Sport at Waverley

A good programme of curricular and extra-curricular activities enhances the educational experience and enjoyment of pupils at the school." ISI

As a one form entry, co-educational school, we provide a vibrant and extensive sports programme for Waverley pupils. We go to great lengths to provide all of our pupils with as many sporting opportunities as possible, with the aim of ensuring all of our pupils find at least one sport (hopefully many more!) that they feel confident with, enjoy and will continue to engage with beyond their primary years and develop a love of sport from an early age.

Sports Offered at Waverley

Within curriculum time and our extra-curricular programme, we provide pupils with access to over 20 different sports each year, all of which are taught by qualified teachers or carefully appointed external coaches and specialists.

Hockey
Football
Rugby
Netball
Cricket
Athletics
Tennis
Health-related Exercise
Cross-Country
Badminton
Basketball,
Gymnastics
Dance
Judo
Fencing
Rugby Tots (Scrumys)
Swimming
Rounders
Golf
Bikeability
Dodgeball.

How much sport do we offer each week?

Every pupil in the school, from Reception – Year 6, has a PE lesson each week taught by a qualified PE specialist teacher and further Games lessons throughout the week.

Pupils in Year 1 – Year 4 also have a swimming lesson every week at a local pool, taught by specialist swimming teachers as part of their curriculum. We feel that this is a life skill that is worth prioritising.

Pupils are offered choice and ownership

In recent years, we have moved away from the gender-specific sports offering in Games lessons and the pupils now choose the sport that they would like to play each term. Giving the pupils ownership of their sports curriculum ultimately makes sport more enjoyable and we have been delighted to see many of our pupils take up these new sports at year-round external sports clubs based on the positive experiences they have had within lessons at Waverley.

Local, regional and national sporting competitions

All of our Key Stage 2 pupils play in weekly fixtures against local schools and these are a highlight of the week for many. We also very much welcome our parents to come and watch. A key ethos at Waverley is that every child takes part in our fixtures. We do not select which pupils play in our fixtures - every pupil will always play.

As a school, we seek opportunities to stretch our most able and we enter many regional and national sporting competitions. This year, more than 40 of our pupils (over 25%) have taken part in ISA (Independent Schools Association) competitions. In recent years, our U11 Football team has reached the ISA National Finals at St George’s Park and had several pupils qualifying for the National Finals in the ISA Athletics and Cross-Country respectively, including several medals at the national finals themselves.

Sports Day

One of our key events of the academic calendar is our Sports Day in the summer term. All children from Foundation upwards participate to help ultimately win the House Sports Trophy. We also have parent races, and pupil vs parent races! These are always the most entertaining to watch and also inspire our children to have a love of sport.

Inspiring our pupils in sport

We take a great amount of pride in the enjoyment that the children get from our sports programme. We have a carefully constructed calendar to ensure that, in addition to quality PE and Games lessons, there are other highlights to promote fun and engagement. We have House competitions in Football, Dodgeball, Cricket, Cross-Country as well as our Sports Day. Last summer, we had a Team GB athlete in to inspire the pupils in assembly and teach every pupil in the school a hurdles lesson.

We also have our extremely popular Parent/Pupil Cricket matches, where mums/dads/carers are invited to form a batting partner with their child. Key Stage 2 pupils go on two Outdoor Adventurous Activity residential trips, which allow access to further opportunities and the chance to build and develop key character skills.

Whilst learning always takes place through such experiences, the main aim is for sport and physical activity to be enjoyed, in hope of creating pupils who leave Waverley with the tools, opportunities and positive experiences to set them up for life-long involvement in sport beyond our school