Clavering Primary School

VISION STATEMENT

Clavering PESSPA Programme: developing a lifelong love of physical activity

‘Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire.

It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does.’ (Nelson Mandela)

At Clavering Primary School, we want every Clavering child to be:

• competent and confident physically;
• competitive successfully; and
• committed to maintaining a healthy, active lifestyle.

COMPETENT AND CONFIDENT PHYSICALLY

The Clavering Physical Education, School Sport and Physical Activity (PESSPA) Programme is part of a wider and established culture that promotes individual academic and sporting excellence. Our expectation is that every child will benefit from outstanding PE provision, leaving us physically competent and confident and achieving every Clavering assessment milestone for PE.

We take the Clavering PESSPA Programme very seriously, investing in it and seeing it as central to our school culture and ethos. A key reason why we invest in and value PE and school sport is the wider benefits we believe it brings in developing the ‘whole person’ and developing a ‘culture of success’.

Experience has shown that the values our children develop in PE and sport carry across into their academic work – commitment on the playing field is carried across into the exam room and beyond. These values include, of course, the Clavering Family Values, which are developed in all aspects of our PESSPA Programme. Our programme instils these values, whilst also having positive effects on behaviour and attendance.

COMPETITIVE SUCCESSFULLY

At Clavering, staff members, governors, families and children understand that competitive sport isn’t an optional extra; it is a key component in building children’s self-esteem, confidence, the school ethos and academic excellence.  

At Clavering, competitive sport is viewed as part of a broad curriculum. All children are expected to participate in intra-school sport competitions as part of the Clavering House system and the vast majority in inter-school sports competitions (with every child representing the school before leaving us in Year 6).

The drive to compete and excel in sport, encouraged throughout the school, helps to shape each children's character, binds the school together as a whole, and reinforces the drive to compete and excel academically. As the mantra goes: schools that win on the field win in the exam hall.

We believe that children’s education is the poorer if they are deprived of the chance to compete. Children enjoy competition. It pushes them to do better and try harder. Of course, it also carries with it the risk of defeat, but how better to prepare children for the setbacks that life will inevitably throw at them? Not every child can or will go on to become a world champion, but every child will experience victories and defeats, and, certainly, every Clavering child deserves the opportunity to have their sporting passion identified and nurtured.

COMMITTED TO MAINTAINING A HEALTHY, ACTIVE LIFESTYLE

Clavering Primary School is committed to promoting the health and wellbeing of its children and staff through physical activity.

We strive to maximise opportunities for children and all associated with the school to be physically active by promoting all avenues for activity (not just in PE lessons and through competitive sport opportunities). This includes within our curriculum, within our extra-curricular offer, across our school environment and through links with the wider community.

Having consulted with families, children and staff, we launched our Clavering 30:30 Physical Activity Strategy in July 2017, with the aim of ensuring that every Clavering child is physically active for at least thirty minutes during every school day and that no Clavering child is sedentary for longer than thirty minutes during any school day. This is being achieved in a strategic, systematic and fun way that promotes both active breaks and active learning. Our 'Get Up, Get Active' sessions provide daily opportunities to improve strength and fitness through a programme that we have designed ourselves that covers core, upper body and lower body strength as well as cardiovascular fitness.

Through what is provided at school and outside of school, our hope is that every Clavering child will meet the four UK Chief Medical Officers' physical activity guidelines* and will go on to continue to enjoy healthy, physically active lifestyles when they leave us.

Similarly, we are very proud of how the Clavering PESSPA Programme positively contributes to our children's mental health and wellbeing, as can be seen in our role as a Lead Health and Wellbeing School and through Clavering being selected as one of the founding members of the 'Well Schools' movement.

Most of all, we want the Clavering PESSPA Programme to help our children to develop into healthy, well-rounded and successful individuals with a lifelong love of and commitment to physical activity.