PE at Key Stage 3

Key stages

The National Curriculum for Physical Education is statutory in all maintained, mainstream schools up to and including key stage 4. An appropriate version of the curriculum is used in maintained special schools. Key Stage 3 (KS3) covers years 7-9, children aged 12-14 years.

In PE at KS3, children are working in the following areas of key concepts:

• Competence
• Performance
• Creativity
• Healthy, active lifestyles

The key processes are:

• Developing skills in physical activity, which includes refining and extending the range of skills, their precision, control and fluency
• Making and applying decisions based on selecting tactics/strategies, refining ideas and plans, planning what needs to be practised and recognising and controlling hazards
• Developing physical and mental capacity through physical strength, stamina, flexibility and the mental determination to succeed
• Evaluating and improving through analysing strengths and weaknesses, deciding what to do about improving their own and others’ performances, acting on these decisions in future performances, being clear about what they want to achieve and having actually achieved in their own work
• Making informed choices about healthy, active lifestyles through identifying the types of activity they are best suited to and the roles they would like to take on, making choices about their involvement in healthy physical activity

The challenges at KS3 for children with:

• Autistic spectrum disorder focussing on Asperger’s syndrome
• Physical impairment
• Sensory impairment
• Communication difficulties and dyslexia