The government provides schools with additional funding (PE & Sport Premium) for PE & Sport in order to make additional and sustainable improvements to the quality of PE, physical activity and sport. The Chief Medical Officer recommends that children have access to at least 60 minutes of sport and physical activity per day, 30 minutes of this is to be delivered during the school day. The PE & Sport Premium can be used to achieve this.

The funding is allocated directly to schools so it can be used in ways that work best for our pupils. The following reports outline how we have invested the funding at St Mark’s and our intended plans for this year’s funding.

St Mark's PE Policy

School Clubs

Community Club Coaches & Initiatives

With the promise of warmer weather and opportunities to enjoy the beach St Mark’s Primary School decided it was an ideal time for all their pupils to learn about sea safety. The children attended a session, on the beach in Swanage, with the staff from Land & Wave.  The company run a community project to help school age children learn about staying safe at the beach which fitted the school’s objective perfectly.

Rosie Tanner, Director of Land & Wave said: “We want all children to enjoy the amazing shoreline they have on their doorstep. The Sea Safety Skills workshop is an excellent way to introduce a confidence around water, whilst being able to identify the risks."

The children were met by Lead Instructor Phil Harris and were immediately engaged in interactive learning. The pupils worked in four groups with the session covering how to call for help; beach flags; what we can do to stay safe and what to do when someone is in trouble.

Inter-School Competitions 2024-25

Congratulations to our Years 5 & 6 Girl’s Football Team who won the Purbeck Football Tournament in October. The girls were runners up last year with all the team bar one having played for St Marks the previous season. Having lost out on goal difference last year there was a determination this year not to let that happen again, and the girls won their first two matches 6-0 against St Georges & Stoborough.  Next up was St Marys, last years winners, after a lot of goals off target from St Marks, St Marys took the lead 1-0 but in the final minutes of the game St Marks scored to take the draw 1-1. After this St Marks won all 4 of their final games beating Bovington 2-0, Sandford 1-0, Swanage Primary 3-0 and finally Wareham St Marys 3-0. The girls played some great football which is obviously fantastic but their team spirit and sportsmanship shone through. One of our girls stopping after a fair tackle to help another player up despite the match continuing! Well done girls we are so proud of you!

St Mark’s Girls Football Team participated in the Dorset Schools Football Finals on Wednesday 11^th December at the Littledown Leisure Centre in Bournemouth. The team qualified for the event by winning the Purbeck Tournament which was held at the Purbeck Sports Centre in September.

The tournament for the mixed event and girls was hosted on the same day which allowed a format of play and then rest. Each game was 6 x minutes each way. St Marks played 5 x matches in their qualifying group and were runners up winning 3 of their matches.

This gave the team from St Marks enough points to qualify for the semi-final where they played Baden Powell, a school with 7 x the number of pupils at St Marks. The score at full time was 0-0 which meant extra time was played. At the end of extra time the score remained at 0-0 which meant penalties. Unfortunately, St Marks lost 1-2 on penalties. 

School PE lead Mrs Davies said: "We are so proud of the girls making the semi-finals of this event. They were disappointed not to make the final but they have shown immense determination against some much larger schools. Mr Noman who has been coaching the girls has done an excellent job and we now look forward to continuing our matches in the Purbeck League.”

At the request of the footballers in the Falcons who didn’t play at the Purbeck Football Festival we decided to host our own Swanage Tournament. As so many of our Year 3 & 4 pupils attend Mr Norman’s Club and play football outside of school, we were able to enter 2 x teams. The children selected their own names for the teams and decided on Swans & Swifts. The other schools taking part were St Marys, Swanage Primary & St Georges.

We were very lucky with the weather and it was great to see so many parents supporting their children from St Marks and the other local primary schools.

We were fortunate to have leaders from The Swanage School officiate the matches for us. Thank you to Mr Butler for organising this for us.

The event was played as a Round Robin with each game being 14 x minutes. Congratulations to all our pupils as they demonstrated some fantastic skills and their behaviour was excellent. We are very proud of you all.

The final results were: St Marks Swans 1^st, St Marys 2^nd, St Georges 3^rd, Swanage Primary 4^th & St Marks Swifts 5^th .

Our Year 3 & 4 pupils have just started their coaching sessions with the Swanage Tennis Club in preparation for the Swanage Tennis Tournament. The Purbeck Tennis Festival was therefore a good indicator of how they are progressing with their racket skills.

The children took part in 6 skill stations which tested their agility, speed and hand eye coordination. There was a scoring system for each station and a sports leader from the Purbeck School demonstrated each activity and explained how to keep the score. The pupils demonstrated excellent focus during all of the activities as they competed in their pairs. 

