Sports at St Nicholas

We are proud of the current physical education (PE) curriculum provision and the sporting achievements we have made over recent years. Children have 1-hour PE lessons twice a week as a core part of the curriculum. All children from Reception to Year 6 go swimming for one academic term during the year and we run cycling proficiency for our Year 5 children.

We hold an annual summer sports day which consists of a House competition and competitive races and we always enjoy the event being well attended by parents and governors. We run other sporting events throughout the year e.g. house activity days, skipping workshops, Sport Relief Mile. In addition to regular curriculum activities we also provide a variety of extra-curricular clubs including football, netball, street dance, tennis, cheerleading, and chess.

We attend the Harpenden District Sports events and tournaments throughout the year which include cross-country, tag rugby, football, netball, chess, rounders, Kwik cricket festival and our District Athletics event. Please see our Sports event page and press release page for more information and photos.

Impact of Sports Premium so far

• Our pupils always participate in District Sports events alongside our local schools. Specialist training is clearly having an impact on the level of pupils' commitment to and enjoyment of sport. 
• The standards in PE are continually improving as evidenced by the use of a tracking system used by our professional PE specialists.
• Teaching staff are benefitting from observing specialist coaching which is providing continuing professional development.
• Pupils regularly contribute match reports from sporting fixtures and often demonstrate high levels of pride, passion, team spirit and enthusiasm in their writing. We also celebrate the sporting achievements of our pupils outside of school activities in our weekly newsletter.

Swimming and Water Safety

• 100% of Year 6 pupil can swim competently, confidently and proficiently over a distance of at least 25m
• 100% of Year 6 pupils could use a range of strokes effectively (for example front crawl, backstroke and breaststroke
• 100% of Year 6 pupils could perform safe self-rescue in different water-based situations