At KS4 we aim to prepare students for the next stage of their lives through recognising and developing employability skills. To ensure that students recognise how physical education promotes a diverse skills set required to be effective and competitive in the workplace. As well as appreciating the physical, mental and social benefits at this stage of their education. The set of basic/generic skills and attitudinal/behavioural characteristics that are believed to be essential for individuals to secure and sustain employment, and also to progress in the workplace. At examination level we take on board the latest developments in education from the training days and teaching and learning directives. We incorporate initiatives designed to give the students the skills needed to gain the best possible grade.

We build the Cultural Capital of our students by providing opportunities for all, enabling them to be a ‘doer of deeds’ rather than ‘cold timid souls’. This is achieved through whole school events such as inter tutor competitions, relay cup, sports day and annual sports tours. We look into opportunities to watch live international sport and students are taken to varied enrichment evenings including watching professional dance productions, football & netball matches and G&T events.

Implementation

Through effective curriculum planning and regular reviews of learning, the faculty aims to provide students with both curricular and extracurricular opportunities to develop such skills.These skills are both implicit and explicitly taught in lessons across the different ages and stages. We use all available resources and teaching strategies to ensure that students have recognised the importance of developing character and employability skills through a broad and balanced curriculum. 

Techniques to help develop long-term memory and help students master subject content are embedded in the curriculum. In PE we implement our curriculum through using a variety of teaching strategies and kinaesthetic tasks  to embed both techniques alongside a rich understanding of their importance. These are focussed on embedding challenge, metacognition, memory techniques, numeracy and literacy into our departmental curriculum.  All staff in the department make full use of the Google applications for education and all students use this to access the departmental resources both in lessons and remotely.

Impact

Numerous variables exist to enable staff to measure the impact of our curriculum. Careful mapping of the character education skills across the curriculum ensures that students  explicitly evidence where they have sought to embed aspects of each skill through sport. Changes in culture and attitudes, through regular Q&A in lessons and encouragement for all students to support our rich extracurricular program exists across the ages and stages. Our GCSE, BTEC & A level  examination results are excellent.  Within the faculty moderators  across all qualifications exist and therefore are able to give the students the most up to date and relevant learning experience. Holmes Chapel students are happy and proud to help out officiating at local competitions such as the primary school athletics, cross country and many other transitional events. The PE offer is a crucial part of the student experience at HCCS. Inside and outside of the classroom we continue to encourage students to be the very best version of themselves, fostering a life-long commitment to physical activity.