News: PE

Pre-School-PD-Christmas Dough

The children have enjoyed taking part in our Christmas dough disco. Moving arms up in the air and low to the ground and all around. We splat, pinched and moulded our dough to make reindeers, snowmen and Christmas puddings. The children have developed their skills over the term and are building their muscles in their arms and fingers.

Year 6: PE - Dodgeball

This half term in PE lessons year 6 have been playing dodgeball, learning how to move most effectively to dodge, and how to hit a moving target.

Reception Class - PE - Ball Skills

This week, Reception have been practising their ball skills. Working with a partner they had to throw, bounce, roll and catch.

Year 5 P.E. - Dodgeball!

Year 5 have been learning how to play dodgeball in P.E. It's been fast and furious and lots of fun! We have been building our teamwork and sportsmanship skills during these lessons.

Year 5 P.E. - Teamwork to Find a Path Across the Playground

In P.E. this week, Year 5 played a game on the playground involving teamwork skills to collect coloured cones scattered around, but they weren't allowed to touch the floor and could only stand on the spots! It was hard work, but a lot of fun, and Year 5 showed great teamwork skills and tactics!

Year 2 - PE - Sports Skills

On Monday ten children from Year 2 took part in a Sports Skills Festival at St Bedes. It was great fun!

Year 6 - French - Football Vocab.

As part of their unit on Sports, Year 6 have been learning lots of vocabulary connected to the game of football. In order to embed their learning they played a game of pictionary and became more confident with understanding and speaking the words.

Year 2 - PE - Using Shapes To Create Balances

In PE we developed our Gymnastic skills by balancing with different shapes on the large apparatus.

Nursery - Fun in The Snow

On Tuesday the children were very excited that we had woken up to a snow covered community! We all got our wellies and wet suits on, wrapped up with hats scarves and gloves and went out to explore in our garden. The children enjoyed noticing the differences in the garden, the slippery ground, the icy leaves and the cold snow among many other changes. We made footprints in the snow, made snowballs and went sledding. Happy snow day!

Year 5 P.E. - Gymnastics

In P.E., Year 5 are learning some symmetrical and assymmetrical balances, travelling and jumps. We put our movements into some fantastic routines using the benches and each other!

Year 2 PE - Creating Gymnastic Shapes

In PE, Year 2 have been developing their gymnastic skills. We explored different ways of travelling and holding a shape.

Teaching Cycle Safety

Cycling can be a fun and healthy way to pass the time for children and young people – encouraging them to go outside and stay active, while also spending quality time with parents, carers or other trusted adults. It’s also a useful skill for adult life: teaching youngsters how to use a cheaper, healthier and more eco-friendly method of transportation where possible. However, the risk of injuries that cycling carries can quickly put young people off the hobby. If a child is being introduced to cycling as an activity, it’s essential that they’re also taught how to stay safe while out and about. This free guide offers you expert advice on how to practise safe cycling and preserve the wellbeing of children when going out for a ride.

Nursery - Literacy - 'We're Going on A Leaf Hunt'

The story Nursery class have been enjoying this week has been 'We're going on a leaf hunt'. We used the scenes from the story and a bit of imagination to go on our very own leaf hunt. The children were observant of their surroundings and found areas in the nursery garden that had similarities to our story. The children were encouraged to copy sound effects and positional language used in the story as they made different movements with their bodies. The children climbed to the top of a big hill, walked through the dark dark forest, rowed across the cold cold lake, found a house to hide from the skunk and with a bit of help from Miss Cooney, the children experienced a waterfall! 

Year 2 - PE - Sending and Receiving

In PE we have been developing our skills in sending and receiving a ball by rolling it to a partner or a target.

Year 4 PE - Gymnastics

This week we started our new PE unit - gymnastics! We had a great lesson learning all about partner balances and how to travel and change between different types of balance. We had to trust our partner to hold our weight, and worked well in pairs to make great progress in our balancing!

Reception - PE - Balancing

This half term Reception Class are going to be learning fundamental PE skills. This week we started with balancing. The children had to walk around on their heels and their toes. For our next activity the children had to move around the hall, remembering to keep their space, running, jumping, walking backwards and hopping. I shouted stop and named a body part and they had to put that body part on the floor. Once they were feeling confident with this, the children had to move in different ways with a hoop on their head. This was tricky, especially when they had to step over the hurdles!

Reception - PE - Following and Copying a Parter.

Today the children had to move in a variety of ways with a partner, trying really hard to stay in their space. They then had to copy actions with a partner, moving in and out of a hoop.

