Physical education involves children in the continuous process of planning, performing and evaluating all areas of activity, with the emphasis upon performance. Pupils are taught in six areas of activity: games, gymnastic activities, dance, athletic activities, outdoor and adventurous activities, and swimming. All children have two sessions of PE every week. 

School Games Awards

The School Games Mark is a Government led award scheme launched in 2012, facilitated by the Youth Sport Trust to reward schools for their commitment to the development of competition across school and into the community, and we are delighted to have been recognised for our success.

In 2017/18 we announced that we had achieved the School Games Gold Mark Award for the 3rd year in a row! The following year we went one better! In recognition of our track record of being consistently awarded the Gold Mark, we have were awarded the School Games Platinum Mark Award which we still maintain today. We are extremely proud of our pupils for their dedication to all aspects of school sport, including those young volunteers, leaders and officials who made our competitions possible.

As part of our application, we were asked to fulfil criteria in the areas of participation, competition, workforce and clubs, and we are pleased that the hard work of everyone at our school has been rewarded.

Curriculum Implementation

The 'real PE' programme we teach at Dorridge aims to teach the child and not just the sport with teachers focused on present performance and equipping children with the key essentail abilities to maximise potential and long term participation. Football, netball, basketball, rugby, dodgeball, tennis, badminton, cricket, rounders, hockey, gymnastics, swimming, cross-country and athletics are fully integrated into PE lessons. We also use PE as a vehicle to develop a range of personal, social, cognitive and creative abilities alongside the physical. The foundations of the scheme are based on fundamental movement skills (agility, balance and co-ordination), broader essential holistic skills and inclusive competition in sport. 

              

 

 

Extra-Curricular PE

The extra-curricular dimension of Physical Education at Dorridge is an important part of the school's ethos. Children are provided with competitive sporting opportunities from Year 1 to Year 6 through partnerships with outside agencies and other local schools. This means that by the time a child leaves in Year 6, he or she will have had lots of opportunities to represent the school within a sporting capacity. 

Our partnership with Arden Academy allows each year group to participate in a competitive sporting festival every academic year. Along with three other local schools, Dorridge Primary receives coaching sessions from Arden and their A-level PE students in preparation for the festival.

Year 1 take part in gymnastics, Year 2 competes with kick-rounders, Year 3 take part in benchball, Year 4 hockey, Year 5 netball and Year 6 participates in a tag-rugby festival. These festivals involve mixed ability teams with an emphasis on participation and evenly matched competition for all.

Our partnership with ‘Chance to Shine’ is specifically for Year 4 and 5 classes. ‘Chance to Shine’ operates via the Warwickshire Cricket Board and has lots of partnerships with schools across Warwickshire, Birmingham, Solihull and Coventry. Both Year 4 and Year 5 receive six sessions of coaching from a professional coach before every child gets the opportunity to play in a cricket tournament. The winning team from this tournament gets the opportunity to participate in a ‘Winners’ Final’ at Edgbaston Cricket Ground against all the other festival winners across Birmingham. Historically, Dorridge pupils have not only found themselves to be regular attendees at Edgbaston, but have also won on numerous occasions.

Dorridge is also part of South Solihull Sports Partnership. This partnership offers the widest range of sporting opportunities for our children. These opportunities are mostly focused around Years 5 and 6. However, there are gymnastics and dance festivals for Year 1 and 2; tri-golf festivals and personal best festivals for Year 3; also football, tennis and quads kid’s athletics for Year 3 and 4. For Year 5 and 6, a boys’ football league and cup and a girls’ football league and cup are run, which Dorridge helped set up. There are also: dodgeball competitions, tennis, cross-country, biathlon, basketball, tag-rugby, rounders and Borough Sports.

The selection for these competitions is either based around pupils attending after school clubs, or noteworthy performances in PE lessons. Wherever possible, Dorridge will take A and B or even C teams to tournaments to allow a wider range of children to represent the school. The aim is that in Year 6, every child will have had the opportunity to represent the school at some point.

Sports Council

The other way children can be selected is through the Year 6 Sports Leaders. Six children meet every Friday and discuss sport within the school. These children write sporting updates for the Weekly News; help with PE sessions in Key Stage 1; help select teams for Year 3 and 4 events; and help run practice sessions for athletics and football events. These children are selected at the same time as House Captains and Vice Captains. Last year, one of the Sports Leaders was award ‘South Solihull Sportsperson of the Year’.

Sporting Success

In recent years, Dorridge has experienced plenty of extra-curricular sporting success. 

Last year, the boys’ football team won the Large Schools South Solihull League; the Solihull Moors National Youth League U11’s; were crowned regional champs; and came second in the National Finals – nearly making it to Wembley! This girls’ football team followed suit finishing second in all of the above. The Year 5/6 netball team won their league and came second in Speed Skills competition. The Year 4 cricket team won the Chance to Shine cricket tournament. In the Borough Sports Competition, Dorridge finished 2^nd

As a school, we try and ensure that parents are actively involved to promote a community approach and love of sport.

External links

 Kids Exercise click for exercise ideas to keep your children fit & healthy!