Sports Academy

Curriculum Intent

Our intent is to create a world-class fun, engaging and relevant Physical Education, BTEC Sport and Sports Academy curriculum, which equips students with the skills that they will need Post 18. Students should be inquisitive and analytical in their approach. They should be able to debate relevant sociocultural information and work collaboratively with others. Our hope is that the skills practised, and experiences that students have in their theoretical and practical lessons will be a solid foundation for a lifelong interest in Sport, fitness and leading a healthy, active lifestyle.

Our curriculum is designed for students to learn about the principles and methods of training, applied coaching methodology and careers and self employment in the sports and active leisure industry in order to develop a passion for habitual lifelong health and leadership. Through our curriculum, students learn subject-specific knowledge which becomes established through a range of practical and theoretical concepts. The students also learn about the ever changing and evolving sports and leisure industry, one of the largest growing employment sectors in Europe. By following our curriculum students will gain the confidence to train, lead and innovate in the sports and leisure sector and in their own lives. It will provide an excellent foundation for a range of careers which are crucial for socioeconomic development.

The structure of our curriculum allows for students to move along the path from basic to applied coaching, leadership, training and sports development. The important knowledge that students learn is well structured so that it becomes meaningful, flexible and easier to access. Teachers then scaffold and use models to facilitate students in solving complex and interesting training and coaching scenarios whilst considering the sports and leisure industry. As new knowledge is taught, it adds to existing knowledge to help to build the ‘big picture’ for students. The relationships between concepts are explicit and students feel that they are making progress as they start to know more, remember more and can do more in Sports Coaching and Development.

The 4 main areas of knowledge that students study in BTEC Sport are:

1. Knowledge of methods and principles of training
2. Knowledge of leadership, coaching methodology and applied coaching
3. Knowledge of Practical performance and analysis
4. Knowledge of sports development, self employment and the sport and leisure industry.

Our curriculum uncovers theoretical and practical concepts so that each student clearly understands what they are learning and why they are learning it. As students go through each unit building substantive knowledge, they are able to reason with increasing sophistication and expertise.

• substantive knowledge (knowledge of theories and models, principles and methods of training)
• disciplinary knowledge (knowledge of how to apply principles of training and applied coaching in practice)

We use daily assessment and feedback to ensure that where students may have gaps in knowledge, these are tackled so that all students can make progress through our BTEC Sport curriculum. Formative assessments are carried out within each of the 12 units over the 2 year course.