After the skills session, the children were introduced to Pickleball which uses a 'paddle' and a hollow plastic ball. This new sport was very popular with our children.

After this the children played some mini fun matches. We will now continue to practise our tennis in lessons ready for the Swanage Tournament in June.

On Thursday 10^th October the first of this year’s tournaments was held at the Purbeck School. As this was a Dorset School Games qualifying event the competition was of a high standard. St Marks fielded a strong team, many of whom play football for Swanage. We began well with wins over St Georges, Swanage Primary and a 0-0 draw against Corfe. We then had a break after which we lost 0-1 to Stoborough in a close game where we did have opportunities to win the game. 

Next up was Wareham St Marys who we beat 2-1, a 0-0 draw followed against Sandford. The penultimate match against Bovington was another excellent match but sadly the opposition scored in the final play of the match so we lost 0-1.

Our final match against St Marys, the eventual winners of the tournament, ended 0-0 again. The team showed excellent potential and with 6 minute matches did well to score so many goals. A big thank you to Mr Norman who is coaching the team. We will re-group and work hard as we are in the Purbeck Football League with both our mixed and girls teams

The long-awaited cross-country competition took place on Thursday 30^th January at the Purbeck School. With all year groups competing on the same day, we ended up with a team of 23 pupils taking part. Thank you very much to those parents who were able to assist with transport for this event.

The pupils showed great determination as the course was very muddy after weeks of rain. A few of our pupils did slip but they all managed to recover and finish the race.

Our overall results were very impressive with 3 x pupils achieving individual 3^rd places. Our Year 6 girls were our highest ranked overall team coming 2^nd in their event. Our Year 4 Girls & Year 5 Boys also did well coming 3^rd in their overall team events.

Inter School Competitions 2022-23

Year 5 & 6 Purbeck Football Competition

The first competitive sporting event of the year was held on Thursday 13th October. This came in the form of the year 5 & 6 Purbeck Cup. Our team had a number of Year 5 pupils in it and for them this was their first opportunity to represent the school at football.9 schools entered the event, with these being divided into 3 pool groups. The team worked hard but played too much football close to our own goal which resulted in a loss to Stoborough in our first match. In the second match we pushed forward more and beat Lulworth and Winfrith. This put us in the middle pool for the final section of the afternoon which was an all Swanage fixture, against St Marys and Swanage Primary!

The competition was close with us all winning one match 1-0 and losing one 0-1. The final overall result was a joint 4^th place with our fellow Swanage Schools.

The team will continue to train hard with Mr Gregory as we are entered in the Purbeck Cup which will start in November and continue into 2023.

Impressive Progress

Our girl’s football team played with increased confidence this year. I was so impressed with their improved skill levels and positional awareness. We did not feature in the top three places which I know disappointed the girls but they won a match; drew two and only lost two matches each of which was by only by 1 goal so the results were all very close. Interestingly the overall winners Stoborough were the team the girls beat. Some of the girls are now playing for Swanage as well as training at our school club and the additional practices are clearly working. Thank you to Mr Gregory for his coaching both in and out of school.

The girls will now continue to train as there will be another tournament after half term.

The St Marks pupils were very excited about attending the Handball Festival at the Purbeck School. For some of our younger pupils this was the first time they had represented the school and for our older pupils Handball is always very popular. The children took part in a series of drills in preparation for the games to be played later in the afternoon. As always the Sports Leaders were well prepared and led the drills in a friendly fashion.

The drills were designed to assist with goal scoring, defence & movement with and without the ball. Moving while holding the handball was the main aspect of the game that the pupils needed to develop. In Handball players are allowed to travel for 3 x steps after catching the ball.

After the drills the pupils played in some friendly matches where they demonstrated how much they had learned during the afternoon. The St Marks players were dominant in all their games and I look forward to seeing them playing in a competitive tournament in the future.

The annual trip to Swanage & Wareham Rugby Club came a little too early for St Marks this year. Unfortunately, we missed so many lunchtime practices due to frozen pitches we had to learn a lot at the event. Despite this the players coped well with the off side rule and the unique to rugby passing back of the ball. With only 1 x year 6 pupil being in the team most will have another opportunity to play next year; our focus will need to be support play and speed of recycling the ball. The pupils enjoyed the opportunity to play at a different venue and the rugby club always makes the local primary school welcome.

After the warm up our players played against Stoborough, Wool Sandford, Bovington & Corfe.

We drew 2 x matches and finished the festival with a win.

