confidence, confidence and wider life skills which are so important.

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Eric Ward Prize

This prize is for the best dissertation from an undergraduate student.

The winner was Faye McCullough (University of Lancashire): ‘How do Primary School teachers address gender stereotypes when delivering PE lessons that involve activities traditionally perceived as “Feminine”?’

Interesting topic with aims relevant to PE. Qualitative case study design using sophisticated methods in semi structured interviews. Overall, this is a well written summary with a good layout of information; structure and development apparent right from the start. The key themes towards the end are thought provoking. Conclusion shows awareness of influential factors and offers solutions for ITT of PE specialists.

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