It’s far more than just simply getting out the wall-bars!
Gymnastics Large Apparatus – it’s safe use and inclusion in the curriculum can fill many teachers with great anxiety. However, it doesn’t need to be this way. We ask you to consider the teaching of curricular gymnastics through this short piece.
In some schools in which we have worked, pupils have never used the wall-bars and some say they have never even used trestles or apparatus other than mats and benches. Putting aside the argument that the apparatus has to suit the learning intent (this is a given in my opinion) being able to use the full range of available resources in your school can significantly improve the learning potential, engagement, and enjoyment of curricular gymnastics.
Some schools, over the years have reduced this resource. For instance, some schools have had their ropes taken down, or wall-bars removed. Others have simply not invested in this area or re-invested when equipment such as mats have been condemned, and have scant resource for teaching high-quality curriculum gymnastics – such as a total of 6 mats for an average class size of 30! Of course, there are a great many schools who are well resourced and use their apparatus appropriately to engage, enhance, extend, and enthuse their pupils. They have also invested in staff CPD to ensure confidence and competence which in turn supports their capacity and capabilities to sustain higher quality teaching and learning.
In your school, consider just these few basic questions:
• Are there sufficient resources to teach high-quality gymnastics across the year groups?
• Are staff confident and competent to teach it and use the school’s apparatus?
• Is there consistency? Do staff teach the pupils a consistent approach to lifting, carrying, handling, and using the apparatus?
• Is there a consistently applied safety signal to stop pupils quickly and safely in an emergency?
• Do staff know how to maximise engagement, avoid queuing so that all pupils are actively engaged and not simply waiting for their ‘go,’ in line, on a small number of ‘stations?’
• Do staff know how to progress from floorwork to apparatus to ensure link and flow, the building of a gymnastics ‘sentence’ which can be edited over the unit to produce a more complex sentence showing all the work covered in their lessons and which the pupils can be proud of? [We link Literacy / SPaG with gymnastics using a ‘gymnastics sentence’ as opposed to a sequence simply to enhance learning and help teachers feel more confident with the material].
If you feel from this that there is a need for your staff to be supported in teaching curricular gymnastics (perhaps you have audited all staff’s PE Skills using a tool such as our FREE Staff PE Skills Audit from our website www.visioned.org.uk), then take a look at our Gymnastics Large Apparatus Twilight CPD course on our website. It is by far our most popular CPD session and can be delivered as a half-day or full-day gymnastics focus if required. Contact us.
We only work to empower schools to deliver high-quality physical education (PE) within the curriculum – it is after all, what 100% of ALL pupils will experience, and if we can get this right then it can lead to more young people developing a positive and engaged relationship with activity for life.
Take a look at our website (www.visioned.org.uk) to see what we do, who we are and how we can potentially help you, your staff, your school, and your pupils.