Sport, fitness and academic success all go hand in hand, so at Bedwell we take our PE really seriously. Every class has at least 2 hours of timetabled PE every week, taught by a mixture of class teachers and our specialist PE Teacher, Mr Butler. We aim to introduce our children to as many sports and actitives as possible, so that they can find the one that suits them, and so that everyone can experience success - and consequently our provision includes everything from fencing to trampolining and street dance to swimming.

PE also provides a huge range of opportunities to develop our learning powers, particularly co-operation, empathy and perseverance. To find out more about what we teach and how learnng fits together, take a look at our skills and knowledge progression:  

• Skills and Knowledge Progression : Physical Education
   

The aim of our PE curriculum

Sport, exercise, dance and gymnastics provide a fantastic platform on which to build a huge range of skills. We want our children to: 

• Know how to stay fit and healthy, understand the importance of exercise and live healthy lives 
• Enjoy being active, and as a result choose to engage in sport, exercise, dance and gymnastics in their free time, both in and out of school 
• Understand how to work as a team to achieve a common goal, agreeing rules, roles and tactics, and sharing responsibility for outcomes 
• Be introduced to a broad range of sports, primarily through the taught curriculum, but also through lunchtime activities and after-school clubs (all of which are free to join), so that they can find the one that will become their passion 
• Play competitively, taking pride in their accomplishments and relishing the opportunity to represent their class, house, school or town 
• Learn about winning and losing in a safe environment 
• Develop a sense of fair play, respecting players, officials and the rules of a game 
• Have the chance to take sport further, through introductions to local clubs, and with our more talented children supported in taking part in opportunities such as the Herts Schools Games and District Football. 
• Recognise that sport should be, above all else, fun

Experiences we want every child to have at Bedwell:

• Take part in a regular diet of competitive intra-school events across a range of sports from Year 2 upwards; as children progress through the school, this expands to include officiating and organising events through our Sports Crew 
• Represent the school in a Level 2 competition [our goal is that all children should represent the school at least once during Year 5/6; many children will take part in far more events than this] 
• Play sport in front of spectators (through inter-school events and our Sports Days) 
• Take part in adventurous, outdoor activities, such as climbing, abseiling, raft building or orienteering 
• Be introduced to local clubs and training centres through in-school taster sessions and longer-term projects (such as Chance to Shine cricket)

Sporting success stories

Sports Awards - We had a brilliant end to our sporting season, scooping up an incredible collection of trophies and honours at the Stevenage Sporting Futures Awards. Our teams collectively secured the School Games Values award, having demonstrated the core principles of determination, honesty, respect, self-belief and teamwork consistently across every event we have attended this year. On top of that, Mrs Thomas was awarded the Sports Coordinator of the Year award, in recognition of all she does to organise and promote sport in school (an award she was keen to share with Mr Butler). Finally, we collected the (massive) School of the Year award, recognising how thoroughly we have embedded sport and physical activity into every part of school life, and how highly PE is valued at Bedwell. It was an amazing haul of awards, and we have spent the last two weeks proudly showing them off to everyone we know!

Sports Week - The whole school got involved in this year’s Sports Week, which took place from 15th - 19th June. Across a packed week (plus a few bonus days in the following weeks after events were rescheduled due to the weather), we took part in four Sports Days, a huge range of taster sessions and competitions, plus lots of fantastic events run by staff, local clubs and sporting organisations. You can find out more about what we got up to here. 

Athletics - In June, our Year 4/5/6 Athletics squad headed to the Stevenage Festival at Ridlins Stadium, where they took on hundreds of other children from schools across town. On the track, we secured an impressive silver medal in a very tough Year 4 400m, but it was in the field where we really excelled, winning a silver in the Y5/6 javelin, and a bronze and a silver in the howler throw. Most impressive of all, we won gold in the Y5/6 girls high-jump. It was a super performance from the whole team, and it was great to see how well everyone supported their teammates and took pride in our collective successes.