PE and Sport at Bexton
Active for life. Confident movers. Sport for every child.
Bexton is a strong advocate for what PE, sport and physical activity bring to children's lives. Beyond the obvious health benefits, taking part regularly builds character, creates a sense of belonging and develops resilience. Team sport teaches leadership and how to work with others. Children here understand why an active life matters and what happens when it is missing.
We believe an active, healthy lifestyle shapes children socially and emotionally as much as it shapes their fitness and we have built our provision around that.
How PE is taught
PE at Bexton is taught through PE Passport, a scheme used from Nursery to Year 6. Every class from Reception upwards has two PE lessons each week, one indoors and one outdoors. Nursery has one, alongside daily access to their outdoor area. PE goes ahead whatever the weather, with indoor alternatives when outdoor space is unusable.
Every unit is planned around three strands.
Know is the knowledge children need: the rules, the techniques, the tactics.
Show is what they can do: the skills they perform.
Grow is the character and values they develop: fair play, teamwork, resilience, communication.
That third strand matters. It means that learning to win and lose well, to encourage a teammate and to keep going when something is hard are planned and taught, not simply hoped for.
Across their time here, children study invasion games, net and wall games, striking and fielding, target games, athletics, gymnastics, dance, outdoor and adventurous activity, health and fitness, and swimming. In Key Stage 1 the focus is on fundamental movement skills: travelling, balancing, jumping, landing, sending and receiving. From Year 3 these are applied within named sports including hockey, football, basketball, tag rugby, dodgeball, lacrosse, netball, cricket, rounders, tennis and tri golf.
Our PE and Sports Lead, Mr Roberts, is a specialist PE teacher and teaches every class from Year 3 to Year 6. He also provides guidance, support and training for staff across Nursery, Reception, Year 1 and Year 2, and works with our infant children too. Employing a specialist is a deliberate decision: it means the quality of PE a child receives does not depend on which year group they are in.
Children in our specialist provision, the Rainbow Room, join their class PE lesson wherever they can access it, and also have their own weekly group session.
PE kit. Children come to school in their PE kit on their PE day. We keep spare kit in school, so no child ever misses a lesson because they have forgotten theirs. Any child unable to take part is given a role within the lesson, such as umpiring, coaching a group or recording the session.
Swimming
Swimming is the only sport named in the National Curriculum and by the end of Year 6 children should be able to swim at least 25 metres, use a range of strokes and perform safe self-rescue.
Each year a heated, filtered pop-up pool is installed on site by Sports Coaching Group, staffed by qualified swimming teachers and lifeguards, and housed in a secure marquee. It runs for two to three weeks at the start of the autumn term.
Every child in Years 3 to 6 takes part, and Rainbow Room children have their own dedicated slot. Swimming is additional to the two weekly PE lessons rather than in place of them so children do not lose curriculum PE during the swimming block.
Each year group swims separately so children build on the previous year's learning. Within a year group, classes are split into three groups based on water confidence, using a short survey of parents completed before the pool arrives. Sessions run for around thirty minutes in small groups and the children who are least confident in the water are prioritised for additional sessions.
We publish our Year 6 swimming outcomes each year alongside our PE and Sport Premium report.
Beyond the lesson
We want all children to be active every day, not only during PE.
Our playtimes have been transformed through OPAL, our outdoor play approach, which gives children a rich and varied environment for active, imaginative play.
Children can take on leadership roles as lunchtime club leaders and sports captains, sharing their skills and helping others enjoy sport. Those who are particularly able have opportunities to compete at a higher level, but competition at Bexton is for everyone, not only for the most able. Every child is given a chance to compete.
We run a wide range of extracurricular clubs, including football, netball, athletics, dance, cricket and tennis coaching and take part in leagues and events through the Knutsford Academy Primary School Partnership.
Our facilities
We are fortunate to have the space and variety we do.
The playground is used for netball and for many OPAL activities, and for break times when the field is too wet.
The trim trail around the field is used for cross-country running, sponsored runs and daily walks.
The playing field provides an enormous area for football, with access to the woodlands, the garden, the adventure playgrounds and the sandpit.
The all-weather Astro surface means PE lessons and break times continue whatever the weather.
The indoor hall is where children experience dance, gymnastics, yoga and indoor sports such as handball.
Sports Day
Sports Day is a highlight of the school calendar. Families are invited to stand in the round as the children compete around them, with music playing, refreshments selling and crowds cheering.
Nursery hold their own separate Sports Day, with a closing medal ceremony on the Astro.
EYFS and Key Stage 1 complete a carousel of activities around the spectating adults, featuring such crowd favourites as the Builders' Race, the Car Wash Race and Welly Wanging. This is our children's first taste of competing in front of a large crowd, and our Year 6 Sports Captains are on hand to run the activities and award stickers after each event.
Key Stage 2 Sports Day is more competitive, with every year group earning points for their house. Javelins, speed bounces, tyre rolling, sack races and long-distance races are among the events, cheered on by peers and families.
We finish with a well-earned ice lolly for the children while the parents take the stage. Previous years have featured a parents' dressing-up race and a parents' tug of war, which were brilliant fun and much photographed.
Our partnerships
Bexton works closely with local sports groups to help develop the future of sport in Knutsford.
Knutsford Academy events and leagues
Knutsford Harriers
Knutsford Tennis Club
Knutsford Rugby Club
Sale Sharks Rugby
Toft Cricket Club
Cheshire Golf
Sports Coaching Group
Bikeability from Everybody Leisure
Enrich Education
Athletes in Schools
National School Sports Week
Bexton has championed being fun and being active, particularly during the Youth Sport Trust's National School Sports Week. We have held Quidditch event days courtesy of Enrich Education, welcomed Team GB athletes into school through Athletes in Schools to work with every class, held sponsored runs and whole-school workouts for children and families, and built Sports Day into the week.
Celebrating success
We raise the profile of PE and sport across the school and the wider community by celebrating achievements in whole-school assemblies, in our parent Bulletin and on our social media.
Want to know more?
Our PE Handbook and PE Curriculum Progression document set out what is taught in each year group and how skills build from Nursery to Year 6. These are working documents for staff, but we are happy to share them. Please contact the school office if you would like to see them.
See our extracurricular clubs page for the sporting opportunities currently available, and follow us on Instagram and Facebook for announcements, updates and photographs.