Year 1 - P.E - Dribbling

Year 1 enjoyed a Ball Skills lesson that taught dribbling skills. The children practised their dribbling around cones, then they played team games where they used their defence skills against the other team.

Year 1 P.E - Balancing and Throwing and Catching a Ball.

Year 1 warmed up by pretending to be turtles with shells on their backs to practise their balancing skills. Later they developed throwing and catching techniques in pairs.

Reception Class - PE - Moving In Different Ways

In PE this week Reception have been moving in different ways through our imaginary forest. We had to walk or crawl over the tree stumps, jump over the flowers and over the lilypads and avoid the snakes. When the children heard 'the trolls are coming' the children had to find their space.

Year 4 Fundamentals

This week in our Fundamentals lesson, we worked on our skills of dodging and playing as a team. We had a lot of fun trying to collect each other's bands!

Year 6 PE

Year 6 have been learning the skill of passing using bounce and chest passes and making sure that they are ready to receive the ball.

Year 5 PE - Football Skills

Year 5's PE lessons were all about the football skills of tackling and defending this week. We had lots of fun in the sunshine tackling the ball from each other!

Year 6 PE

Year 6 have been learning control and the importance of possession in invasion games, practicing being a defender and knowing when to attack.

Year 4 PE - Fundamentals

In our PE lesson this week, year 4 worked hard on their running skills. We practiced sprinting to various distances, and worked on our technique.

Nursery And PreSchool - P.E - Gross Motor Skills

In PE this week Nursery and PreSchool have been working on their gross motor skills, exploring different ways to move their bodies! The children walked, ran, slithered, crawled and jumped around the hall. They also used their listening skills to stop and freeze when asked. We also worked on some colour recognition as the children were tasked to find specific coloured hoops between the different movements.

Year 4 Fundamentals

This week, Year 4 worked hard on their balancing skills in PE. We learned how to pull in the core to balance, and completed a range of activities which required balancing in different ways. We worked so well in teams!

Year 3 P.E. - Fundamentals

In P.E. Year 3 have been practicing moving at different speeds with control.

Year 1 - PE - Ball Skills

Year 1 enjoyed their P.E lesson learning ball skills. They developed skills in dribbling and controlling a variety of balls.

Reception Class - PE -

Reception started their PE lessons this week, and we began our new Get Set 4 PE unit - Introduction to PE. The children learned what a space was and practiced finding their own, aay from other people and the equipment. Once we had done this, the children used their imagination, pretending to be witches and wizards, moving around in different directions, trying to avoid obstacles.

Year 1 PE lesson: Balancing and Stability

In their PE lesson Year 1 learnt about how they can balance and make themselves stable whilst jumping. They pretended to be frogs jumping on to lily pads and learnt that they could use their arms to balance themselves. Through bending their legs and swinging their arms they were also able to jump much further.

Reception Class: Exploring our world.

Reception class have been enjoying "Exploring their World" in our yard! They have had lots of fun on bikes and have been showing us what great climbers they are.

Pre School-Phyiscal Development-Outdoor Fun

The children have been exploring the outdoor provision and enjoyed playing with the water, making mud pies and drawing with the large chalks making gross motor movements.

Year 1 P.E.

Year 1 used all of the team working skills they have learned this half term to complete challenges in the hall using equipment.

Witton Park Athletics

Tonight our children in Years 3,4,5 and 6 took part in Witton Park Athletics. The children participated in relay races, throwing, jumping and sprinting. They all did a wonderful job, behaved impeccably and showed great sportsmanship, a huge well done to them all! They did Darwen St James proud!

Reception Class - Outdoor Provision

Reception Class have been making the most of the lovely weather and beign in the great outdoors! There are so many learning opportunities outside; taking turns, developing motor skills, climbing, running, jumping, problem solving, being active ...... and all through play!

Pre School- P.E- Balancing

P.E- Balancing In Pre School we have been making great progress with our balancing skills. Climbing onto jumps and walking, crawling and balancing with no support along the beams. Some children balanced bean bags on their heads as they moved across the beams.

Pre School- Physical Development- Fine Motor Skills

This week the children have been busy developing their finger muscles, using the water bottles to spray coloured water on to the floor and paper in the garden. We have used the clear film to create patterns with fine and thick paint brushes and watch the colours mix. The children enjoyed using the sticks to hook the fish out of the water and count how many fish are in the rock pool.

