Objective:
Promoting Activity
Our Aims
At Charles Darwin, we are a very active school, with a large percentage of our children participating in Intra and Inter-School Sports as well as after-school clubs. As part of an ongoing review of our delivery of Sport and Physical Education, we completed 'heat maps' to show how much physical activity went on in lessons beyond our usual P.E. provision. The heat maps showed that we could improve the activity levels in Maths and English, so we looked into Teach Active as a solution to getting more fun and activity into these lessons that had a real learning value.
"At Charles Darwin we pride ourselves on being an active school which encourages participation in physical activities and sports. Teach Active has been a super addition to our Curriculum and has further extended our children's joy in learning."
Mr. Adam Croft, Headteacher
Our Approach
Each class teacher aimed for at least one lesson a week that included a Teach Active activity - but we found the children responded so well that many classes did more! The activities were linked to each specific curriculum objective which made it easy for us to incorporate them into our usual lessons. Even children that would perhaps be reluctant in 'normal' P.E. lessons enjoyed the variety of the tasks and looked forward to applying their knowledge in a fun way!
The Impact
We found that the children really enjoyed getting active, particularly when it meant they could get outside as part of the lesson! Reluctant writers and mathematicians engaged more willingly and importantly, their focus and concentration were much improved. The staff loved the accessibility of the resources and that they could easily match activities to the objective they wished to teach. The feedback received was that the 'pick up and teach' nature of the lesson plans was a great time saver and that the ideas in the resources were innovative and inclusive.
"Teach Active has been a real benefit in our school and has helped us to further engrain an active approach on a day to day basis. The feedback from Staff and Children alike has been overwhelmingly positive!"
Mark Solan, PE Subject Lead and Year 6 Teacher
The Future
Looking at the ‘heat maps’ after we implemented Teach Active there has been a significant change in the activity levels across Maths and English lessons, and the resources have started to become embedded in our lessons! The children enjoy the challenge and the opportunity to learn without sitting down and the staff appreciates the additional ideas for them to plan into their lessons. We hope to maintain and further grow our approach.