Sport and Physical Education

Football is the most popular sport at Eaton Square Senior School, and students have the opportunity to play throughout both the first and second terms at our facility in Acton. We try to adopt a positive and smart philosophy, encouraging a passing style in the right areas, whilst ensuring we don’t concede possession in dangerous positions. Students get a chance to play with both the year above and the year below, which gives them an opportunity to practise leadership skills and stretch themselves in more demanding fixtures.

Football is made accessible with training, practice matches and fixtures for all ages and abilities. As a school, we punch above our weight when it comes to competitive matches and have had some fantastic results over the last few years.  Our most notable triumph to date being a runners-up medal in last years 9-a-side independent school’s competition at St George’s Park.

Rugby is another key sport that we play during the Autumn term and the school fields teams across all age groups.

We believe that participation in team invasion sports, particularly Rugby, helps to develop the soft skills and personal qualities that transcend sport and help to develop the character of each of our students.  Rugby encourages our students to develop leadership, courage and resilience, as well as an understanding of hard work, respect, discipline and teamwork.  We create opportunities for our students to learn how to win magnanimously and to lose with grace.

Rugby at Eaton Square Senior School is a sport that is open to all and, as staff, we aim to create the safest and most enjoyable learning environment possible for our students. Rugby at Eaton Square starts with touch, and then students develop to full contact when safe to do so.

Hockey at Eaton Square Senior School has been part of the core sports programme since 2018, and students have a games afternoon dedicated to this sport once a week during the spring term.

During their Hockey games afternoon, a fixture or training session will take place at our sports complex, or we will travel to an away fixture. We have a well-rounded fixture calendar across the spring term, where we participate in Boys, Girls and mixed fixtures.

During our training sessions, we work on student’s individual skills and techniques, and also team tactics needed in order to perform to a competitive level. Students this year have experienced coaching from an international hockey player on a regular basis, and this has allowed individuals to work on specific skills with a professional.

Our fixtures calendar delivers exciting and competitive hockey games against schools such as Westminster, Dulwich, Knightsbridge and Notting Hill.

Our swimming philosophy at Eaton Square Senior School is based on recognising that each student in our school has a different internal motivation to practise this sport and the passion for swimming and teaching from our staff. Our main reasons to teach swimming in our school are:

• Swim or sink: Providing our students with a life skill that can safe their lives when being in and around the water.
• Swimming FUNdamentals: Learning how to swim accurately by using a fun swimming approach in order to help students to build a life-long swimming habit.
• Different motivations: Having a varied swimming programme that tailors students’ interest (love of the sport, friendship, challenge themselves, chase their dreams, realise and discover their potential)
• Everyone is welcome: No matter what the level of swimming performance is, there will be a space for every student so that they can reach their best version. Teachers from other departments will work closely to develop cross curricular projects.
• Swimming as an educational tool: Learning actively about values such as respect, teamwork, hard work, discipline, punctuality and resilience; and having the opportunity to deal with success and failure.
• Physical and mental health: Using their creativity to develop new ways of movement and play in the pool as well as becoming aware of their own bodies and thoughts when swimming.

Schedule

Swimming squad: Students are invited to sessions before school on Monday and Wednesday mornings. In these sessions students obtain accurate swimming technique in order to participate in regional and national competitions.

Swimming during Core PE and Games: Swimming during Core PE & Games: After a fallow year, swimming will be reintroduced into the curriculum next year. In these sessions, students learn different swimming skills and techniques, and how to be safe in and around the water, experiencing a fun and pedagogical approach.

At Eaton Square Senior School, we strive for not only excellence in our athletes, but also participation and versatility. As a small yet ever growing school, we have the enviable opportunity to nourish and enhance the athletic development of each individual.

Within girls’ sport, we cover both Netball and Hockey as our core sports throughout the autumn and spring term.

Our extensive physical education programme, including two full games afternoons and one PE lesson a week, allows our girls to benefit from professional coaching so that they can work on skills, game play, strategies and sportsmanship within Netball, no matter what their existing level of play.

We believe in building upon these existing foundations of each individual and guiding them to achieve their best.

Within our first full academic year of Netball, the girls demonstrated exceptional enthusiasm towards learning and squads swiftly began to take shape with inspiring determination to improve, and prepare for competitions such as Regionals and IAPS in the coming years.

Cricket at Eaton Square Senior School is played during the summer term, and it is a sport that has been part of the core sports programme since 2018.

We have dedicated cricket games afternoons, and these include either a training session or cricket fixture.

We have a well-rounded fixture calendar across 5 weeks during the summer term, where we participate in Boys, Girls and mixed fixtures.

To encourage participation for all students, we play a mix of softball and hardball matches. This gives the opportunity for students that have never played the game to be introduced to match scenarios at a smoother pace.

