The PE Curriculum at Higham Lane North Academy

At HLNA, our ambitious curriculum in PE is designed to ensure that students know more, remember more and can do more in PE over time. We understand learning as a change in long-term memory, and therefore our PE curriculum is carefully sequenced and deliberately structured to secure knowledge so that it is retained and applied with confidence.

A central principle of our approach is the management of cognitive load. By presenting new material in PE explicitly, modelling thinking clearly, and breaking learning into manageable components, we ensure that students can focus on what matters most. This enables learning to be both accessible and memorable.

Our classroom practice in PE is underpinned by consistent and explicit routines that support long-term retention. Knowledge booklets promote equity and entitlement: every student has access to the most powerful knowledge within PE. These booklets enable students to pre-learn, revisit and over-learn key content, strengthening retrieval and embedding learning securely in long-term memory.

Every PE lesson begins with structured retrieval practice to activate prior knowledge and strengthen memory pathways. PE resources are organised consistently to reduce extraneous cognitive load, allowing students to focus on learning rather than process. Oracy routines are embedded to ensure that students can articulate ideas clearly, use subject-specific vocabulary in PE precisely, and engage in purposeful academic discussion.

Formative assessment in PE is continuous and responsive. Daily questioning, low stakes quizzing and structured checks for understanding enable teachers to identify misconceptions and adapt teaching accordingly. Whole-class feedback strategies support self and peer assessment through coaching, fostering independence while maintaining high expectations.

Alongside regular summative assessments in PE, synoptic assessments are built into every year group to evaluate cumulative knowledge. This ensures that learning is not episodic but enduring. Through systematic retrieval over time, we minimise cognitive overload and maximise the likelihood that students remember and can apply what they have learned.

As a result, our PE curriculum is coherent, knowledge-rich and carefully sequenced — ensuring that all students make strong progress and are fully prepared for the next stage of their education.

At HLNA, everyone is included and everyone belongs. This commitment is reflected in our inclusive classroom practice in PE where all students are supported, challenged and valued as learners. We create an environment in PE where diversity is respected, barriers to learning are reduced, and every student has the opportunity to succeed.

Our values are lived out daily through our students, who strive to be conscientious, compassionate and confident in all aspects of their learning in PE. These qualities underpin our culture of high expectations and mutual respect within our PE facilities. We are proud of our environment in PE because we always do what is right — demonstrating integrity, responsibility and care for one another in both our learning and with each other.

Over time in PE, students will learn the key skills, both physically and theoretically, in sport to develop and enhance lifelong participation in sport. All units of work are supported with knowledge booklets which provides key vocabulary and challenges high level thinking in each sport studied.

Throughout KS3 students will carousel through different sporting activities developing key transferrable skills throughout. Year 7 begins with invasion games of either football or netball before moving onto racket sports followed by striking and fielding/ athletics in the summer term. Underpinned through all activities is the theoretical knowledge of how the body develops, adapts and improves across each sport studied.

In year 8, students build on key skills learnt in year 7 and apply them to different sports whilst also developing tactical knowledge alongside improving skill set.

In year 9, in addition to learning the skills and rules for alternative sports such as pickleball and volleyball, students will build on theoretical knowledge of anatomy and physiology as well as coaching and leadership through the different activities in preparation for KS4.

Our ambitious curriculum provides so much ambitious enrichment. For instance, our extensive cocurricular offer includes sports such as netball, football, rugby, pickleball, basketball, badminton, trampolining and so many more. Students can represent the school in cocurricular fixtures, through sports leadership events and sporting residentials.

There are so many careers that are linked to our subject that we discuss throughout Key Stage Three, and these include professional athletes, coaches, physiotherapists, referees/umpires and many more. Our students develop not only develop practical skills in lessons they also coach and umpire to understand and experience the different roles and careers within sport.

Please find below the learning journey for the following subject. Each learning journey provides an overview of the key topics, skills, and learning objectives covered throughout the academic year, helping students and parents understand the progression of learning within each subject area.