At St George the Martyr, we promote health and wellbeing to every pupil through high quality PE lessons and a wide verity of extra curricula activities. We believe that a healthy body promotes a healthy mind. Our inclusive approach to sports and physical education enables children to transfer skills learnt in PE such as, determination, resilience, compassion, honesty and integrity into other areas of the curriculum. At St George the Martyr, we understand the benefits of sports as a gateway to learning lifelong social, emotional and behavioural skills. That is why we ensure that pupils have at least two hours of physical activity each week - one hour taught by the class teacher and the other by a specialist sports coach.

Our Physical Education curriculum is comprehensive and covers a variety of skills and activities, such as dance, gymnastics, athletics, striking and fielding games and swimming. Our long term planning ensures that the skills pupils develop are built on throughout their time at St George’s.

At St George the Martyr, we recognise that one of the key tools for success has been the importance placed on competitive sport. Through sport, the children begin to develop important qualities such as determination, respect, excellence, compassion, honesty and integrity: these qualities are at the heart of everything we do at St George and are fundamental to the children’s learning across all subjects.

From an early age, competitive sport is nurtured and encouraged, with KS1 pupils preparing for and entering local competitions in athletics, football, and gymnastics. In KS2, the school’s aim is for every child to take part in at least one aspect of competitive sport, with staff identifying the pupils with specific talents in, for example football. Skills are taught throughout each P.E. lesson and through a wide variety of sports provision offered after school.

In Year 5, we deliver a Young Sports Leadership programme, which is led by the Camden School Sports Association (CSSA). Year 5 pupils use this to teach, plan and assess PE lessons and provide extra-curricular sporting opportunities for other pupils. This is an engaging project for all the pupils involved. The Young Sports Leaders then lead play sessions during lunch times and accompany other pupils to inter-school competitions in the local community to act as mentors and supporters.

The school is keen to provide a wide range of extra-curricular clubs for pupils throughout the year. Pupils enjoy the opportunity to try new sports such as tennis, football, multi-skills, hockey, cricket, gymnastic, athletics and boxing.

Our school is part of the Camden Schools Sports Association (CSSA), a group of over 40 primary schools. This partnership provides opportunities for children to participate in a wide range of competitive and inclusive sports competitions - currently they offer 11 different sports and 56 sports events at venues throughout the borough. At St George, we have found this beneficial, as it has given our children the opportunity to participate regularly in inter-school competitions and use the wide range of resources available in the local community. There are a wide range of competitions, which allow all children to compete; for example, we have participated in a football tournament, cross country and dodge ball. The children’s achievements are celebrated each time in assembly and regular updates are posted on our school blog.

We recognise the impact upon community cohesion, which is strengthened through the school’s involvement in competitive sport. Pupils from local primary schools build good relationships with other children with whom they will move to secondary school with.

We believe that the positive benefits of participating in competitive sport, will enable a child to develop resilience, discipline, respect and determination on the sports field and they will then apply the same skills within the classroom.