WakeUpWednesday: 10 Top Tips for Parents and Educators: Promoting Physical Wellbeing

Football’s European Championship is now well underway, and this huge event could potentially get children interested in having a go on the pitch themselves – or perhaps they’re already passionate about sport. It could present a great opportunity to get young people engaged in physical activity and regular exercise, which has proven positive impacts on all facets of their health – including mental and emotional wellbeing. With all that said, it can sometimes be difficult to get children and young people motivated to take part in sports and other exercise, but there are certainly ways to do so. This guide provides you with some top tips from our expert on how to encourage young people to stay active and remain invested in their physical welfare.

Reception PE: Sports Champions

At school today we had a visit from an Olympic kayaker. We all found out about how she trains and were inspired by her story. Then the children all engaged in some exercise circuits and talked about the need to warm up properly.

Year 1 - Sport for Champions

Year 1 enjoyed their visit from the Sports For Champions representative. This is Year 1 enjoying an energetic work out.

Year 4 Sports Coach

We have been blessed this week by a visit from Rebekah Green... A Sports for Champions ambassador and a member of Team GB for the freestyle kayaker who has represented our country on several occasions. We heard of how she made her dreams a reality and her successes along the way. A truly inspiring story and we wish her all the success in the world in her upcoming world championship event in a few weeks time. Thank you Miss Green.

Nursery - PE - Throwing Skills

Following on from our PE lesson the children continued to develop their throwing skills. They enjoyed throwing balls into our sticky spider web and persevered with their aim, celebrating with each other when they succeeded to get their ball stuck in the web.

Year 6 Orienteering PE

In our PE lesson we have started Orienteering. We had to follow both visual and written instructions, either by copying our partner with the physical route they took around the map or by following the written route that they have made for us.

Year 5 PE Orienteering

During our first lesson on Orienteering the children had to navigate a map of school to locate different objects. They also had to use their knowledge of a compass to support them with this . The children had a lot of fun!

Year 2 PE Orienteering

Year 2 started their new unit on Orienteering. We tested our skills in position and direction by completing obstacle courses, sometimes blindfolded and listening to instructions from a partner.

Fair Play and Friendly Competition

With football’s European Championships about to kick off, it’s likely that young fans will be inspired to take to the pitch themselves – or perhaps they’re naturally sporty already. High-profile tournaments such as this can be a great opportunity to teach children and young people about what constitutes being ‘a good sport’ – not just in terms of technique, but also attitude. This guide collates our expert’s tips for encouraging fair play and friendly competition between children. It will help you to ensure that they can relish an enjoyable game of football, rugby or something else entirely — without unhealthy approaches to winning and losing polluting what could be an uplifting experience for all. Sources https://www.yourschoolgames.com/taking-part/joining-competitions/reframing-competition/ https://www.yourschoolgames.com/taking-part/joining-competitions/reframing-competition/aac/ https://www.fairplayinternational.org https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7e208240f0b62305b80fa4/Going_20the_20extra_20mile_20-_20excellence_20in_20competitive_20school_20sport.pdf https://www.afpe.org.uk/ https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65fd68f9f1d3a0001d32adbc/Enhancing_physical_education_provision_and_improving_access_to_sport_and_physical_activity_in_school.pdf https://www.youthsporttrust.org/school-support/free-resources

Year 5 PE Lesson - Orienteering

In our PE lesson we played dodgeball for our warm up. For the main activity we focused on team work ready for our exciting orienteering lessons.

Year 1 - P.E - Orienteering

Year 1 began their unit on orienteering with some team building and problem solving challenges.

Year 6 PGL - Raft Building

The rain hasn’t stopped us today! The children have shown fantastic teamwork, participating in raft building. Poor Mrs Meagher ended up wet through as she fell in!

Year 6 PGL - The Climbing Wall

Today, Year 6 definitely lived out our value of courage as they had to face the climbing wall! The children were pushed out of their comfort zones, climbing as high as they could. We are extremely proud of their effort and determination!

Year 6 PGL - Abseiling

What goes up must come down! The next challenge for Year 6 was abseiling, and yet again they did us proud! Many of us faced our fears head on and our courage and perseverance shone through!

Year 6 PGL - Archery

Year 6 are having a fantastic time at PGL, their first activity was archery. We were very impressed with their aiming and shooting skills!

Year 5 Mini Olympics

Year 5 completed a mini Olympics on Monday. What fun we had. The children thoroughly enjoyed themselves and had the greatest time!

Nursery - Maths. PE. - Building and Throwing

In Nursery class we have been following a pirate theme, linking with this the children used their construction skills to build walls out of our jumbo lego bricks. We discussed the colour and size of the bricks and the children also persevered to get them linked together. They then selected a 'cannon ball' and used a throwing skill to knock over the walls that they had built. The children really enjoyed this activity!

