For many years there has been a large emphasis on inclusion, engagement and participation of all pupils within the physical education (PE) environment, whether through primary or secondary school (Slee & Allan, 2001). Countless research articles and academic literatures such as Slee & Allan (2001); Green (2008); and Penney et al (2018) have been published with the intention of providing educators the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding on how to improve their personal practice to create a more inclusive learning environment.

Research carried out in both the UK and around the world emphasize that educational policy is failing to combat the growing problem that attributes poverty to lower attainment in schools (McCluskey, 2017; Ladd, 2012). This has lead to governments raising awareness of the so-called “attainment gap” between the richest and poorest children in education.

“Last night I lay a sleeping, there came a dream so fair”…. I stood in the most modern, well equipped, well -resourced PE department that had ever been seen in Scotland, and it was replicated throughout the country. I was astounded at the sheer magnificence of it all. At Last! – A place fit for purpose to deliver high quality Physical Education to pupils in the 21st century.

“As an association, and a profession we are stronger than we think”I had an extremely interesting day attending the North West Counties PE Association conference in Manchester in November 2017. There was a great opening key note by a Scot (Jamie Andrew OBE) in which he discussed his journey from an able bodied mountaineer to a quadruple amputee following a climbing incident – if you don’t know his story Google it!

There were lots of questions asked about the different approaches taken across Europe and hopefully these presentations will have given the Lithuanian teachers lots of different approaches to consider for their own context.

An evidence based reflection formed as part of a doctorate thesis which focussed on barriers to PEPAS in the Scottish curriculum. Recent initiatives aimed at making children physically active during class time such as the Daily Mile and more recently strength and conditioning based exercise programmes for primary children have received great media attention and are being touted as the answer to the obesity crisis (Collins,2018).

To support our goal of raising attainment & closing the poverty related attainment gap we know that successful learning stems from establishing and developing positive and respectful relationships with our learners, colleagues, parents and the communities we work with.

Galway was the setting for the 2018 Irish Primary P.E Association’s annual conference and what a glorious setting it was. I can see why Ed Sheeran wrote a song about this place, it was nearly as inspiring as the work going on at the conference. The conference was held at the NUIG sports centre and it was packed with workshops, delivered by some of Ireland’s most talented teachers and educators. The following workshops were on offer and I personally took part in the Irish dancing, back to basics, yoga and managing conflict.

I’ve delivered P.E to primary aged children for over six years and only now am I discovering how big an impact positive P.E can have on primary children’s lives, especially team game experiences.Delivering and developing game-play for primary aged children can be challenging and requires time and work but the benefits of a great team games experience can be so vast it’s hard to fathom. 

I remember at primary school, we had a ‘gym’ teacher. Her name was Mrs Kidd and she taught us “gym” twice a week. We also had a gym hall, the centre hall which had two big areas, one on either side of the working area. This was curtained off from the hall and used as the boys and girls changing rooms respectively.