The final event of the half term was the Year 4 Tag Rugby Festival. At this event the pupils spend the first half of the afternoon receiving coaching from the sports leaders from Purbeck. Our team had all played tag rugby at school during their PE lessons but a revision opportunity was very welcome.

The pupils practised tagging, passing and support play through a series of drill stations spread around the astro turf at the Purbeck School. Some of these were games based in preparation for the mini games at the end of the event.

Our pupils played exceptionally well in the mini-games and despite the majority of the team being football players they adapted to the passing backwards rule extremely well! They were talented taggers and showed great speed, scoring numerous tries. Mrs Hamblin the event organiser commenting on our super sprinting in the final game.

Congratulations to our cross country team who competed in the Purbeck Cross Country Championships at the end of January.

Some of the team had been training with Mrs Martin and Mr Johnson at Monday lunchtime’s running club and their hard work certainly paid off.

Year 5 placed 5^th in the overall team events in both the boys and girls events. Our top boy came in 2^nd place and top girl in 9^th. An excellent effort from all the runners.

Year 4 boys placed; 5^th, 11^th, 12^th & 19^th giving them a total of 47 points. This earned them 4^th overall place but they only missed out on 2^nd position by 2 x points!

The Year 4 girls had a fantastic score sheet placing; 1^st, 7^th, 8^th & 9^th. Their score of 25 points earned them overall 1^st place, by 1 x point over St Marys.

When all the points were added up St Marks Year 5 team placed 6th out of 8 and our Year 4 team placed 2^nd out of 9, missing the top spot by a single point!

Sporting Festivals 2024-25

The first of the Purbeck Multi-Sports events was held on Thursday October 3^rd. St Marks took a team of nine Year 2 pupils to this event. This was the first time that the majority of these pupils had attended an inter school event and I am delighted that they were so excited to be there and not at all nervous.

The events which were all run by the Purbeck Sports Leaders were all designed to encourage communication and cooperation. The children performed a blind fold challenge; an obstacle course where they jumped over and crawled under agility hurdles; a zig zag ball run; a tag game and finally a giant ‘rock, paper scissors team challenge.

The pupils said they enjoyed ‘everything’ but their favourites were the blindfold and obstacle challenges. They certainly seemed to be having fun and working well together as a team.

The Handball Festivals are always a fun afternoon. The children practise the skills required for the game and put these into operation in some matches at the end of the afternoon. The practice stations were used to improve passing, shooting and defending. Our Year 5 & 6 pupils had all been to Handball Club at school so were confident with the skills already, but for our Year 4 pupils this was their first go at the new game. They made excellent progress and soon realised how quickly the game could change from defence to attack. 

Our Falcon pupils were very keen to participate in this event. Many had enjoyed tag rugby during our PE lessons and had adjusted well to passing the ball backwards, the key skill for this game! The poor weather had wiped out tag rugby club so we practised each lunchtime prior to the event on the playground. 10 x pupils attended the event and I think smiled through the whole afternoon. The event was organised by my son, so I was keen to see him putting his leadership skills to the test! We took part in 8 x activities, which looked at different elements of the game. Our passing skills were already accurate but it was great to have some additional work on these along with lots of tagging practise. 

On completion of the drills our team played in 4 x matches. The pitches were very big but this allowed lots of tries to be scored. Some of the running lines chosen by our pupils were excellent as was their support play. I was very impressed with the progress they made in the game and look forward to seeing the team build on these skills next year when they can take part in the Tag Rugby Tournament.

Years 5 & 6 joined forces for the Upper KS2 Football Festival. For this week’s events there were no skills stations just a ‘Round Robin’ set of matches. The pupils as always were enthusiastic and they worked well together. It was a pleasure to watch their positive attitude and hear the players encouraging each other and not criticizing when a team mate makes a mistake. The team won, drew and lost matches throughout the event, eventually finishing in 3^rd place. Many of the team played in last years festival event and it was rewarding to see how their skills are progressing.

As we approach the end of a busy school football season, it was great to take 20 x pupils to the Purbeck School for two afternoons of fun football. We began with the pupils from Year 4 who were all very excited. I know this as they kept asking me what time we were leaving school! The children played 8 x matches so there was a lot of opportunities for them all to try different positions. To illustrate this, we had 4 x different goal keepers throughout the event! 4 x pupils scored goals and our defence were very determined. Many of this group attend our school club with Mr Norman and have also attended some additional football sessions with Mr Gregory. The Years 5 & 6 event followed the same format, again 8 x matches so another busy afternoon. The children chose where they wanted to play but this time, we only had 2 x goal keepers! It was great to see how much some of the children who attended this event when they were in Year 4 have improved and how their confidence has improved. No points are awarded for this event but the children were all proud of their results. I was very proud of their team support and positive attitude both on and off the pitch.

