Physical Education & School Sport

At The Divine Mercy RC Primary School, Physical Education encourages our pupils to learn with their hands, their heads and their hearts. 

P.E is valued for its unique contribution to developing children’s physical, cognitive, social, interpersonal and emotional skills. It provides opportunities for children to be creative and competitive while learning to work with and respect others. The school encourages all children to participate in sport in order to develop an appreciation of teamwork, a respect of and tolerance of the abilities of others and an awareness of opportunities to enjoy fulfilling leisure activities. We aim to develop agility, physical co-ordination, fitness, confidence and enjoyment through physical activities.

Our children learn how to plan, perform and evaluate actions, often in pairs and small groups, helping them to develop the quality and effectiveness of their work.  The children across our school develop confidence and competence in performing different skills and build a resilience to overcome challenges as they arise. A positive attitude towards active lifestyles is promoted and we aim to introduce children to lifelong physical activity. This is provided by the children having access to a wide range of sporting extra curricular clubs, which accommodate a wide variety of interests both before, during and after school.

Our children are provided with the opportunity to access a minimum of 2 hours, timetabled P.E every week. The school uses P.E Passport, which incorporates the Lancashire P.E scheme, enabling teachers to focus on delivering high quality, engaging P.E lessons, as well as tracking pupils progress in their developing skills. Our P.E programme is designed to make full use of the school’s excellent facilities of a large playground, a modern hall and a wide range of flexible ICT equipment. Such facilities enable the development of skills using large and small apparatus, ball skills, team games and dance. 

Swimming takes place weekly, at Moss Side Leisure Centre, for pupils from year 4 upwards. Priority is given to increasing water confidence and ensuring that all children learn to swim. A high percentage of children develop their swimming techniques to certificate level. The school’s high reputation in sport is maintained through extra-curricular activity and children regularly participate in after school clubs and attend local competitions. Our extra- curricular activities are available in many varied and exciting sports to maximize participation from boys and girls, football, multi-skills, cheerleading, hockey, badminton, street dance, tennis, cricket, skateboarding and more. A number of these activities are provided in partnership with fully qualified coaches who are brought in to provide expert tuition. Team games are played in season, both within the school and against teams from neighbouring schools.  

All children are expected to take part in P.E and bring the appropriate school sports kit (white t-shirt and black shorts) unless we receive a note from the child’s primary Carer.