Physical Education

Curriculum Overview

Games lessons follow the development of the child’s physical, emotional and intellectual development. Younger children are immersed in imaginative games, learning to respect clear simple rules. These games provide exercise and lessons in social interaction while appealing to the child’s imagination.

The Greek Pentathlon is a major feature of class 5. It coordinates with the study of Ancient Greece and culminates with an Olympic event in Sussex together with other Waldorf schools. The middle school, classes 6-8, start to develop the skills necessary to play a variety of more competitive sports, strenuously and by the rules. The activities focus on the mastery of the body and beginning to develop physical strength as well as team-work and good sportsmanship.

Long Term Curriculum Intents

Language and communication

• Observing and responding to the movements and non-verbal communication of a person or group.
• Expressing ideas and emotions through gesture and movement Health and well-being
• Understanding and promotion of the role of physical health in one’s own wellbeing
• Physical assurance, including gross and fine motor skills, co-ordination and spatial awareness
• Finding joy in movement and physical skill and challenge

Senses

• Proprioception
• Interoception
• Muscle memory

Imagination and play

• Imagining the consequences of movement, e.g. predicting trajectories of people and objects
• Improvising or systematically creating new sequences of gestures and movements
• Problem solving and thinking flexibly or creatively to complete a physical task, or develop a strategy in a game or sport

Empathy

• Interpreting and reacting and responding to the movement of others.
• Considering the feelings and responses of teammates and rivals in games and sports - e.g. winning/losing, working as a team.

Aesthetics

• Appreciating the aesthetics of movement: elegance, refinement, skill and expression of emotion
• Fluency and refinement in the performance of sequences of movement

Inquiry

• Understanding the rules, traditions and conventions of different physical activities, games and sports
• Refining physical skills and movements through reflection, evaluation and adjustment, listening to both internal and sensory feedback, and the implicit and explicit feedback of others

Democratic participation and society

• Something about appreciating how physical disability can limit access to society
• Right of access to healthcare for physical wellbeing

Lifelong learning

• Appreciation of the practice needed to master a physical skill.
• Evolving participation in movement activities and staying fit
• Understanding of the importance of the role of physical activity in wellbeing