Physical Education [PE] Department – Overarching Curriculum Intent (September 2025)
RFSS Curriculum Vision Statement:
We intend to provide a broad, inclusive and ambitious curriculum that empowers our students to make both academic and personal progress. As a school with a diverse demographic, our aim is to ensure that all students achieve an excellent standard of education that not only prepares them for GCSE and A Level examinations, but ensures they are ‘set for life’ beyond the gates of Rugby Free Secondary School. As a consequence, all of our work is underpinned by our core values of: Kindness, Respect, Curiosity, Resilience, Collaboration and Endeavour.
PE Curriculum in Context:
Our intention is to deliver an ambitious, inclusive and challenging curriculum that will stimulate students to make personal progress, physically, socially, emotionally and cognitively within PE lessons. It will inspire our students to be confident, independent and inquisitive learners. Our aim is to promote a healthy active lifestyle focusing on enjoyment, a love of sport, physical activity and the importance of well-being. Giving students the ‘moral compass’ and values sport and physical activity promote, in order for them to thrive beyond the school gates and for the rest of their lives.
The curriculum also empowers students to make academic progress through the pathways of GCSE PE and Sports Studies.
With the increased use of modern technology, social media, the impact of Covid 19 and the economic deprivation in the local area, research has shown that fundamental movement skills are lacking in our young people. Social skills are also a concern. PE at Rugby Free strives to fill in the gaps as well as improve these skills for all students.
Communication, leadership and teamwork skills are developed, increasing students’ physical as well as mental health and well-being.
We will provide the students of the Rugby area with a broad, inspirational curriculum that allows for opportunities to participate in competitive sport (team and individual), whilst ‘Physically Educating’ pupils, in an inclusive environment regardless of sporting ability and background.
The department will continually push the importance of sporting values along with core British values. These will form the heart of the curriculum As a consequence, all of our work is underpinned by the school core values of: Kindness, Respect, Curiosity, Resilience, Collaboration and Endeavour and will continually be revisited at every opportunity.
Curriculum Aims:
Our curriculum aims to:
- Instill and develop fundamental movement skills to give students the best chance of establishing and maintaining physically active lives both across a broad range of activities and in the long term.
- Give all students full access to the National Curriculum for PE which is differentiated to meet students’ learning needs and styles.
- Implement the national curriculum for PE to ensure that all pupils:
- develop competence to excel in a broad range of physical activities.
- are physically active for sustained periods of time.
- engage in competitive sports and activities.
- lead healthy, active lives.
- Explore, assess and develop the students’ physical, social, emotional and cognitive skills as well as promoting literacy and numeracy skills.
- Allow success to be experienced and exhibited for all students to encourage inclusion and independence.
- Provide all students with the opportunity to express themselves physically, challenge themselves and others, experience different environments and activities, work together and release energy which will benefit the students’ mental health and lower anxiety levels.
- Include, challenge and support all, allowing students to achieve success in a variety of roles in PE, such as leadership and officiating, not just practically. This will enhance their social and communication skills, self-belief as well as developing independent learners.
- Develop a healthy life-long love of sport and physical activity.
Our broad and balanced curriculum concentrates on developing our students’ key knowledge and skills, and enhances their understanding of the world around them.
We do this by:
- Providing fun and engaging PE lessons that are enjoyable, challenging, socially supportive and accessible to all.
- Exposing students to a variety of sports [both team and individual], physical activities and roles supported by passionate staff in lessons and after school during extra-curricular provision.
- Educating students into the mental benefits as well as the physical benefits of PE.
- Ensuring lessons are fully inclusive, nurturing students, promoting positive values, encouraging participation, as well as promoting excellence.
- Encouraging academic and personal progress through regular monitoring and assessment.
- Incorporating literacy and numeracy into PE lessons through a focus on key subject specific terminology, cross curricular links, and exploring new initiatives to get students more active.
- Providing free access to kit, equipment and extra-curricular activities for all, regardless of background and by introducing all students to a wide variety of sports from different cultures, reflecting our diverse demographic.
Our curriculum is focused on the development of communication, character and cultural capital of each individual student, so they become:
- Students who demonstrate the values of teamwork, passion, respect, determination, self-belief and honesty.
- Enthusiastic students who are motivated to take part in a wide variety of sports and physical activities both in and out of school.
- Hard-working students who are committed to fully developing and exploring their ideas.
- Resilient learners who reflect on their work, and the work of others in order to make progress.
- Physically and mentally aware students who understand the importance of being physically active and how to regulate their own mental health through physical activity.
- Ethically conscious students with values and morals. Moral traits such as kindness, respect, fairness, honesty and an appreciation of others.
Curriculum Outcome:
As a result of our curriculum, students will leave RFSS with a strong knowledge of a wide range of sports along with health and fitness ideas, on how to maintain a lifelong healthy and active lifestyle.
They will leave wanting to be physically active, maintaining a lifelong involvement in sports and physical activity through participation, leadership or officiating.
They will also leave knowing the importance of being physically active to their mental as well as physical health and with the social and communication skills combined with the self-confidence and independence needed to be successful in the future.
Students who take the academic route through sport have an ability to gain employment within sport and gain access to Colleges/Universities. This will give them the opportunity to further study sport related courses and to supplement their understanding of the human mind and body and how it reacts to physical activity.