Our Year 3 & 4 pupils attended the coaching session at Purbeck which was organised by the Dorset Cricket Board. This should have been an opportunity for the children to learn batting, bowling and fielding skills however the terrible weather ensured this was difficult from the start.

The pupils took part in a short warm up and started to practise their bowling skills when it became obvious that we needed to abandon the field.

After this the children played some indoor cricket until the end of the afternoon but this was difficult due to the number of schools attending. Despite this we did see that some of our children have some great batting & bowling potential.

As usual our Sporting events are up and running straight away! On Thursday 21^st September, 10 very excited members of Year 4 attending the multi-sports festival. This is a great opportunity for children to take part in a range of non-competitive events that are designed to encourage cooperation and communication.

This year there were some new events with the very popular Quidditch being included. The pupils spent the afternoon scoring goals, grabbing tags, throwing, catching and directing each other while wearing blindfolds! At the end of the afternoon when they were asked to choose their favourite activity the majority answer was “EVERYTHING!”

After just 1 x club session, we ventured to the Purbeck Handball Festival. It was a VERY wet and windy afternoon but as always, our children just carried on with a smile! It was so windy we had to use the Quidditch goals as the Handball ones would have blown away!

After a group warm up, Miss Hamblin the Primary Sports Coordinator explained the Handball stations. This was a great opportunity for the pupils to cover all the skills required to play handball in one afternoon. The pupils took part in 6 x activities to help them with their throwing, catching, defending and scoring skills.

After the skills stations there was time for the pupils to put these to work as we played 3 x friendly matches.

Due to the wet, windy weather the Year 4 Handball Festival was moved to the Sports Hall at the Purbeck School. The participants from St Mark’s were super keen to start all the activities which had been set up for them as an introduction to this new sport.

As with the upper KS2 event the stations support the key elements of Handball so throwing & catching, scoring, defending and movement with and without the ball. The Sport’s Leaders from the upper school as always explained and demonstrated the required skills clearly and made each activity fun.

After the skills stations were completed, there were three rounds of matches, where the pupils put their skills into practice. There was a lot to think about with rules being introduced as the games were played. Our footballers found it challenging not to enter the semi- circle when they were in possession and able to shoot at the goal. A few pupils tried out being the goal keeper, which was great to see.

The pupils enjoyed the opportunity to try out Handball and 3 of the group have now been attending the KS2 Handball Club on a Friday lunchtime.

The atrocious weather meant the Years 5 & 6 Netball Festival had to be moved inside but at least it wasn’t postponed, as we have so many back upped fixtures still to play this term, we are struggling to find enough days in the week!

The pupils worked on a range of skills with the Sports Leaders from the Purbeck School. These included shooting, passing and defence. Our netball shooting improved immensely with all pupils managing to score lots of goals.

At the end of the drills section the pupils played 4 x matches with mixed results. As a team we need to work on improving our footwork skills and positional knowledge so next year we can enter the competitive netball event.

The last activity of the half term was a cricket festival at the Purbeck School. This was organised by Michelle from Dorset Cricket assisted by the leaders from Purbeck.

The sunshine provided perfect conditions for the afternoon’s activities. The competition was set up as paired cricket where each pair faces 2 x overs. They remain in for the whole 12 balls, losing runs if they are caught, stumped or run out. 5 of our pupils currently play at the Swanage Cricket Club so they were familiar with the format.

The St Mark’s pupils played 2 x complete matches, winning both, hitting a number of boundaries and bowling very few wide balls. One piece of fielding from Lewis was exceptional as he successfully completed a diving one handed catch!

The final sports event of the Spring Term was the upper KS2 Football Festival. Like the previous week’s event, this competition is for pupils who do not play football at academy level.  This was a great opportunity for pupils to take part who have not represented the school at many events but who have attended our weekly school football club.

The pupils taking part played in a number of different positions and showed a great aptitude when taking on varying roles on the pitch.

Football continues to be the most popular sport amongst our pupils and we are fortunate to have been able to provide clubs for pupils from years 1-6 this year for both terms. Thank you to Miss Kemp & Mr Norman for running these clubs at lunch time. A big thank you to Mr Jon Gregory, from Swanage Football Club, who continues to work with our staff and has coached our older pupils at their school clubs.

After last year’s success the Purbeck School again hosted their successful Football Festivals. These events are for pupils who enjoy football but who are not at football academies. I have to say that the rain did not stop for the whole event but despite us all being soaked through there was not one complaint. St Mark’s played in 7 x matches which gave everyone an opportunity to play in a range of positions.

