From the Head of PE and Sport 29.08.2020
A new school year is well and truly already in full swing and it has been wonderful to see the school grounds full of children again, albeit with a little less movement and running around at present.
As you will be aware, PE lessons are currently taking a different form and approach as a result of the restrictions still in place for physical activities and sports in schools. However, that is not to say that there has not been a lot of enjoyable and valuable learning taking place across both Primary and Secondary throughout the start of the term..
The PE Department have been using this as an opportunity to first examine and explain in more detail how students are assessed in PE using the “Head, Heart, Hands’ Model in Primary and I will go into more of this in next week’s newsletter. In Secondary, students have the 5 Core Strands of Assessment which are: Cognitive, Creative, Personal, Social and Physical. We hope that spending time emphasising and developing students’ understanding of these different assessment elements will support students in being able to demonstrate these in units once we get back to being active in PE again.
This week across the secondary school classes in Key Stage 3 and 4 have also begun various units of study in different areas of health, fitness and even the body systems. In Year 8, students are studying the different components of fitness. They will develop their understanding of stamina, speed, agility, strength and power and learn how these different fitness components allow you to perform at your best in various athletic and sporting activities.
Year 9 had a great deal of fun this week learning about some of the major bones in the body as well as the main functions of the skeleton. On Wednesday, they used different types of pastas in a ‘creative’ and highly entertaining task to construct their own skeleton diagrams to apply their new knowledge. There were some fantastic final works of ‘pasta art’ in both 9K and 9S produced. Travis (9S) was most impressive in being able to name and locate all 20 bones!
With the recent announcements that PE and sports activities will be allowed to restart in schools from September 1st, we are currently awaiting more confirmation from both National and State authorities regarding the SOP guidelines for how these can be carried out. Once we have all the necessary information available, we will be able to amend the school’s current SOP and also introduce a plan for restarting PE lessons with physical distancing still a major consideration. We will keep parents updated in the coming weeks with developments and changes as they occur. Of course, like the children, the PE Department are also extremely keen to get back outside and moving as soon as possible. However, our top priority is also ensuring the new practices are carefully planned and implemented to ensure the safety of all children at KIS.
If you have any questions about your child and PE at KIS then please do not hesitate to get in touch.
Miss Catriona Watt
Head of PE and Sport
