Physical Education at Buxton is taught in classes set by practical ability in Year 7 and 8. In year 9, 10 and 11 groups are set by physical and cognitive ability (intelligence).    Physical Education is taught in a range of specialist facilities, and by a team of four well-qualified, dedicated and professional teachers. This teaching is complimented by a School Sports Co-ordinator and specialist sports coaches.

The staff are friendly and supportive and forward thinking. Staff are provided with ample opportunities for professional development. The department meets on a regular basis in order to ensure that we can effectively share good practice and communicate the latest developments in Physical Education in order to stay at the forefront of teaching and learning.

We are currently developing a new curriculum to cover the whole school which places participation and achievement for all at its core. Assessment for Learning is at the heart of our approach to developing learning in our curriculum and we are currently developing our assessment practice to include Assessing Pupil Progress.  We have recently reviewed our Key Stage 4 curriculum to develop our approaches to ensuring al pupils have the best opportunity to achieve their best.

Premises & Equipment

Pupils and the local community are lucky to be have access to:

• Indoor Sports Hall with Basketball Court and Indoor Cricket Nets
• Indoor Gymnasium with 6 Table Tennis Tables, 2 trampolines and extensive gymnastic equipment
• Outdoor Floodlight All Weather Pitch with 3 netball/5-a-side football courts
• Outdoor Multi-Use Games Area (MUGA) with 2 basketball courts
• Wanstead Flats Playing Fields with grass playing fields and athletics track
• Rushcroft School Rock Climbing Wall

*The local community are welcome to hire facilities at a competitive rate. If you are interested in hiring our facilities you should contact the school. The department also benefits from a specialist Physical Education classroom that houses an interactive whiteboard, PC and printer, networked broadband internet and a range of interactive ICT resources such as DVDs, CD-ROM’s and videos.Each member of the department is issued with their own laptop with access to the schools internet. The department has access to the schools IT suites (of which there are 5 rooms equipped with 30 PCs).

The Curriculum

KS3

KS3 classes have 2 lessons of Physical Education each week. The department is working on developing their own Scheme of Work based on the Key Processes of the National curriculum 2007 scheme. The department will be moving towards a 2 year KS3 curriculum, with a variety of qualifications such as BTEC Level 2 Extended Certificate in Sport and Junior Sports Leader Award starting in year 9

KS4

Students in Key Stage 4 currently receive 1.5 hours of Physical Education a week. This is complimented by a range of extra-curricular activities which pupils are encouraged to participate in. Students in Year 10 currently are studying to achieve either Junior Sports Leaders Award or the FA Junior Football Organisers Award. The department currently has over 110 students studying Edexcel GCSE PE in Key Stage 4. From next year we plan to offer BTEC Level 2 Extended Certificate and Junior Sports Leader Award starting in Years 9 and 10. This will mean that al students in the school will have the opportunity to achieve a vocational qualification.

Extra-Curricular  

We try to encourage all students to lead a healthy active lifestyle by attending a range of activities offered by both teachers and specialist coaches. We encourage students to participate in competitive and non-competitive activities and pride ourselves on our ‘Sport for All’ ethos.