Physical Education and Sport are very important at our school and each class has at least two, one hour sessions of physical activity a week. We believe that physical ability and sport can greatly contribute to the holistic development of a child.

Our vision for P.E. in our school is to provide children with a movement foundation for lifelong participation in physical activity. We support all children to be physically literate and encourage their development to be competent and confident movers.

It was first announced in 2013 that the government would be providing funding for physical education and school sport. We started to receive this funding from September 2014. The various ways we have used the funding and the impact that it is having in our school, are outlined in the document below.

For more information on the curriculum aspect of physical education at St Paul's, please see the link below. 

PE and Sport Premium Funding- Spending Updates and Documents

Report to Governors-November 2021

Guidance

At St Paul's we are extremely proud to offer the children experience in a broad range of sports and activities. These are offered to all pupils. The Chief Medical Officer guidelines recommend that all children and young people engage in at least 60 minutes of physical activity a day, of which 30 minutes should be in school. Our clubs help our children to achieve this goal!

Swimming

96.5% of our Year 6 cohort 2023/2024 met the Nationals Curriculum requirements to swim competently, confidently and proficiently over a distance of at least 25 metres, use a range of strokes effectively and perform safe self-rescue in different water-based situations. 100% of our Year 6 cohort 2022/ 2023, 2021/2022 and 2020/2021 met the National Curriculum requirements.

Outdoor and Adventurous Learning 

At St Paul's, we take great pride in providing all children with access to Outdoor and Adventurous learning throughout their time at school. We work alongside Wild One Adventures to provide high quality learning with links across the curriculum. All children participate in OAL for a mininum of 2 hours per half term.

Outdoor and Adventurous Curriculum

Forest School Sessions Video Resource Centre

Gymnastics Specialist 

At St Paul’s we are very lucky to welcome Mrs Winward (nee Crewe) into school on a Thursday as a specialist Gymnastics Teacher. Over the course of the year, Mrs Winward will teach each year group for at least one half term. She will teach Pre-school and EYFS for the whole year. At St Paul’s we firmly believe that increasing a child’s core strength, physical development and listening skills at such a young age will benefit them in all their learning encouraging them to grow and flourish in our learning environment. Our children are fantastic gymnasts and their confidence and ability in the subject area has grown massively since welcoming Mrs Winward into the school family. Mrs Winward also provides professional development for the teaching and support staff in school, improving their confidence, knowledge and skills in their teaching strategies in this subject area to ensure the quality first teaching is received by all children for many years to come.

Cricket Specialist 

Previously, Year 5 and 6 have been very lucky to have the opportunity to have specialist cricket coaching from Jordan Clarke. Jordan is part of the Lancashire Cricket Foundation offering Chance to Shine cricket coaching. This specialist coaching will allow the children to develop specific skills in this curriculum area that they otherwise may not have the opportunity to learn. Teaching staff will also take part in the sessions so they can develop their subject knowledge and delivery of Cricket. If the opportunity poses itself again, we will be sure to work with LCF in the future. 

What a fantastic evening of racing for the year 5/6 swimming team at Darwen Leisure Centre! 

Will won bronze in the backstroke! 

George won silver in the breaststroke! 

Joe won silver in the front crawl! 

The boys won gold in the medley relay!

The boys won gold in the front crawl relay! 

The team finished 3rd overall with an amazing score of 54 points! 

Amazing swimming from everyone! A credit to themselves and the school! 

Year 3 and 4 gymnastics competition! 
 

Congratulations to the year 3 + 4 gymnastics team who competed in the the Blackburn and Darwen Key Steps gymnastics competition at St Bede’s.  They showed skill, precision and talent! 

Emmy finished second in the individual competition!

The mixed team finished first! 

The girls team finished first!

What a fantastic afternoon, well done everyone! 

Sports hall Athletics! 
 

Key Stage 2 loved their Sportshall Athletics competitions.  They showed speed, strength and agility and incredibly sportsmanship and teamwork!  

DPSSA Boys' Football League Autumn 2022

The Year 5 and 6 boys have been competing weekly in the DPSSA boy's football league. They are doing well and 2 weeks in, have won 2 matches, drawn 1 and lost 1. They have approached each game with passion, respect, resilience and determination. Well done boys, we are all very proud of your teamwork. 

KS1 Multi Skills Festival October 2022

Year 1 have had an excellent morning at the KS1 multi skills festival. They took part in lots of activities and games, such as running, golf, balancing and much more. They are all so excited and have loved telling me all about it! We all behaved beautifully and showed great sporting values. Well done everyone! Thanks to the Year 6 Young Leaders who also supported the younger children at the event. Thanks to the School Games Organisers for arranging another successful event.

Tri Kidz October 2022

We have loved taking part in Tri Kidz. Each class became triathletes! We completed a swim, a run and a cycle! Well done everyone for your determination and resilience! 

Plus, look at what the team who delivered the sessions said about our brilliant school:

"Thank you so much for having us back at St Paul's, we had an amazing day working with the children.
Both Sarah and I both commented on how kind and supportive the children are of each other and their listening and attitude was some of the best we have seen.
They represented their school with so much pride.
We would love to come back to St Paul's again if you would have us."

Tri Kidz October 2022 | Hoddlesden St Paul's Church of England Primary School (primarysite.media)

Children enjoying the excellent LCF Roadshow, providing a broad range of sports and activities offered to all pupils. 

We have used some of our funding to provide OAA mornings for all children across school, children loved participating in a sport they wouldn't usually engage in. It has also helped raise the profile of OAA and shows the children how to use the local area in which they live for their physical and mental wellbeing.

Wow! What a day! All children across school got to try something new. Tri-Kidz was a challenge and in response we are promoting more regular engagement in physical activity for all children. We have booked Tri-Kidz again for Summer 2022 and we will see if our stamina and resilience has improved!

We have not let COVID-19 stand in the way of participation in competitive sport! Lower KS2 took part in the Gymnastics Competition against other BwD schools virtually! You can see our entries below. 

Year 5 and 6 have had specialist coaching from Jordan Clarke, part of the Lancashire Cricket Foundation. He has helped raise the profile of cricket across school and has encouraged a lot of children to begin to play the game at lunch and break times. Jordan has also provided staff with increasing their confidence, knowledge and skill set with regard to cricket.

Again- COVID-19 won't stop us taking part in competitions. The Orienteering Competition was held virtually this year. Our scores were submitted and the organisers compared them against other schools in BwD. We are very proud to say we came...SECOND! A huge well done to everyone who took part.