School Sport and the Development of Competition

At our school, we fully believe in finding the right balance between developing competition - an inherent and motivating element of sport - and offering inclusive opportunities for all children to take part in order to enjoy the positive rewards that sporting participation offers.  In order to achieve this successfully, we have a programme of competitions that we offer throughout the year in a variety of disciplines, following the Schoolgames pathways approach as detailed below:
For the majority of our children we offer level one competition through daily PE lessons, through taking part in mini-games and end of unit competitions.  We have now also embedded a regular and successful House competition throughout the year in different disciplines that are run according to the recognised rules.  For those children in years 4-6 who want these more structured and competitive experience, houses play each other in a league format until an overall winner is announced.
 
At level 2, inter school level, we take part in as many Schoolgames competitions as possible - in 2022/23, we took part in over 20 competitions in different disciplines.  Children who demonstrate the right sporting values in school and those who are recognised as progressing well in PE lessons or House competitions are offered the opportunity to participate in our representing teams.  We have performed well over recent years and have had both teams and individuals go on to represent Shrewsbury at level 3 level.  Participation is also offered in the annual and prestigious area swimming gala and summer athletics meeting.  We are regulars in the local schools and Shropshire FA football competitions, in which we have achieved much recent and notable success.
 
We recognise that lots of our children want to represent their school against other schools and the pride that comes with this.  We are striving to increase the amount of opportunities we offer to provide this by liaising with local schools to arrange competitive friendlies so that as many of our children can enjoy this experience as possible. In 2022/23, we are proud that we had over 60 children represent the school in competitive football, with well over 100 children representing the school in all sporting disciplines. We track participation alongside children's motivations to take part in School Sport, and discuss as a staff opportunities for different groups of children to take part in and experience the character-building values that sport offers.
Level 1 House Competitions:
 
Below is the schedule for our regular house competitions when permitted.  
 
Autumn 1 - Tag Rugby 
Autumn 2 - Football 
                 - Cross Country 
Spring 1 - Hockey 
Spring 2 - Netball 
Summer 1 - Rounders 
Summer 2 - Athletics 
                - Swimming 
We are delighted that we have earned the Schoolgames Gold Mark award for the fourth consecutive year for the year 2022/23, demonstrating our commitment to PESSPA and offering opportunities for our children.  
 
In 2018/19, we were externally verified, with the following feedback: Oakmeadow CE Primary School was awarded the Gold Mark award following the validation visit, with an exceptionally strong portfolio of evidence in place to support all areas of the Mark award. The validation highlighted that the school was offering a very strong sports programme across all areas of the award. Well done.
Sainsbury's School Games:
 
We take part in a full range of competitions throughout the year, via the schoolgames L2 competitions and also through the wider TrustEd sports partnership.  Our selection policy for each competition varies depending on the aims and goals of the competition and how we feel each of our children will benefit from taking part. This policy can be read below.

We publicise our sporting participation on the school facebook page.