Year 5 PE Javelin

In our PE lesson we looked at the technique needed to throw a ball. Then the children had to use that technique to throw a javelin.

Year 1 P.E - Throwing and Catching.

Year 1 enjoyed P.E outside this week. During this lesson they learned how to throw a short distance under arm and a longer distance using an overarm technique.

Nursery Class - Physical Development, PE - 'The Floor Is Water' Balancing Obstacle Course.

The children in Nursery Class have been working really hard on their balancing skills. An obstacle course was set up in our garden for the children to try and navigate around. We named this 'The floor is water' and the aim was to complete the obstacle course and not get eaten by the sharks! They have shown a great growth mindset and have not given up when they have fallen off. Brilliant Perseverance Nursery Class!

Year 3 P.E. - Practicing the Relay

In P.E. today year 3 practiced running the relay. They were put into teams and learned how to hold the baton and then how to run and pass it to the next person in their team.

Year 2 PE Athletic Games

This week some year 6 pupils set up some fun athletic games for us to try out.

Year 1 - PE - Jumping

Year 1 have been learning how to jump in P.E. They thought about how to use their arms and their legs to help them jump further.

Frisbee Golf

Ollie's frisbee golf club have been learning the correct posture and how to throw the frisbee this week. The children had a great time, even though it was tricky mastering the technique!

DPSSA Netball League

Our netball team had a fantastic start to thee Darwen Primary Schools Netball League at Darwen Vale, coming away with a 10-0 win! Our players showed great sportsmanship, teamwork and dedication, and we are extremely proud of them all!

Pre- school- Physical development- Catching and throwing

In P.E the children have been learning to throw and catch small balls. The children started at a short distance throwing balls to each other and then moved further away from each other to make longer throws. The children showed great understanding and skills in our lesson and worked well together.

Netball Practice

Our netball team have been busy practicing for our first tournnament this week. They have been working on hand-eye coordination, passing the ball, footwork and defence.

Year 5 Relay Lesson - Developing Technique

In our PE lesson we have been learning the technique of relaying using a baton, making sure our head is held up and arm out ready to receive the baton from the runner, we also needed good eye-hand coordination. As the receiver we needed to keep our hand out ready to get a firm hold of the baton and make the pass over smooth so that we didn't drop the baton. The person handing over the baton needed to make sure that they had their arm outstretched and that they kept a good vision of the receiver to make the passover fast and smooth.

Y4 PE -- Athletics

We have been using short bursts of energy in PE to run over small and larger distances as part of our athletics topic.

Year 2 Sprinting - PE

Year 2 were developing their spriting skills by observing each other to improve their technique.

Two's Room Exploring the outdoors!

We have had lots of fun today exploring the outdoor area in the beautiful sunshine. We practised riding on the bikes, using our legs to push ourselves. We enjoyed climbing on the climbing frame and sliding down the slide. We had fun popping bubbles too!

Year 6 PE

Year 6 have been learning some athletics skills in PE! We have been running sprint races and learning how to do a good standing long jump.

Nursery - PE - Balancing on a Ball

We had lots of fun in our PE session today. We have been learning how to sit and balance on a ball. This was very tricky to do but we all did so well. We also tried balancing with a partner using our feet and legs.

Year 3 - PE - Rounders

This week in P.E. year 3 have been learning to play rounders. They have learnt how to hold the bat, how to ball and field. They played three games during the lesson and played brilliantly and showed great team spirit.

Year 1 - PE - Athletics

In PE, the children have completed a relay race as part of their athletics unit.

Two’s Room - Exploring Outside

We had fun exploring the outdoor area and we found some wiggly worms and slugs.

Two’s Room - Dear Zoo

We have had a good week so far in nursery. We have been looking at our story, Dear Zoo. We dressed up like the different animals and moved our bodies and made noises like the animals. We made animal footprints using the different coloured paints. We also made elephants which have long trunks and big ears! In our physical development room we have been practising our crawling and climbing skills. More fun to come!

Two’s Room - Exploring Outside

We had fun exploring the outdoor area and we found some wiggly worms and slugs.

Year 5 PE Tennis Skills

Today in our pe lesson we were learning backhand and forehand, year 5 had lots of fun and we needed very good eye coordination.

Nursery PE - Throwing and Passing

This week in P.E the children have been developing their throwing and catching skills, passing the bean bags to each other and developing our core strength.

