King Edward VI Shakespeare's School | Stratford-upon-Avon

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We encourage and promote the benefits of a healthy active lifestyle.

The Sport Department’s philosophy is Participation – Progression – Performance.

We aim to enable all students to find suitable activities, but also generate a platform for those who wish to strive for high performance. We demand a range of qualities from our sportsmen and women, for example: effort, belief, focus, determination, humility, good manners, honesty and punctuality. When observed, these actions are re-enforced, becoming both contagious and habitual. These qualities are described as our core values.

We firmly believe that better people create better sports performance. Our teaching and coaching team believes that Physical Education is about inspiring students and providing them with the all-round skills needed to allow them to participate in sport for the rest of their lives. We offer each student the opportunity to be both physically active, and also to stimulate their mind. As they acquire and develop the core skills required in a number of sports, for example: basketball, badminton, gymnastics, indoor athletics and volleyball, students are encouraged to develop their knowledge and understanding of both individual and team games, by learning how to devise, plan and implement tactics, act as a coach/manager and be able to umpire or referee.

Our students also take part in Health Related Exercise and Fitness. This programme develops an understanding of how to exercise the body efficiently, giving our students an idea of the kind of exercise they should regularly be undertaking, to keep them fit and healthy, as well as an understanding of how physical conditioning relates to improved performance. Students enjoy three periods of high intensity, high quality Physical Education per two week block.

All students are fitness tested during the Michaelmas Term. This helps to identify areas that require development, students who have made substantial improvements, and those athletes capable of reaching high performance. At K.E.S. we aim to fulfil each students’ potential, driven by process, rather than outcome. Alongside skill development, we aspire to grow character and encourage our students to develop resilience, openness, coachability, initiative and leadership qualities.

Games
The ethos of games at K.E.S. is to encourage maximum participation, enhance each student’s long–term athletic development and create a platform for elite performance. This is done through engaging and creative coaching, energetic staff and a driven student body that represents the School with honour. The Department offers students the opportunity to participate in, and compete for, the School in our performance sports – rugby, hockey, athletics, netball, cricket, fencing and rowing. Each year group has one Games afternoon per week, consisting of three periods and one, hour-long, after-school training session. The Department also run skill clinics in the various disciplines.

For Senior Games (Year 11 upwards) performance students enter high performance sports’ programmes, specifically designed and delivered by specialist teachers, assisted by elite coaches, from the sports’ major governing bodies. For students who wish to maintain a non-competitive, yet active lifestyle, we offer the opportunity to take part in a range of different activities at the Leisure Centre, in Stratford-upon Avon.

We also offer Physical Education (AQA) at A Level. Academic Physical Education offers a unique educational opportunity to deliver a course that reflects the ever-changing world of sports science and athletic development. The capacity to cover exam-specific topics as diverse as performance anxiety, injury, rehabilitation management, and energy production systems, allows each member of staff to develop the student academically, and offers an excellent view of theoretical and physiological aspects of sports performance, that students can use in their own fields of play.

Sports Tours
Sporting tours, at both Junior and Senior level, are a major factor within school life at K.E.S. with recent successful tours in cricket, rugby, hockey and netball. For example, the Junior cricketers have recently enjoyed tours to Sri Lanka and Dubai, while the Senior netball squad has toured Barcelona, Gibraltar and Malta since 2016 and will be touring Dubai in 2025. The Senior hockey squad tours the Netherlands and the high performance rugby squad enjoys bi-annual tours that have recently included Argentina, Canada and Japan.

Staff
The Physical Education Department consists of three specialist full time PE teachers, each with a background in sport specific high performance, assisted by three Gap Year students. At K.E.S. we take our coaching very seriously. Staff are supported to develop their own personal skills by attending courses suitable to their chosen sport.

The wider coaching staff include: a GB rowing coach, a GB fencing coach, an ex-premier league hockey player, an England age grade international hockey player and a basketball specialist. Coaching is supplemented with experienced and committed practitioners, from within the Staff Common Room. This unique blend of talents helps the students at K.E.S maximise their full potential.

Director of Sport – Toby Wilson – tjw@kes.net
Assistant Director of Sport – Luke Gardiner – lwg@kes.net
Teacher of PE - Carl Hogg - cdh@kes.net - cdh@kes.net

Facilities
The Department has the use of the superb, multi-use Levi Fox Hall and the Gymnasium at the main School site. The School has a focus on “strength and conditioning” and, over recent years, has invested heavily in a Strength and Conditioning centre, known to students as ‘The Cave’. We have excellent facilities for Games, at our Manor Road Playing Fields. Here we have four rugby pitches and specific training areas for our winter games options, two cricket pitches, a grass athletics track and a jumping pit, for our summer games options.

We also make use of local sports facilities including Stratford Leisure Centre, Stratford Tennis Club, Meon Vale Leisure Centre and other local opportunities. The School is in the early stages of developing a state-of-the-art Astroturf at our Manor Road site, which will greatly enhance our hockey and tennis programmes.

PARTICIPATION – PROGRESSION – PERFORMANCE

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