We are 4th and 5th Class in Redeemer Girls School, Dundalk. There are 28 of us now but we started out as 29. Usually, our PE lessons begin with a warm up. This warm up stretches the muscles we will need during our PE lesson. In the middle, we work on skills and teacher gives us instructions on how to play games. We always end with a cool down meditation – that makes us laugh! Most of us love PE in our school, we play soccer, GAA, basketball, rounders, dodgeball. We go swimming and have packed Active Week with visitors from our local community – 4th & 5th Class

I had always felt that my own teaching of PE was very rigid and that one lesson mirrored the next. I wanted to allow the children to have more ownership over their learning. I was eager to allow the children the opportunity to have a say and bring more life to a subject that I myself enjoy.

I began by allowing the children to make their own choices. I had planned to teach athletics through stations. The first week, I allowed the children to choose everything: groups, activities, time and order of activities. This was far too much choice at once even though all had been decided before the lesson began. We discussed the lesson using the 2 stars and a Wish and the children agreed it was too ‘messy’ and ‘all over the place’. Assessing it myself, I noted that one choice per lesson would be more achievable. We did this for 4 weeks, until finally the children had created the complete lesson! It was amazing to see the progression! – Miss Lavery

Reflection

I think the Getting Started with Student Voice in PE resource is a fantastic tool for teachers and students. I feel that when children get to have their say and make decisions as a group or a team, they enjoy the lesson a lot more. It is tailored to their abilities and interests perfectly because of this. I have noticed that children who were reluctant to join in PE lesson were 100% more engaged. I would highly recommend this to any other teacher and will continue to explore
new ways to involve pupil voice not only in PE but throughout the curriculum.