Physical Education

Physical Education Mission Statement; Raising the Bar

Physical Education and School Sports play a major part in life here at Wildern School.  We pride ourselves on offering a curricular and extra-curricular experience that has meaningful value in which all students are afforded the opportunity to succeed and progress.  

We have a unique opportunity in the PE department to nurture student's physical, emotional and social skills through a diverse range of practical activities.  We strive to ensure that all students enjoy PE, develop a fierce passion to overcome challenge, and aim to excel in everything they undertake.  In doing so, we feel that our students are then equipped for modern Britain and to enter a world where they feel confident, competent and capable of pursuing their dreams beyond the walls of Wildern School.  

Please look at our dedicated twitter page (@WildernSchoolPE) to see all the fantastic things that happen on a daily basis within our department.  

Key Stage 3 

We are extremely proud and passionate about the cutting-edge curriculum that we have developed for our students in Year 7, 8 and 9.  Across the 3 years, students study a concept-based curriculum which aims to teach fundamental concepts that students can subsequently apply to any sporting pursuit and beyond into their wider life in modern Britain.  

Imagine a PE lesson in which the main focus is not the sport-specific skill, but that of a concept, take overcoming opponents for example.  We continue to teach our sport-specific lesson(s) but that sport is no longer the destination, it is the vehicle to deliver relevant and meaningful learning.  The educational research from Sterns' Transfer Learning Mental Model (Stern, J., et. al., 2021) shows that in doing so, students will make stronger connections to the concept, are able to apply this in differing situations and it will genuinely prepare them for life, both un relation to PE & Sport and beyond.  

The six concepts that students study across Key Stage 3 PE are; 

1. Overcoming Opponents (Indoor): Taught through Basketball, Badminton, Handball, table Tennis, Volleyball. 

2. Overcoming Opponents (Outdoor): Taught through Football, Rugby, Hockey, Cricket, Tennis, Rounders and Athletics.  

3. Aesthetic Technique & Performance: Taught through Gymnastics, Dance, Trampolining & Athletics. 

4. Water Technique & Safety: Taught through Swimming, Personal Survival, Synchronised Swimming, Water Polo 

5. Health Related Exercise: Taught through Fitness Classes, Fitness Suite Sessions and Outdoor Fitness Sessions 

6. Sports Culture - Taught through American Football, Lacrosse, Kabaddi, Aussie Rules, Gaelic Football.  

Students in Key Stage 3 also engage in the Wildern Games from the Easter-May which uses a Sports Education model to encourage the use of six key character traits.  These traits are considered essential in PE & Sport, but beyond this into the wider life here at Wildern School; 

• Organisation 
• FairPlay & Sportsmanship 
• Teamwork
• Resilience
• Leadership
• Initiative 

Key Stage 4 

As students move through into Key Stage 4 (Years 10 & 11), we move away from our concept-based curriculum and provide them with a greater level of ownership.  This is to embed that life-long love of physical activity and to provide students with the opportunity to select a PE pathway that engages, excites and excels their love of physical activity the most. 

These Pathways still offer a good level of breadth and diversity, but through their personal selection, we would hope students acquire a greater level of skill and knowledge to enhance their performance and emphasise the importance of following a healthy active lifestyle.  

Examination PE & Sport 

In addition to our core PE programme of study, students have the opportunity to follow an examination pathway in Physical Education.  We are extremely proud to offer two different PE & Sports-based qualifications, GCSE PE & Sports Studies, each of which offer a very different route of study depending on our students interests, performance and post-16 career preferences.  

We offer an unique examination PE programme across the 3 year study period.  At the beginning of Year 9, students will enrol on our generic 'Examination PE' course which teaches all students the fundamental knowledge, understanding and skills required across both courses.  At the end of Year 9, students holistic performance is assessed by the PE department and students are placed into our GCSE PE Course or our Sports Studies Course ready for Year 10 as shown below; 

Cambridge Nationals in Sports Studies (Brand New for 2022); 

Please click the link for more information on this course. 

Students will study a range of topics which include;

• Contemporary Issues in Sport 
• Performance & Leadership in Sports Activities 
• Sport and the Media

This course is assessed through;

Contemporary Issues in Sport:

• 1hr 15 min written examination (Externally marked & graded) 
• 70 marks 
• 40% of the overall grade

Performance & Leadership in Sports Activities

• Five internally-set tasks (Internally marked & externally moderated) 
• 80 marks
• 40% of overall grade

Sport & The Media

• Four Internally-set tasks (Internally marked & externally moderated) 
• 40 marks 
• 20% of overall grade

Pearson Edexcel GCSE Physical Education 

Please click the link for more information on the course 

Students will study a range of topics which include; 

• Applied Anatomy & Physiology 
• Movement Analysis 
• Physical Training 
• Health, Fitness & Well-being 
• Sports Psychology 
• Socio-cultural influences 

The course is assessed through:

Component 1: 

• 1hr 30min written examination (Externally marked & graded)
• Anatomy & Physiology, Movement Analysis, Physical Training
• 80 Marks
• 34% of overall grade

Component 2: 

• 1hr 15min Written examination (Externally marked & graded)
• Health, Fitness & Well-being, Sports Psychology, Socio-cultural influences
• 60 Marks
• 36% of overall grade

Component 3: 

• Sporting performance across THREE different sports (Please click link for list of approved sporting activities) 
• One team Sport (10%)
• One individual sport (10%)
• One either team or individual (10%) 
• Internally marked and externally moderated
• 30% of overall grade

Component 4 

• Written piece of coursework focussed on a Personal Experience
• Maximum of 1500 words
• 10% of overall grade

Extra-Curricular Activities and Trips

The PE department works tirelessly to ensure our students are afforded every possible opportunity to continue their sporting pursuits beyond the school day with a full array of different sports clubs on offer to ALL.  

Here at Wildern the word 'trial' does not exist with ALL sports clubs on offer to ALL students.  Of course, team selection for local, regional and national competitions still happens but we approach our extra-curricular provision with a mentality where everyone can still be included regardless of team selection.  

We rotate our extra-curricular timetable every half-term so that we can offer a diverse range of different opportunities to our students.  On average, we have 20+ clubs happening weekly with timetables published in the PE department, on Google Classroom and on our twitter page (@WildernSchoolPE) 

The extra-curricular sports clubs that we offer across the academic year include, but are not limited to; 

• Athletics
• Basketball 
• Badminton 
• Cricket
• Dance
• Fitness Classes
• Football (Boys & Girls Representative Teams) 
• Gymnastics
• Handball 
• Hockey 
• Netball 
• Rounders
• Rugby (Boys & Girls Representative Teams) 
• Softball 
• Tennis
• Table Tennis
• Trampolining 

Beyond our normal weekly programme, the department also offers a range of fixtures, trips and overseas excursions.  Our teams compete in local, regional and prestigious national competitions.  We are soon to be offering a bi-annual Sports Tour which will sit alongside our very successful annual overseas ski trip to Austria.  

Sports Ambassadors Programme 

When students reach Year 9, there is an opportunity to become a Sports Ambassador and join our prestigious programme. This programme aims to equip our students with the leadership skills needed to coach, mentor and lead sports activity sessions.  This programme works in conjunction with our very successful Primary School Sports Partnership in which we see hundreds of our future Wildern Sports Stars visiting us for a full range of sports festivals.  

For further information about the Sports Ambassadors Programme please contact our Primary Sport Coordinators Miss Clarke and Miss Dobbs.