The Curriculum Isn’t Broken, But Something’s Missing

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝘂𝗿𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘂𝗹𝘂𝗺 𝗜𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝗕𝗿𝗼𝗸𝗲𝗻, 𝗜𝘁’𝘀 𝗝𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗠𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝗠𝗮𝗽

When I first stepped into schools after years in high-performance sport, I was struck by something unexpected.

It wasn’t a lack of passion.
It wasn’t a lack of knowledge.
It was a lack of direction.

Not in the teachers themselves, many of whom were doing brilliant work, but in the curriculum they were expected to deliver.

Every class had potential. Every lesson had effort. But when you zoomed out to look at the big picture…

𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝗮 𝗯𝗶𝗴 𝗽𝗶𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲.

No clear journey. No agreed benchmarks. No common language between year groups or between staff.

𝗡𝗼𝘁 𝗕𝗿𝗼𝗸𝗲𝗻, 𝗝𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱

Let’s be honest: most PE departments aren’t broken.

They’re just disconnected.

Each teacher has their own way of doing things, based on their sport, experience, or teaching style. Sometimes, that brings energy and variety. But without a shared framework, it often leads to gaps:

Students repeating the same content in different years

A lack of progression from fundamental to advanced skills

Inconsistent approaches to personal and social development

Teachers unsure what came before or what comes next

As a coach, I would never throw an athlete into training without knowing their background, their development stage, or where they’re heading.

Why should it be any different in PE?

𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗮 𝗣𝗮𝘁𝗵𝘄𝗮𝘆

What’s missing in many schools isn’t content.
𝗜𝘁’𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲.

When we started approaching PE with the same mindset we use in sport—long-term development, clear progression, and intentional design—it changed everything.

We began to:

Align our teaching across year groups

Link physical, technical, and personal development in a meaningful way

Help students see how their learning built towards something greater

Give teachers the confidence to teach, adapt, and reflect, without starting from scratch each term

𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗹𝘆, 𝗶𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝗣𝗘 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 “𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀.”
𝗜𝘁 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗮 𝗷𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗲𝘆.

𝗦𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲 𝗮 𝗠𝗮𝗽

Every student deserves to understand where they’re going—and how today’s lesson helps them get there.

Every teacher deserves the tools to deliver that with confidence.
And every school deserves a PE program that reflects the same strategic thinking applied to every other subject.

PE isn’t falling short because it lacks talent.

𝗜𝘁’𝘀 𝗳𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗶𝘁’𝘀 𝗿𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝘀 𝗮 𝗺𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗱-𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲.

We can change that.

And the moment we do, we stop seeing PE as a timetable filler and start seeing it for what it really is:

𝗔 𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗵𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴-𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗺 𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀.