About the Sports Team
Mr Thorpe and Mr Booth lead sport in our school. Mr Thorpe is the school PE and Sport Co-ordinator who teaches PE full time. Mr Booth, the school's former PE co-ordinator and current Assistant Headteacher supports Mr Thorpe with PE and sport provision in school. At Park we have a School Sports Council who are in charge of promoting PE and sport in school, increasing participation in sport at lunchtimes and playtimes, sorting out the teams for competitions during the year and holding intra-school competitions. We also have a Healthy Lifestyles team who continuously consider how school can best teach about healthy lifestyle and pupil wellbeing, led by Mrs Ellam. Mrs Nicholls is also closely linked to this initiative as she leads the School Council - ensuring pupil voice is fundamental to improvements made.
Follow the link below to find out more about keeping healthy in Wakefield.
Our aim for PE
We aim for all pupils leaving Castleford Park Junior Academy to be physically literate and with the knowledge, skills and motivation necessary to equip them for a healthy, active lifestyle and lifelong participation in physical activity and sport.
All children in KS2 are provided with regular curriculum PE each week, plus opportunities to engage in extra-curricular PE and sport. In addition to this, we encourage active playtimes and active lunchtimes to ensure every child is getting their recommended 60 minutes of activity per day. At Castleford Park Junior Academy we recognise how important physical education, healthy active lifestyles and competitive sports are in helping to prepare pupils for adult life.
We have welcomed the Government's announcement to provide additional funding to improve the provision of physical education and sports in primary schools. We are committed to ensuring that this money provides pupils with greater opportunities to engage in sporting and physical activities as well as ensuring that they receive a wide range of sporting experiences to contribute to helping them develop a greater understanding of the world.
What does the Sport Premium Funding mean for Castleford Park Junior Academy?
'Schools must spend the additional funding on improving their provision of PE and sport, but they will have the freedom to choose how they do this' (DfE June 2013). The three key areas for consideration when allocating the funding are; Physical Education, Healthy Active Lifestyles and Competitive Sports.
Sainsburys School Games
Quality Mark
Over this academic year, I’m sure your children have enjoyed participating and
competing in various sports and small games, as well as learning within their regular PE per week. There is now a huge focus on PE and Sport in all
schools, not just to encourage healthy active lifestyles, but also to develop
the children’s social and emotional enjoyment, which has been shown to link to
success within other areas of the curriculum.
This year, again, primary schools have received funding called Sport Premium,
which is ring-fenced and can only be used to specifically develop Physical
Education (PE), sport and physical activity in school. After an evaluation,
schools are then awarded a Bronze, Silver or Gold award within the Sainsbury’s School Games Quality Mark. 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 their school and into the community. We are delighted to have been
recognised for our success at bronze level! 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 again this year.
Although, we believe
having the bronze mark is a fantastic achievement, we believe as a school we should aspire for the silver and then the gold mark accreditation.
We would like to congratulate all staff and children for their efforts and
cooperation within PE and Sport and their commitment to further progress.
PE Lessons
In recent years, a significant investment has been made in the professional development of staff in order to develop their confidence and expertise. In recent years, this has been largely through our links with the local High school PE specialist teachers who have worked alongside all class teachers to plan and teach PE.
This year, we have invested in our own specialist PE teacher who has the role of working alongside teachers to plan, teach and coach, to ensure teachers' confidence, knowledge and expertise continues to improve and develop. This means the whole of our sports premium budget is spent on this, with the expectation that many actions that we were already developing in previous years can be continued by our Sports Leader.The expectation is that Castleford Park Junior Academy staff observe and develop their own skills and knowledge, taking over the teaching of lessons with greater confidence and competence as the year progresses. This has been a very successful initiative so far, as there are now more staff within the school with enhanced skills to teach good quality PE. We will continue with this approach as we expand in order to ensure new staff joining our organisation are given the opportunity for quality CPD and the children receive high quality and consistent provision.
Competitions and Tournaments
Taking part in a wide range of tournaments and competitions has become a central part of our PE and Sports curriculum. The children have the opportunity to develop collaboration and cooperation through participating in a range of sports and competing with other children across the local authority and at a regional level where the opportunity arises.
We are proud and active members of the Castleford Multi Academy Trust and regularly take part in, and host, a range of sporting events for other schools in Castleford.
Our sporting achievements this year include:
- Being winners of the Castleford Schools Y5/6 Cross Country event.
- Achieving 4th place in the Wakefield Schools Y3,4,5,6 Cross Country event.
- Winning the Castleford Schools Y5/6 Football Tournament.
