Physical Education

At Meridian, we know that Physical Education is a vital part of our curriculum and we are lucky enough to have a specialist P.E. teacher who teaches all the children, from Nursery to Year 6 every week.  Our aim is to foster a life-long enjoyment of physical activity and maintain a healthy lifestyle for life.  All children have the opportunity to learn new knowledge and skills through a variety of sports and disciplines, including athletics, dance, gymnastics and different team games. 

As we live so close to the sea, it is incredibly important that the children are confident swimmers.  We ensure the children have swimming lessons in Year 3 and Year 4 at our local swimming pool in Newhaven, where they are taught by swimming teachers - from those children who are absolute beginners to those children who need to develop their stroke technique and build up their stamina.  In Year 6 all children have a 5 week intensive course of swimming lessons to ensure as many as possible can swim 25m and teach lifesaving skills.

Through our P.E. lessons we develop children's cognitive, social, personal, creative and physical skills.  Cognitive skills support children to review and analyse their own and other's strengths and areas for development.  They also develop this cognitive skill by learning to read and react to different game situations.  Social skills are supported by encouraging team games and peer support - cheering each other is actively encouraged!  Children are also encouraged to be leaders and involve others.  Personal skills are encouraged through children taking responsibility for their learning.  Creative skills are developed by providing all children with opportunities to try new things in different ways.  Physical skills and knowledge is achieved through asking children to transfer skills and movements across a range of activities and sports.  We also want children to have a knowledge of their own bodies and the effect exercise has.

We support all children to have the right P.E. kit for all lessons and have invested in spare kit, including trainers, to make sure all children are able to engage fully in every P.E, lesson.

Every year all children take part in our annual Sports Day which includes competitive races and team activities.

Physical activity is not limited to our P.E. lessons and children have the opportunity to be active during their Forest School lessons and our OPAL playtimes.  Children also have access to extra-curricular active clubs, both before and after school, including dodge-ball club, multi-sports club, gymnastics club, SAMA karate and football clubs.

We actively engage in local community sporting events, including our football team representing the school at local inter-school matches.  Year 5 also have the opportunity to develop their cycling skills through Bike-Ability lessons in the summer term