Sport
At our school, children experience a variety of sporting opportunities, from football and netball to cricket and tennis, and everything in between!
The Curriculum
The teaching of PE is led by teaching staff as well as a specialist PE Teacher and coaches. Coverage of the PE key objectives and core skills are ensured by the use of progression maps through each element and the use of the Raw Marsh scheme.
General Sports
Tom Sykes leads our team of sports coaches. He coaches across the school in a variety of sports and organises a series of sporting fixtures with other local schools. Please see the News section below for updates! Mr.Isaacs continues to work and support our KS1 students.
Swimming
For Years 3 & 4, children attend swimming lessons taught at Blackbird Leys Leisure Centre on a rota basis throughout the year.
Tennis
We are very fortunate to have an LTA tennis coach, Neil James, funded by a local charity, The Sheppard Trust. Neil comes in once a week during the summer term to give tennis lessons to children in Key Stage 2 on a rolling programme.
On-site outdoors
We have a climbing wall, customized with our school emblem, the owl! We are very lucky with our beautiful rural setting so we make good use of our playing fields, tennis court and outdoor play equipment. We also have access to the village recreation ground, which enables us to maximise our athletics and Sports Day provision.
We are very lucky to have our own Forest Schools teacher, Mrs Howlett. Each year group has the chance to experience a term of Forest School, once a week, making the most of our rural setting. Our children enjoy life-affirming activities including nature-spotting, fire-building, crafts and cooking.
Local competitions and tournaments
Other opportunities include:
- Hawk Owls (Y6) children take part in a schools partnership sports competition, TopLink, hosted by Wheatley Park Secondary School
- Children from KS2 are selected, following Sports Day, to take part in the schools partnership Area Sports athletics competition, always a lively and supportive community event.
Extra Curricular Clubs
Mondays
- After School Athletics Club run by Mr Sykes (Summer Term)
Wednesdays
- After School Netball Club run by Vicky Coyle of Nettie Netball
- After School Tennis lessons run by Neil James, professional LTA tennis coach (Summer Term)
Thursdays
- Multi-Sports Club for KS2, run by Mr Sykes (Summer Term)
- Football Club, run by Mr Sykes (Autumn Term)
Off-site outdoors
We have the wonderful opportunity to use a local outdoor education centre, The Jack Peers Centre, to help us fulfill the Outdoor Adventurous Activities and Problem Solving areas of the PE curriculum. In recent years, Snowy Owls (Y3) children have enjoyed an annual team-building sleepover at The Peers Centre during the summer term and all year groups visit the centre regularly for a day of outdoor learning & fun.
Our Boreal Owls (Y4) and Eagle Owls (Y5) children visit residential adventure centres for 2-3 nights bi-annually where they participate in outdoor adventure activities. These are often at PGL Liddington near Swindon. Our Hawk Owls (Y6) children have their own residential following SATS week. This has recently been at the wonderful Kilvrough on the beautiful Gower Peninsula in Wales.
We also host a “Key Stage 2 Camp Out” in our school grounds every September as an opportunity for families to get to know each other and catch up following the summer holidays.
News
We were crowned Area Sports Champions in 2019, the last year the event took place! Our children really did us proud at a thrilling evening at Horspath Athletics Ground. Their determination, perseverance and pure team spirit led them to raise the trophy!
Netball
Eagle Owls (Y5) have in the past joined other schools in the Wheatley Park Schools Partnership to develop their netball skills with Year 9 pupils. Everyone had a very positive experience and our children were great ambassadors for our school once again. Well done all!
Football
Look out for match news here! We have boys, girls and mixed football teams, all relishing the opportunity to take part in competitive matches with other schools.