“Physically educated persons are those who have learned to arrange their lives in such a way that the habitual physical activities they freely engage in make a distinctive contribution to their wider flourishing.” – James MacAllister
What our pupils say:
“Over all, my favourite subject is Indoor PE. I love playing on the ropes in the hall. As I climb up them, I feel as if I pierce through the sky into another world. However, ground rules still apply in the air. I make sure that I am careful and that I don’t fall, otherwise my Mum would ban me from ever climbing ropes or going on a trapeze again, which would SMASH my dreams of being a trapeze artist.”
“Climbing the wall, bushcraft and making dens in woods were probably my favourite activities. When we finished our den, half was waterproof and half wasn’t –it was ok though because I just put my waterproof on!”
“I went to basketball club because I wanted to get better at basketball and I was chosen for the team yesterday. I ended up getting the second most goals for our team (10 nets—2 three pointers and the rest two pointers) and was one of the four players chosen to be man of the match for the whole tournament. I am pleased with the progress that I am making in basketball.”
“I loved sleeping in a tent with my friends at Viney Hill and working really hard to complete hard core stuff! I liked working as a team and my group got better at this through the week. In team building we encouraged each other and our ideas and changed plans when things weren’t working. Caving was my favourite activity. When we fell in whilst canoeing it was really cold! I was challenged at Viney Hill. For example, I tried climbing up the climbing wall with one hand—I managed it though! I really enjoyed Viney Hill; it helped me to grow my confidence. When we did the water activities, we jumped in and I went deeper than I thought I could go. I went into the cave and took a wrong turn and got confused. Luckily the instructors helped me with their torchlight! I learnt not to crash into trees when biking!”
“I was proud of when our team at the rugby match won! We won first place at Rendcomb! We were a good team because we all worked together; we didn’t just try to get tries on our own. We had 2 people that had never played before and we still worked together.”
“In PE I like doing laps of the track before doing the PE lesson because I like running—it makes me feel happy. I enjoy doing running and ball activities. This year was the first time that I represented the school at football (I have represented the school at hockey before); it was fun!”
“I am enjoying sport in school and have gone to basketball, netball and football club this year. I am proud to be picked to represent the school.”
“At Viney Hill I learnt how to army crawl up hills and avoid being found by the people looking for you. I also learnt that in order to complete some things, you have to work as a team.”
“In P.E. we have been doing some parkour running. I find the rolling difficult because I worry that I will hurt myself but I like to give it a go. In the lessons, I like to use the wall to jump up and push myself away from it. I really enjoyed the Beyonce dancing– I even performed it in front of the whole school in the class assembly. It was actually really tiring but I enjoy performing.”
“In P.E I really enjoyed doing the hip hop Beyonce dance. It was good fun to be able to perform in the rain outside to show the younger children. They all had a go afterwards—we tried to teach one of the children, but it was a bit hard as she had a broken leg! In outdoor P.E we are making up our own games using cones and chalk. I really enjoy designing these games.”
“P.E is still my favourite subject. I just love to play different sports like netball and basketball and we have been making up our own games using cones and circles. The different defending and attacking teams have to use the court to try and hit the cones over. We made up a point scoring system. Football is still my favourite thing to do in my spare time. I would do it all the time if I could! Parkour running has also been a lot of fun—it uses up a lot of energy and can be quite hard.”
“I have been learning to ride my bike with Mr Jansen every Friday. I enjoy riding my bike now and gradually becoming more skilled. I plan to go out on the Common in the summer with my dad.”
“The best moment this year so far has been Viney Hill: there were so many new games I found out about. Also, I have a bit of claustrophobia but I challenged myself and still went caving, then, at the end, I even tried the challenging route. I was most proud of that.”
“Parkour running is really fun. When I do it, I feel like I am really free. It feels like I am actually some sort of spy. My group has got two cops versus one robber. We are starting to plan what is going to happen but we want the cops to win eventually. I enjoy all outdoor P.E.—there are some games that I find harder such basketball but I still enjoy doing it. I would like to get even better at that.”
“Bikeability was one of my favourite things to do so far in Year 5. I was really looking forward to it before I became a Year 5. I was feeling really nervous about riding my bike but it gave me the confidence to now go out on my own and on the roads on my bike.”
“At Viney Hill I liked mountain biking because it was really difficult. At some points you had to go really slowly. Once we had to put our brakes on whilst going up a hill. I accidentally went through a puddle on my bike and got drenched. When we got to the top we played on our bikes in a mud bowl—it showed me I was confident and could keep control on slopes that were almost vertical. When we got back to the camp, I felt really happy that I had achieved it and I felt that I had done well because I had tackled all of the hills and hadn’t come off.”
“I was really happy that I got to go to the netball tournament and we came third. Everyone had a go at playing all of the positions, my favourite was probably Goal Defence. I hope that I can go to more tournaments.”
“Ian most proud of abseiling of a cliff at Viney Hill because I am really scared of heights. Also I am proud of reading 11 books over 2 weeks and 2 days! My best moment of the year so far was going to Viney Hill and trying ALL the activities there.”
“My best moment of this year has been playing for the school in the basketball tournament (we came second and third).”
“I really liked going away on residential trips; challenging myself to abseil down a quarry face. It’s good to be with your friends, even better to be having these experiences together. Poetry is important. They like poetry at Minchinhampton and they seem to like my poetry.” Yr 6 Leaver 2020