Term 3: 

 It has been a wet and gloomy start to the year, but each class has excelled in embracing indoor PE. We are so lucky at Checkendon to have the hall to use, and every class learnt gymnastics last term. 

The mats have been out weekly, benches turned on end to aid balancing and the wall apparatus has never been so busy!  

 Oak Class finished the Autumn Term with a fabulous floor display, but we continued our topic into the Spring term. Every week the Acorns and Oaks practiced unusual ways to balance, by themselves, with a partner, even walking backwards and sliding downwards! We had enormous amounts of fun with the highlight of everyone's being the apparatus bars. Best PE lesson ever was heard from every class!  

 Willow Class worked with Mrs Lunn on different balances including front support, dish balances and arabesque. They worked with partners to create matching and mirroring before moving the balances onto apparatus and creating sequences with a partner.  

 Silver Birch worked with Mrs Mottram on core strength, balances, and types of rolls. They combined this with floor work using the mats to create simple sequences, working at different heights which included the wall apparatus as their finale!  

 KS1 Gymnastics teaches children how to develop their balance, coordination, and agility. We do this by teaching them how to jump and land safely - feet together, knees bent, how to perform shapes in the air whilst jumping and how to jump off low apparatus like our benches or horse. These movements all help to develop control with balance, their core strength and their confidence.  

 KS2 Gymnastics starts to see development in their core strength. Balances become more detailed with children understanding and demonstrating the need for different points of contact to increase strength and stability. Jumps and landings are more challenging. Aiming to build on their strength, balance and control, different techniques are shown to encourage the children to think about their own power, landing and jumping distance, all while still being safely in control. 

 This term sees the start of tennis, volleyball, cricket, and resilience building team games, what this space!  

 Although the weather has not been great we continued as best we could with our twice weekly Running Break. On Mondays and Fridays, our fabulous Young Leaders lead the short session, encouraging everyone to run just 6 laps of the field to help energize and refocus their minds. 

 Running Club also continued as best we could, well done to all our committed runners. And a huge hello to all our new recruits! It is lovely to see some old and new faces.  

 The KS1 also took part in their own House Tournament quiz with Green house taking the top spot for that game. House points are still being earned weekly, last term saw the most given out for a single topic, everyone clearly excelled in Gymnastics!  

 The Young leaders have also been busy with indoor lunch activities, the favourite of course being Dodgeball and now the newly introduced Badminton and Table Tennis. 

 The New Year was a quiet one for our Partnership tournaments, but the children were raring to go last week with our Year 1 and 2 Boys Football Tournament. 2 girls from Oak stepped in to help make up the numbers and what a fantastic afternoon we had. For some players, it was their first time ever playing football, let alone taking part in a tournament so I was incredibly proud of their achievements.  

They played brilliantly as a team, supporting each other and every player followed and demonstrated our school values. Well done! 

Term 2..

Went in a flash but was still full of fantastic sporting achievements.

Our Young Leaders grasped their new roles with ease,   with the boys helping to coach our girl's football team .

Girls from year 2 up to 5 would join the club every Monday for tips and they clearly are excellent coaches- the Year 3 -4  girls won their tournament at Langtree!! 

Well done to everyone, a proper team effort! 

Other Young Leader activities included Boccia, Dodgeball, fun games like Duck Duck Goose and What's the time Mr Wolf and even Art classes run by Jessie and Kitty. 

Next term we are hoping to see Badminton and Table tennis! 

Running Break continues twice weekly, just 6 laps of the track and playground which is approximately 1 kilometre. We find a quick focused run really helps to energise the brain and body which then makes a big difference in the classroom. 

Running Club has also continued with strength, well done to all children who brave the weather week after week. Their progression is clear to see and again the focus within the classroom is evident. Don't forget we are a free club, just drop at 8am on the rec by the playground and let us do the rest! Let's get some new recruits for 2024....! 

Every child in KS2 passed the level of swimming they were independently working towards, with also a large percentage of children working above the recommended level for their age. 

90% of Year 6 leave being Proficient swimmers. Congratulations to all of you!

Next it was our tournaments! Wow what a term, we took part in Cross Country, Football- Year 5&6 Boys, Year 3&4 Girls - with some Year 2's helping out, Year 3&4 Boys and indoor Athletics! Every single child gave it 100%, demonstrating such positive attitudes, enjoyment, fun, it's what our tournaments are all about. So proud of you all, you are a credit to our school. 

House point have been earned weekly and its fantastic to say that every single child has earned points for their house...WELL DONE EVEYONE!! There will be an inter house tournament in the next few weeks so watch this space.

PE lessons across the school last term consisted of Football, Netball, Gymnastics, Swimming, Dance and Multiskills.

Silver Birch finished their Dance lessons with a fantastic Jive routine which tied in with their WW2 learning. And Oak Class worked extremely hard to bring you the amazing gymnastics display! 

All children in KS1 and KS2 took part in a tournament within the partnership since term started in September. Logistically that is a huge achievement in itself so huge thanks to all staff for their constant support and flexibility. We are so lucky to be able to provide the sport provision we do here at Checkendon. 

September 2023 

Welcome back and what a fantastic couple of weeks of sport it's been.

Running Club came back with a bang on only our second day, well done everyone for an amazing effort!

Silver Birch and Willow were launched straight into our swimming term. 5 weeks of hour long lessons at The Oratory.  Week 1 was all about aquatic breathing and week 2 the children began working towards their certificates.

Willow are working at Beginner and Improver level and Silver Birch are working at Competent and Proficient level.  The quality of swimming so far this year has been fantastic, it is clear to see improvements all round.

 In PE lessons, Willow and Silver Birch have started the term with Netball. They have all been working on their throwing technique, pivoting and understanding the positions on the court.

 Oak Class have been enjoying working together with parachute games demonstrating great teamwork through moving the parachute across the field without dropping the ball and turning ourselves into a huge mushroom! The mushroom was also a necessity on Tuesday when we were caught in an almighty downpour!

We've also had fun playing the Bean Game, we invented the Ballerina Bean last week! We got out the scarves and ribbons too and used our bodies to make shapes in the air and on the ground.

They have also been showing our new Acorns how we warm up for our lessons by running laps. We run 4 laps at the start of every PE lesson to really get our hearts pumping and our muscles warm. The Acorns have settled in brilliantly and have all been awarded house points for great contribution and learning. Great job Acorns!

Running Break will be back week commencing 18th September. On Monday and Friday break times, every child is encouraged and supported to run just 6 laps of the field which is a kilometre. The younger children often run with a buddy if needed and our Young Leaders are always on hand to cheer everyone on.

Checkendon Primary School has been registered to become a member of the National Schools Equestrian Association. Anyone interested can enter competitions representing the school individually or as part of a team. For more details please talk to our Office.