From the classroom to the Olympics
Ofsted and Sport
Richard Light HMI
Thursday 11th September, 2014
AIMS:

Share some of the findings of the latest
Ofsted report of PE and sport

Explain some of the ways schools are
using their funding to improve primary PE
and school sport

Provide an overview of current inspection
arrangements from September 2013.
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Challenges for PE

Competition against core subjects and
league tables
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How to get high participation and high
standards
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Sedentary lifestyle and children obesity
Pathways and opportunities outside of
school.
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Beyond 2012 –
Outstanding physical education for all.

One-day primary, and two-day secondary subject
inspections in 120 primary, 110 secondary and seven special
schools

2008-2012 ‘The Halcyon Days’

Raising the bar – the Olympic legacy.
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Strengths:

PE is in pretty good health – in more than two thirds of
primary it was good or outstanding

Significant investment in PE - impact of SSPs evident in
almost all schools. Sports colleges had a high profile

Two hours of PE in key stages 1-3 in most schools. Most
schools had a good or outstanding enriched curriculum

PE made a significant contribution to pupils’ personal
development and well-being, and enjoyment of school

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More young leaders across all phases.
Better primary leadership (PLTs).
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Weaknesses:

Not all pupils get a good physical education. PE required
improvement in one third of schools visited despite
significant investment

Primary schools – limited subject knowledge, low confidence
in teaching PE, swimming
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More able not challenged
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No assessment and limited curriculum time
Secondary schools - low expectations, too much teachertalk, lack of regular challenge for more able
Not enough physical education in PE lessons
Balancing high participation and high performance.
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Recommendations:

School leaders - monitor teaching and its impact on
learning, and provide 2 hours each week

Subject leaders - raise expectations of colleagues, show
them what to do, check that they are doing it well

Teachers - improve pupils’ fitness, challenge more able,
think about planning, listen and learn so that all teaching is
good - assessment

DfE - implement a new national strategy for PE and sport,
ensure that providers of ITT allocate more time for PE

HMCI has commissioned a follow up survey to examine
competitive school sport in state and independent schools
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NEW FUNDING:
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National strategy, local solutions

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New, additional, extra
A threat or an opportunity?
The challenge – making sure it’s wellspent
Local models and good practice.
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Spend, spend, spend ?

Hiring specialist PE teachers or qualified
sports coaches

Running sports competitions or increasing
participation in school games

Providing cover or professional
development so more teachers are
trained in PE

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Buying football kits to tennis rackets

Pooling money with other local schools
Providing places for pupils on after-school
sport clubs and holiday clubs
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OFSTED FRAMEWORK

New framework since September ‘12
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Only good is good enough

Outstanding schools exempt from inspection

To be outstanding, teaching must be outstanding.
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Ofsted monitoring

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School website prior to the start of an inspection

Observe PE lessons and judge about the quality of teaching
and its impact on learning and progress, and behaviour

Ask school leaders and governors for an evaluation of how
new funding is improving PE and sport

Seek pupils’ views about PE lessons, lunchtime and afterschool school sport and healthy, active lifestyles.
Inspection Handbook and guidance updated to help schools
understand what inspectors will look for
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Implications for inspection

In lessons, check that PE is: highly physical, includes and
challenges all, gets pupils thinking and doing, is tailored to
meet specific needs, is fun and enjoyable, standards

Watch out for notes of absence, differentiated planning &
tasks, more able going through the motions, obese and
unfit pupils, spoon-feeding, use of coaches and volunteers

Teacher subject knowledge, teacher demonstration and
modelling, assessment, use of ICT, curriculum enrichment
and competition.
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Outstanding achievement in PE
All pupils:

Show exceptional independence, think for themselves and
take initiative
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Independently explore and experiment with tactics and
techniques
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Show significant levels of originality, imagination and
creativity in their understanding within the subject
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Highly competent at evaluating
Demonstrate high levels of physical fitness
Make healthy lifestyle choices.
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Outstanding teaching of PE
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High levels of confidence and expertise – specialist
knowledge
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Use of wide range of innovative and imaginative resources
and teaching strategies
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ICT used very effectively to support observation and
analysis
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Ensure that pupils learn new skills and find out how to use
them in different ways – repeat actions, sequences or team
tactics
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Frequent opportunities to assess their own performance.
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An outstanding PE curriculum

Provides an extensive range of opportunities to participate,
and excel in.
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Complimented by a wide range of traditional and alternative
activities before, during and after-school that engage pupils
of all abilities and interests
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Competitive sport is played to a high level
Partnerships facilitate participation outside of school
Sufficient time enables pupils to achieve well
The vast majority of pupils take up opportunities for at least
one additional hour of school sport each week.
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Outstanding leadership and management
‘Leaders change things. Leaders move things on.
Leaders determine the culture and ethos of
institutions’. (HMCI)

