The achievements made in regional competitions are high for a small school.

ISI

Sport is an important part of school life at St Peter’s, having a strong focus on the timetable. This, along with numerous extracurricular sports clubs means that there are lots of opportunities for children to ‘have a go’.  As well as promoting healthy habits the children develop confidence, self-esteem and social skills.  Children gain an understanding of what is involved in teamwork and learn to appreciate fair play and sportsmanship, as well as beginning to realise their sporting potential.

St Peter’s employs a specialist PE teacher to deliver lessons across all key stages.  In Lower School, all children participate in at least one hour of PE per week and these lessons cover movement skills, dance and gymnastics.  From Year 1, in addition to PE, the children enjoy an extra Games lesson undertaking a variety of team sports such as hockey, netball, football rugby and cricket.  The School plays an active part in inter-school competitions, and teams compete regularly in regional and national fixtures and events.

Swimming is introduced to all children from Year 2 and takes place every week at the local swimming pool, developing skills such as stroke technique as well as personal survival.

Tennis is a major sport in school with over 60 children attending tennis clubs, private lessons and holiday tennis camps based at St Peter’s, making the most of our excellent tennis court facility and expert on-site coaching.

We aim to make PE and Games fun and enjoyable, which will lead to achievement bringing in turn recognition and promoting self-worth. All sporting activities follow the philosophy of game-based play, a child-centred approach to delivering coaching.

We aim to:

• Give all children a love of sport
• Develop a positive attitude towards sport; a desire to win, yet the ability to lose gracefully
• Encourage teamwork, leadership and communication
• Provide all pupils with the coaching they need to improve their fitness, skill and game understanding. All children will have similar opportunities and be included in matches at an appropriate level feeling equally valued.

St Peter’s School is a member of the ISA (the Independent Schools Association) and our sports fixtures revolve around playing matches against other ISA small schools as well as local schools when appropriate.  Visiting coaches from Northampton Saints and Northamptonshire County Cricket also lead pupil sessions in rugby and cricket.

As a small school, we train and play in mixed teams.  This means we don’t have boys and girls sports.  Instead, all children experience a wide variety of sports with a more diverse mix of children.  This enables us to fulfil more fixtures and make training more worthwhile.  Yes, boys play netball and girls play rugby!  At a young age, it’s important to expose children to a variety of sports and games giving everyone the opportunity to shine.

In the summer term, all children have the opportunity to practice different athletics disciplines in the build up to Sports Day. Winter and Summer Games Days give children the opportunity to play all of the major sports in front of their parents, in a competitive way, and representing their Houses.

Sport at St Peter’s is competitive but is not win at all cost. Sport is about inclusion and teamwork and also learning to lose.  We emphasise participation, involvement and commitment.  House competitions encourage teamwork and promote leadership; skills that are valuable for life.