During cricket training session’s students have the opportunity to work on their individual skills and techniques through 1-2-1 coaching, and also team tactics needed in order to perform to a competitive level across all formats of the game.

Our training sessions and home games take place at our sports complex in Acton, which features a suite of full size nets, and two full size cricket pitches. We have a wide selection of high quality cricket equipment, and we will ensure that all students have all the kit they need before the cricket season gets on the way.

Out cricket features include exciting matches against Dulwich, Notting Hill, Westminster and Knightsbridge. We also arrange regular development fixtures for those students that are new to the game and would like to participate.

With Lords and the Oval just around the corner from our school, we run an annual trip to visit one of these grounds and explore the game of cricket outside of the classroom. In May last year, the U13’s visited Lords to watch Street Child Cricket World Cup.

Our summer term is a time to embrace Athletics, with all students getting an opportunity to try both track and field events. Track events consist of shorter distance races, with an emphasis on speed, running mechanics and starting technique. Training for longer distance events builds on the stamina developed as part of our cross-country unit from PE and the development of race tactics. In the field, we work on Shot Put, Discus, Javelin, Long Jump and High Jump and firmly believe there is an event that suits everybody’s skill set.

Athletics season culminates in arguably the best event of the year, Sports Day. A whole school event at the Millennium Arena in Battersea, and an opportunity for everyone to take part in an inclusive, but competitive event in front of peers, parents and teachers alike.

GCSE PE is one of the most popular option subjects at Eaton Square. We use the OCR specification which equips students with the knowledge, understanding and skills to develop their own performance in sport and beyond.

The course is 60% theoretical, with a focus on physiology, psychology and socio-cultural issues. The practical element is an opportunity for students to showcase their sporting credentials across three sports, which are assessed and moderated for 40% of their overall grade. Last year a number of our students chose Climbing, which involved a three-day residential at the Adur centre in Shoreham.

At Eaton Square Senior School, Key Stage 3 students’ have one Core PE lesson and two double Games lessons per week. During lessons, students will experience a dynamic and varied curriculum that is designed to promote a culture of physical activity, develop performance, and expose students to new and exciting sporting experiences.

Students at Eaton Square Senior have the opportunity to experience:

• Football
• Athletics
• Cricket
• Netball
• Table Tennis
• Rugby
• Hockey
• Ultimate Frisbee
• Yoga
• Boxing
• Striking and Fielding Games
• Cross-Fit
• Swimming

The current Games rotation for pupils in Year 7 and 8 is as follows:

In good weather, we make full use of Green Park or Hyde Park. Otherwise, we use our indoor gym located on the school site. Our Games sessions take place at our facilities in Acton Town.

The main reason for travelling to Acton for Games is the quality and range of the facilities available to us. These include grass football and rugby pitches, netball courts, a hockey astro-turf pitch, cricket nets, tennis courts and cricket squares. These far exceed anything we are able to secure more locally meaning we can take more students to the same location and staff a greater range of sports.

The playing fields at Boddington also afford us exclusive use of changing facilities and pitches. Eaton Square Senior School has exclusive access to the facilities at Acton Town five afternoons a week which means we do not have to compete for bookings or space. As we grow, it is likely that we will use a wider range of facilities as our sporting and games options increase.

All students currently travel in small supervised groups on public transport. This is primarily because it is the quickest way to reach the grounds and therefore allows more time for sport. It is only seven stops on the Piccadilly line which takes around 20 minutes, followed by a five-minute walk to the sports grounds.

We believe that it is important for students to learn the appropriate procedures and etiquette to use on public transport and therefore this is all part of their school experience.

Yes! Competing against other schools in a range of sports gives our students the opportunity to test and showcase their talents while also allowing us to learn important life skills. These include learning how to lose gracefully and win magnanimously and how to engage in good sportsmanship whilst representing the school. We are incredibly proud that 100% of Year 7 and 8 students and over 75% of the entire school have represented the school in external fixtures. We are looking to build on this as our school grows.

We aim to find the right balance between providing opportunities for all whilst ensuring students achieve as much success as possible. We are always keen to recognise achievement by players in all school teams. It is therefore important that students who are picked to represent the school, act as good role models at all times.

Players are expected to:

• Have a positive attitude to training and matches.
• Be graceful in victory and defeat.
• Wear the correct kit while training.
• Wear the proper school kit for all matches.
• Make sure that their kit is clean and in good condition.
• Look after any school equipment which they borrow.
• Be supportive of teammates at all times.
• Show respect to all members of other schools when playing at home and away.
• Play according to the spirit and rules or laws of the sport at all times and show respect to all officials.
• Behave sensibly on all journeys.
• Keep track of the calendar and make sure they know when and who they are playing.