2’s Room - Exploring Outside

We had lots of fun exploring the outdoors today! We made leaf soup in the mud kitchen and enjoyed climbing on the climbing frame. We love exploring in Autumn time with all the leaves crunching under our feet. We made sure to wrap up warm today and had so much fun!

Year 4 - PE Netball

Today in our PE lesson we have been passing and receiving the ball using chest pass, one/two handed passing and then we practised using the netball nets to see how many goals we could get.

Year 5 PE - Netball

Today in our PE lesson we have been passing and receiving the ball using chest pass and bounce pass. We practised using the netball nets, aiming and shooting.

Football Team

The football team represented Darwen St James' excellently tonight and showed great team work. They smiled and had fun from start to finish and we are very proud of them all. Well done!

2’s Room - Physical Development

The children in 2’s room have been exploring their new room, designed to promote their physical development. They are able to climb, jump, balance and develop their motor skills.

Year 1 - PE Moving in Different Ways

Year 1 enjoyed their first P.E lesson in the hall today. We were focusing on moving in different ways without bumping into each other! We also played a game of sharks in the sea to practise our listening and response skills. You can see some children saluting the captain for letting them on board.

Year 3 - Tennis

Year 3 have been developing their tennis skills in PE with Progressive Sports. The children have made great progress this half term.

Year 1 PE - Football Invasion Skills

Year 1 thoroughly enjoyed their first invasion skills lesson with Tom from Progressive Sports today. This half term we are learning football skills.

Year 5 PE - Football Skills

We began our football topic in PE with Tom from Progressive Sports. This week we practiced the skill of dribbling, applying the transferable skills of control, decision making and spatial awareness.

Progressive Active Camps

Holiday Camp Announcement!!! After the successful launch of our 1st Holiday camp we are pleased to finally announce that we have confirmed a 2nd venue to run our camps from. starting from October half term. Starting from October half term we will be working at Darwen St James CE Primary Academy along with West End Primary school were we are excited to reach out to more children and continue to inspire and encourage children to be physically active over the holiday periods. If you would like to book onto either venues please follow our booking page link below: https://progressive-sports-lancashire.class4kids.co.uk If you have any queries please don't hesitate to get in touch. We look forward to seeing you soon

Football

Super proud of our football team tonight who played in their first match of the season! Despite not winning, they showed great resilience and a growth mindset! Well done!

Y2 PE

Y2 started the Gymnastics unit 'balance and co-ordination' today. The children worked so hard and used their growth mindset when balancing on the higher equipment. Well done Year 2!

Y5 - Progressive Sports

Year 5 decided to use the money they had made from selling lemonade in Nurture to pay for an afternoon with James from Progressive Sports. They have absolutely loved their afternoon of Diamond Cricket and Dodgeball.

Witton Park Athletics

The gang at Witton Park athletics and our podium winners Marnin and Mansion- well done! Thank you to all the children for taking part in this annual event and to everyone's patience in us getting back after car park gridlock! A big thank you to Miss Meagher, Mrs Skinner and Miss Evans for giving their time to enable the children to attend!

Y5 PE

In PE today Y5 were thinking about map reading skills as part of their orienteering unit. The children have thought about how to create a map of school using various objects. They did a great job showcasing their leadership, teamwork and creativity skills!

Y1 PE - Outdoor Games

Y1 have been learning about and trying out different outdoor games as part of thir PE topic this half term.

Netball

The Netball team played their absolute hearts out tonight at the Darwen Schools final. They won 1 out of the 3 matches against St Edwards, St Paul’s and Sudell. Well done girls! We are all very proud of your efforts!

Nursery - PE

This mornings P.E lesson out in the garden, moving our bodies and naming body parts.

Year 3 PE

In PE Year 3 have been practising their striking and fielding skills.

Nursery - The Great Outdoors

Nursery have been exploring outdoors as part of their learning through play ethos. The children had a fantastic time and burned off lots of energy!

Year 3 - Basketball

This term Year 3 have enjoyed learning to play basketball. They have learnt about throwing, passing, bouncing and ended the term with a competition.

Year 3 - Connections Work

Year 3 have been learning dance in ther PE lessons this half term, here they are learning about connections.

Y4 Swimming

Y6 PE

Year 6 were lucky enough to have a visiting PE teacher from D.A.C.A., Miss Billington, come into our lesson to teach us how to move like gymnasts. We learned that gymnasts make themselves taller and wider, and that they move gracefully. We all had a lot of fun!

Team DSJ - Football.

Well done to our football team who came away with a 4-1 win and a hard fought 3-3 draw in this afternoon’s matches at Witton Park! Two great games… well done!