Through a collaborative approach, we encourage the children to develop:

• Emotional management and trust to deal with wins and losses
• Embracing sportsmanship
• Fair play and ethical behaviour
• Managing frustration, stress and excitement
• Resolving disagreements and conflicts in a respectful manner
• Balancing personal and group expectations
• Praising and empathising with others

We also utilise trust-building activities and encourage the children to use positive outlets for aggression, such as punchbags.

This exists at the heart of our subject: getting students to verbalise and express themselves in a physical education context, provoking further discussion and solidifying understanding.

Furthermore, through active repetitive demonstration, we help the children to:

• Build the ability to advocate for personal needs and preferences
• Develop active listening skills to follow and understand instructions
• Practice quick decision-making and problem-solving
• Cooperate and collaborate in pursuit of common goals
• Have two-way discussions about the importance of clear communication, using verbal/non-verbal cues in different team sports
• Self-esteem-building challenges and encouraging activity and task analysis before (previous lesson), during and after the lesson

By exposing our students to a range of activities and qualifications in both KS3/4, we can encourage them on their journey to whichever destination they choose. Linking P.E. to all subjects across the curriculum will help them understand the benefits of the subject. This in turn will strengthen the pupils, both mentally and physically.

The great thing about P.E. is that it can:

• Fuel determination by overcoming setbacks
• Develop confidence to enhance self-belief and assurance
• Encourage challenging personal benchmarks and goals
• Develop children’s adaptability to promote consistent peak performance
• Encourage children to try new sports and activities
• Challenge them by using drills to push limits
• Develop personal improvement and performance goals and analysis
• Promote positive reinforcement
• Allow the children to participate against other children in other schools, thus reinforcing their social skills
• Allow self-reflection through video analysis, during their BTec in Year 11

Children showing growth both physically and mentally will be able to use these capabilities to deconstruct and re-construct information so that they can compete under stress. They can build confidence by self-monitoring their progress through intermittent testing while nurturing the ability to see opportunity in their mistakes.

Furthermore, giving children exposure to a variety of physical and mental challenges will encourage:

• A positive, effective response and mindset towards wins and losses
• Development of techniques to manage stress and anxiety
• Embracing perseverance, consistent practice and dedication
• Mindfulness and breathing techniques to manage stress
• Self-care routines to foster physical and mental resilience
• Reflective discussions, so they understand what strategies to use so that they can move forward

 Reflection is key in understanding if the children have understood the fundamentals of a P.E. lesson.

Children will show us if they have understood by:

• Developing post-task analysis and discussion skills
• Exchanging constructive feedback
• Developing self-assessment of personal contributions
• Identifying personal attributes, including strengths and areas for improvement
• Post-task reflection circles to analyse strengths and weaknesses
• Reflection on emotions and impact on morals
• Participating in constructive peer feedback
• Contributing to group goal setting to encourage collaboration

We promote independence by:

• Building students up to a point where they are secure in selecting appropriate equipment/strategies to facilitate their learning.  
• Mastering the ability to select and apply the correct method that is appropriate to reach their desired goal.
• Developing personal responsibility through individual roles to foster accountability.
• Encouraging quick decision-making during gameplay whilst developing self-management between practice, participation and other work.
• Learning to model self-discipline through self-directed practice sessions whilst critiquing solo performance through analysis.
• Learning to emotionally regulate through development and reflection in pressurised situations.
• Undertaking solo drills to enhance particular skills without the need for direction from peers or staff. 

Using boxing as a regulatory tool, Left Hook Learning teaches children to regulate so that they are ready to be educated. Core subjects, Maths and English, are taught by a qualified teacher so that the children do not miss out on their education whilst away from school.

The impact of Forest School on children’s behaviour and well-being is well established. The natural surroundings allow inquisitive children to learn and explore their curiosities. It is a child-led learning experience, but with a qualified Forest school teacher on hand at all times to help answer some of the questions that may arise.

Every break and lunchtime, the children have the opportunity to take part in football, whether it is in the school hall or in the Multi-use Games Area (MUGA). The matches at lunchtime are slightly different to the ones at break time as there are staff playing. This makes for quite an entertaining, friendly and somewhat competitive spectacle.

The children have the option of staying in the sports hall and playing one of the ball games on offer. Staff also play the games, ensuring that the children abide by the rules and that no sneaky shenanigans take place.

Twice a week at the end of the working day for 30 mins, the children can choose an activity. One of the choices is sports. Depending on the number of children who choose it, and the weather, there are an array of sports on offer: basketball, volleyball, dodgeball, hockey, boxing or even football. All sports have some staff members participating. It is a great way to finish the day!

Luckily, at the Gateway we have the use of a small gym. It has all the essential equipment: bench press, pull-down bar, powerlifting, chest isolation machine and an exercise bike. The activities are always monitored by a qualified member of staff.

We have a very successful football team that all children have a chance to be a part of. The matches are played both at home and away at other schools. We are currently part of an intra-football league (6-a-side) that includes other SEMH/SEN schools, and we are also involved in an intra-football round-robin tournament based on 11-a-side matches.

Every year our young footballers have the opportunity to be coached by one of Northampton Town’s football coaches. They learn new skills through fun and intensive drills. All activities are designed to build their resilience and skillset.

A very important intervention that has helped children who are struggling to access lessons. The focus is to allow children time to talk about what is upsetting them whilst at the same time walking at least two miles.

Due to our cohort of children accessing computer games on a regular basis, we feel that it is necessary to allow sport to be accessed through certain games. For example, 'Just Dance' is a great way for children to exercise in a fun, social environment.

We have had several successes against other schools, playing basketball, badminton, football and boccia. We are always looking to play games against other schools, even if it isn’t on the curriculum. If enough children show an interest in a sport, we will endeavour to arrange a game/match against another school in that sport.