Health & Well-Being, PE & PSHE
Health & Well Being (PE, School Sports, PSHE, Extra Curricular Activities)
At Much Woolton, we believe that children who develop positive attitudes to their health, and development also develop well academically. We want our children to develop healthy bodies and healthy minds. Our Health and well being programme is designed to promote the knowledge and skills that will equip children to make the correct choices as they grown in order to become healthy individuals.
How is PE a sacred subject?
PE enables children to unleash their full potential, both spiritual and physical, so that they transcend the limitations of the human body. PE provides a unique opportunity for students to recognise and appreciate the need for relationships based on trust and interdependence. It promotes the sanctity of life – the appreciation of the beauty, dignity and reverence of the human person made in the image and likeness of God.
Sport and P.E.
Our PE curriculum continues to be supported by our close link with Liverpool School Sports Partnership however we have our own full time Sports Coach. All pupils receive 2 hours of PE per week with one lesson being delivered by our full-time specialist Sports Coach. The second hour of PE is delivered by class teachers and we follow a scheme called Get Set 4 PE. Our full time coach is on hand to support staff on a daily basis with the delivery of PE and ongoing staff CPD.
Swimming – Our Year 5 and 6 pupils attend swimming lessons at Garston Baths. Lessons also include how to stay safe in the water. It is a statutory requirement that all year 6 pupils leave Primary School able to swim 25m. For those children who don’t achieve this in Year 5 or 6, we invest in top up sessions for them in the summer of Year 6. In 2025-2026 97% of Year 6 pupils left being able to swim 25m.
As part of our PE programme, our EYFS children learn how to ride a bike over a series of 6 weeks during ‘Balanceability.’ Cycling proficiency is then offered to our Year 5 children who are all taken out onto the roads by the cycling team.
Our ‘Powerability’ sessions are delivered during the summer term by our sports coach. These sessions take place during the school day to enthuse some of our less active pupils.
Active Lessons
BBC Super Movers – We are loving making our lessons more active and getting fitter at the same time! Why not try it at home? A great way to learn your times tables or find out what a suffix is! Super Movers!
Kite Marks – We currently hold The Sainsbury’s School Games Kite Mark at their PLATINUM Level. 2025/2026
Sports Leaders – We currently have 10 Sports Leaders who are trained to deliver and promote active lunchtimes on both playgrounds.
The Daily Mile – As a school we are actively taking part in a National Initiative called ‘The Daily Mile.’ We use our running track to enhance our fitness levels on a daily basis. More information about the Daily Mile can be found by following the link. https://thedailymile.co.uk/
Competitions – We participate in a record number of competitions and details of our successes from our last academic year can be seen on our Sporting Achievement Report. As well as competitions we also attend many festival style events and development days to ensure as many of our pupils as possible have the opportunity to represent our school and try our new sports.
Everton School Supporters Club – Again this year we signed up to be affiliated with Everton’s School Supporters Club. They provide a number of opportunities to affiliated schools including match tickets, cross-curricular lessons, coaching and competitions.
Everton’s Dewsbury-Hall recently visited us on World Book Day 2026 and read to some of our children!
SGM_Platinum_Certificate_2025-26_OE8Pll5
OPAL Playtimes
Childhood has changed and we can no longer assume that any child is able to experience full and rich play opportunities outside of school.
As an OPAL school we believe that play teaches children all of the things that need to be learnt but cannot be taught. There are clearly lots of benefits to children from having lots of great play, but the good news is that there are also many benefits for schools too.
Some of the benefits of being an OPAL school are:
- Behaviour – happy children don’t cause nearly as much trouble as bored children
- Accidents – OPAL schools have up to 80% less reported accidents
- Staff well-being – Supervising happier children leads to happier staff
- SLT time – senior leaders report a dramatic reduction in the time they spend on resolving play conflicts
- Teachers – consistently report more teaching time in afternoon lessons
- Self-regulation – children in OPAL schools learn to self regulate through practice, trust and freedom
- Physical activity – all children, including girls, SEN and non-sporty children are significantly more active
- Mental well-being – Research shows OPAL children are happier and self-reporting improved mental health
- Social and emotional development – Good play in the laboratory of life where relationships are practised
- Links to formal learning – Many OPAL schools report increased creativity, imagination and collaborative skills
- Attendance – children can’t wait to come to OPAL schools because they have such fun
- Parents – we all want our children to be happy. Well informed parents at OPAL schools love it that their children are happier
- Rights – Play is a child’s right as recognised by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
- OFSTED – OPAL schools can easily provide evidence on their approach to wellbeing and inclusion
- Risk – OPAL schools report significant improvements in children’s ability to identify and manage risk
PSHE
At Much Woolton Catholic Primary School, our PSHE and RSHE curriculum supports children to develop the knowledge, skills and understanding they need to live happy, healthy and safe lives and to build positive relationships with themselves and others.
As a Catholic school, our RSHE provision reflects our Catholic mission, values and understanding of the dignity and uniqueness of every person. We use the Kapow PSHE scheme to support our PSHE lessons, Journey in Love to provide our Catholic RSHE framework, No Outsiders to support our teaching about diversity and inclusion, and the National Curriculum for Science to support the teaching of physical development and puberty.
We also use additional programmes and resources, including NSPCC PANTS, Red Cross First Aid, Liverpool Smoke Free Homes and selected Strengthening the PSHE Curriculum resources from School Improvement Liverpool, when appropriate to meet the needs of our pupils.
Our curriculum is carefully sequenced from Reception to Year 6 and is reviewed regularly to ensure that it meets statutory requirements and responds to the needs of our school community.
Parents receive further information about their child’s PSHE and RSHE learning through our half-termly Learning Journeys, which outline the specific topics and learning taking place in each class.
Long Term Plan and Year Plans For Parents
Our PSHE curriculum is further enriched by the links we have with our community, including our community PCSO’s, Liverpool’s Road Safety Team, Bike Right, NSPCC, The Anthony Walker Foundation to name a few.
We recognise national Safer Internet Day each year in school via assemblies, outside visitors and PSHE lessons. Some of our topics covered are self image, copyright and cyber bullying. Updates to parents are regularly sent home regarding e-safety. Stand alone PSHE lessons are delivered to address any arising issues as and when we feel necessary, often this is during circle time.
We are very proud of our Silver Liverpool Health & Wellbeing status which we were awarded in March 2023. Our two whole school targets were our OPAL playtime initiative and Road Safety around our school.
We participate in World Mental Health Day each year. This year we supported Young Minds and wore something yellow. A link can be found here to Young Minds for more information. https://www.youngminds.org.uk/
We annually invite our Road Safety Team into our school and workshops are delivered for all key stages about how to stay safe on the road. In year 6 our pupils are prepared for the transition to KS3 by participating in sessions which teach them how to use public transport safely.
Our Year 6 pupils also take part in Personal Safety sessions which are delivered by Liverpool School Sports Partnership.
Policies:
Liverpool Health & Wellbeing Award certificates_SILVER_March 2023
(OUR PSHE AND RSHE POLICIES ARE CURRENTLY BEING UPDATED TO INCLUDE NEW GUIDANCE Sep 2026)
Extra-Curricular Activities
We deliver many extra curricular activities throughout the school year. These include Netball, Football, Judo, Lego Club, Science Club, cross country, craft club to name a few.
Lunchtimes
Our school caterers are Food For Thought. Our children are provided with a healthy school lunch each day. We are now part of the FFT Food Ambassadors Project.
Emails are regularly sent out to remind all about keeping packed lunches healthy.
Link to Change 4 Life website – Change 4 Life
https://foodforthoughtschools.co.uk/ Menus 2026-2027