Physical Education
An image of a girl running

A management team was set up to oversee the PE pilot.  The core members of the management team were the Council's steering group for physical activity, PE and sport, and the chair of the team was the Council’s Head of Schools. The implementation of the PE pilot was the responsibility of the Sports Development Manager.

The PE pilot in Clackmannanshire looked at ways of working with existing resources in a more efficient way to address the gaps in the provision of PE. These were identified as:

  • assisting the secondary schools to deliver two hours of PE
  • adding a core 30 minutes of PE in primary schools
  • linking the primary PE project to the secondary syllabus.

Achieving two hours of PE

A timetabling expert was identified and was employed to work with all three secondary schools and selected primary headteachers to look at how they organise their school day. In the secondary schools the timetabling consultant spent time working with the depute heads with timetabling responsibility to see if there was an opportunity to make space on the S1 to S3 timetable for two hours of PE. The timetabling consultant worked with three pilot primary schools to talk through and rationalise the timetabling of the space currently used for PE, which was also commonly used as the dining room and for school assemblies, etc. 

Adding 30 minutes of PE in primary schools

A programme of CPD and training was implemented for the class teachers in the three pilot primaries to gain confidence in delivering the extra half-hour in primary schools. This included an experienced PE teacher mentoring some of the class teachers. The project investigated different models in the primaries which incorporated the use of external facilities, the implementation of a daily activity programme and using external providers to supplement the PE programme. A local video company was commissioned to record the impact of the Clackmannanshire primary PE project.

Linking the primary and secondary PE syllabus

A working group was set up to establish better links between the primary programme and secondary programme. Time was also provided to write a package to implement Standard Grade PE in S1.