The pursuit of excellence is demonstrated by an
uncompromising and highly successful drive to improve or
maintain the highest levels of achievement and personal
development for all pupils over a sustained period of time

Subject leaders provide colleagues with clear guidance on
what to teach and how to teach it well. They show them
how to make routine assessments and how to use this
information to raise achievement in PE.
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Expert Subject Advisory Group

Variation in the way the new NC will be interpreted by schools
and teachers

Slimmed down nature risks teachers taking content at face
value and not providing a broad and balanced programme –
gaps in provision and knowledge
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Coaches – may not take responsibility for ensuring the progress
of pupils and unlikely to have the pedagogical understanding
necessary to teach all aspects.
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Ofsted monitoring

Complete telephone interviews with school leaders early in
the autumn 2013 to find out how they are using their new
funding to improve PE and school sport.

Collate Section 5 inspection evidence from lesson
observations and discussions with school leaders and pupils
throughout the autumn 2013 and spring 2014.

Survey schools’ spending in the summer term 2014 and
report in autumn 2014 on the impact of new funding in the
first year.
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Inspection Findings (January 2014)
Most schools are using it to:
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employ new sports coaches
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provide staff training
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employ new teachers or coaches to teach
PE and coach sport.
join with other schools to share the cost of
new staff and provide more sport
use secondary PE teachers to teach PE and
organise sport
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Inspection Findings (January 2014)
A few schools are using it to pay for:

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swimming lessons
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coaches to teach PE without monitoring the
quality of their work or ensuring that NCPE
requirements are met
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enrichment activities not linked to
improving PE and sport, or pupils’ health
and well-being.
existing coaches to continue to teach or
coach what they have always provided
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Inspection Findings January 2014
In less effective schools:

confuse key terms about PE, sport, health
and the people employed to improve them
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focus on existing rather than new,
additional provision
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do not observe lessons or sport activities to
support their views
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cannot explain what sports have chosen or
what they expect to achieve

do not say how schools will monitor and
evaluate the impact of new funding.
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Inspection reporting

The school has a detailed plan for using new funding, based on
the views of staff and pupils about how to increase pupils’
participation and improve their sports skills. This includes using
sports coaches to work alongside teachers to improve their
teaching. Teachers are expected to record what they have learnt
from each session and review how well individual pupils have
benefitted from their teaching. The plan also aims to increase
the range of out of school clubs and improve the school’s success
in sports competitions. The PE leader has planned how she will
monitor the impact of these new initiatives on increasing pupils’
participation and performance in sport, and improving teachers’
confidence and competence in teaching PE.
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Future reports due end Sept 2014
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500 reports sampled – making a difference
Follow up – 22 schools visited case studies provided
HT’s see funding as opportunity to build on good practice
Most of the new funding was used to:
 deploy new sports coaches and other personnel qualified

in sport to teach pupils in PE lessons and coach in new,
after-school sports clubs
join with neighbouring primary schools through existing
sports partnerships or new arrangements, pooling their
funding to share the cost of new sports staff and pay for
organising inter-school sports competitions
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Future reports due end Sept 2014
 improve staff subject knowledge and PE teaching skills
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by providing professional development and training for
existing teachers, and enabling them to work alongside
external coaches to observe and learn new skills and
techniques from them
work in partnership with secondary schools to enable
specialist PE teachers to teach PE and organise
additional extra-curricular sport in primary schools
increase pupils’ participation in sport and physical
activity, including involvement of parents, the
community and local sports clubs
help selected pupils, including the disabled and those
who have special educational needs, overcome barriers
and enjoy the benefits of PE and sport.
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Future reports due end Sept 2014

All the schools had a detailed plan of how they intended to
use the funding for at least the first year. However, a
common weakness was that the plans generally lacked clear
targets for improvement and failed to show how the impact
of the actions would be monitored and evaluated.

Most schools employed specialist teachers and sports
coaches to help improve the teaching skills of the class
teachers and teaching assistants, and increase pupils’
participation in sport and physical activity.

Discussions with staff showed that where professional
development was planned and structured, and focused on
the identified needs of individual members of staff it was
most effective. Where this was the case, teachers and
teaching assistants demonstrated greater subject
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knowledge
and
specific subject teaching skills than where
Still further work to be done

strategic planning - shows clear, measurable targets for
improvement and make clear how the impact of the actions
will be regularly monitored and effectively evaluated by the
school’s leaders, including the governing body

regularly monitor the work of specialist teachers and sports
coaches

ensure that staff development is systematically planned and
structured

develop activities specifically aimed at encouraging and
developing their most able students

be proactive in promoting pupils’ health and well-being,
especially tackling obesity
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Looking ahead

Read the survey reports, use the recommendations along with
subject specific guidance – this spells out what to do
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Leadership of PE – people make the difference
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New NC – don’t get bogged down – teach what you like, just do
it well and make sure it leads to high achievement
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