There were some super saves from our goal keepers and a number of goals scored too. Just as importantly were the smiles from the players. This is a super event for boosting the children’s confidence. There are no official scores kept for this style of competition but the children knew that they scored more goals than their opponents in 5 of the matches!

The Multi-Sports event on Thursday 19^th January was the first trip out with our Year 1 pupils. They were very quiet climbing onto the bus but soon grew in confidence and volume! This was also the first time that an indoor sports event had been played in the main hall at Purbeck and the new venue worked just as well as the sports hall.

The children were hosted by a group of 3 x Year 8 Sports Leaders including one of our former pupils, Sean, who did an amazing job explaining the activities and encouraging the team all afternoon.

There were 10 activities for the children to undertake, all of which required different skill sets both physically and cooperatively. The children climbed through hoops, jumped over speed bounce obstacles and sprinted over the indoor athletics steppers.

They were all absolute super stars and we were so proud of the effort they put in and their excellent behaviour. 

As always our Year 5 & 6 pupils were looking forward to the Purbeck Handball Festival. This year Miss Hamblin decided to change the focus of the drills so that they were specific to Handball rather than practising throwing and catching which we have done in previous years. The pupils took part in a series of activities led by the Purbeck Sports Leaders. These were designed to develop goal scoring, team work and movement with the ball. The pupils found the latter the most tricky task as it is so different from netball and basketball which they are more familiar with; as in Handball the players are allowed to travel 3 x steps while carrying the ball. The pupils enjoyed the drills and were keen to use them within game situations.

The second part of the afternoon was spent participating in a festival of friendly matches. The pupils played extremely well; scoring lots of goals and demonstrating superb team work. They will have an opportunity to use these skills in the Handball Tournament during the Spring Term.

The Year 4 pupils were very excited about attending the Handball Festival at the Purbeck School. For some of the pupils this was the first time they had represented the school. The children took part in a series of drills in preparation for the games to be played later in the afternoon. As always the Sports Leaders were well prepared and led the drills in a friendly fashion.

The drills were designed to assist with goal scoring, defence and movement with and without the ball. Moving while holding the handball was the main aspect of the game that the pupils needed to develop. In Handball players are allowed to travel for 3 x steps after catching the ball.

After the drills the pupils played in four friendly matches where they demonstrated how much they had learned during the afternoon. The St Marks players were dominant in all their games and I look forward to seeing them playing in a competitive tournament in the future.

Bronze Ambassadors

Our latest group of pupils to benefit from the Purbeck Sports Partnership Leadership Programme began their training in November. As always, the pupils had written applications in order to be selected for their important roles. The morning began with the collection of their prized Bronze Ambassadors tee-shirts!

After a quick change the pupils began their first task which was about the role of being a leader and its link with the School Games values which are:

Determination

Honesty

Passion

Respect

Self-belief

Team work

The young leaders then looked at some of the games and activities they can use in school which require minimum equipment but provide lots of fun!

After 3 sessions of practical work, the pupils then met to discuss their ideas for the activities they can run back at St Marks with our younger pupils. They had lots of suggestions which I am looking forward to seeing them implement in the not-so-distant future. The children will have a timetable which will enable them to still take part in their own clubs and will supplement the clubs being organised by our Year 6 pupils. We are very lucky to have such committed, talented and enthusiastic pupils.

Bronze Ambassadors

At St Mark's we have ten Bronze Ambassadors in Year 6 and 16 in Year 5. We were very fortunate that Dan Moody and Shelley Hamblin from the School Sport's Partnership provided 'in-house' training for our pupils when Covid made it impossible to attend the training at the Purbeck School. The training looks at using the STEP principle:

Space

Task

Equipment

People

A big focus this year was on organising games which used minimal equipment. Our Bronze Ambassadors work in teams at lunchtime assisting with equipment and organising games for all year groups.

Daily Physical Activity

Daily Physical Activity is promoted at St Marks and our pupils are aware of the Chief Medical Officers recommended activity level. This being an hour of activity every day, 30 minutes of which should be provided in school time. Each of our classes has their own 'Active Activity' box which they use at break and lunchtimes. The pupils requested the equipment for each of their boxes which was then purchased using our Sport's Premium funding. At the end of each term we have a 'Swap Shop' so pupils can exchange equipment with other classes.

Skipping Day

In January we held a Skipping Day for all our classes with Dan the Skipping Man. This was very popular with many of our children who are now skipping at playtimes.