Physical Literacy and Fundamental Movement Skills

We have been running a Physical Literacy initiative in the school for the past 2 years. Two of our teachers attended PDST training and shared the knowledge and skills learned with the rest of the teaching staff. We all agreed that it should be a school priority to teach the pupils the full range of fundamental movement skills that they need to acquire. These skills include everyday skills such as running, jumping and throwing but they are skills that the children may not have acquired correctly or at all! They need to be taught explicitly so that they are done right. As such we launched an initiative where these skills are incorporated into our whole school PE policy, into our longterm and short-term planning and into our daily activities. All classes work at the same time on one fundamental movement skill (eg. throwing) and this skill is developed through PE lessons, warm-up games and class activities. We focus on one skill a month. The learning is supported further by resource manuals, posters and a display board in the PE hall. The display board is used to reinforce for the pupils the key points for each skill with visual cues and descriptions. Finally we have supported this skill development further through active homework and yard activities. The initiative has been a huge success and we have seen a marked improvement in the children’s skill levels.

More information about Fundamental Movement Skills can be seen here.

Senior Infants working on throwing:

Click here to view a video of one of our Junior Infant classes working on the skill of running!