Greg (not his real name) seemed to be in a permanent daze, never quite sure what was going on; never in the right place at the right time; always late for lessons. In September 2003, Greg, aged seven, started Year 2 at prep school and seemed destined to continue to be that kid who was always one step behind and might eventually end up in a mundane, routine, going-nowhere sort of job.
One day, just for a change, instead of writing the day’s lesson timetable on the board in the usual black ink, chronological, descending list, Greg’s form tutor wrote each lesson in order, in different colours, from right to left across the bottom of the board. That day, Greg had all the correct books and equipment with him and was on time for each lesson. All the other children were in a muddle…but Greg had it sussed. Greg was focussed, confident and zoned in. In 2025, Greg now has a self-made, multi-million pound, logistics business empire and knows exactly where he is going in Life.
It is so easy as a parent, as a teacher, as a person to fall into the trap of looking at everything through your own perspective and to follow the same routines. As Greg taught us all at that school, just looking at something from a different angle, checking the basics, or shaking up the norm can make all the difference and give someone that vital helping hand, that single stepping stone to get them on the right track; their track.
PE and sports lessons present the perfect opportunity to build confidence, develop an enjoyment of exploration, build a sense of success, learn to compete, work as a team, discover independence. But, horror of horrors, through mismanagement, misunderstanding or lack of empathy, they also harbour the potential to ruin all of those things for a pupil or student. Every single lesson or sporting experience is a step on the mountainside and it is the teachers’, coaches’ and parents’ job to make sure the child has the support, equipment and motivation to scale not slide. If they can establish their confidence and sense of adventure through PE, sport and play, they can transfer these skills and attitude to all aspects of their social and school lives.
With this in mind, attention to scalability needs to be paid at the earliest opportunity. Your nursery or playgroup environment should to be inviting, welcoming, tempting. Colour, interest and safety are essential components for the adventure to begin…and continue.
Flooring – when you spend much of your movement time crawling on the floor before you start to wobbly walk, a pleasant landing is much appreciated! No baby or toddler is going to want to take the risk of exploration if it hurts. Make sure your flooring, inside and out, is safe, clean, inviting and fit for purpose.
Exploring an interesting surface is a big enough challenge at the very beginning and enjoyment of this stage installs the motivation to find out more. When it comes to PE and sport, a properly managed sports hall floor, with appropriate mat provision is essential.
Outside, those of a certain age will remember skidding on crumbly, gravelly tarmac playgrounds and having very sore grazed knees with every knock and tumble. Nowadays, there is a huge range of much safer and more welcoming surfaces that encourage users to be braver and more adventurous with their movement. Get the ground and flooring right and you have the foundations to scale up.
Simple challenges – just because you can reach the first step on a stairway, doesn’t mean you can leap up to the first floor in one go. The stairway has individual, graduated steps for a reason – each builds on the gains of the previous to propel the user upwards. Miss one and you could trip; tumbling down, losing confidence and all that progress in one go. Once your Early Years children feel safe, supported and interested in their environment, new little challenges can be introduced one by one. Holding and dropping a Jungle Frog turns into throwing and catching one, which turns into social games and target throwing in groups – one Jingle Frog at a time! Equally, why make life difficult with a slippery smooth ball when your toddlers can be motivated by the joy of success with an Easy Katch Ball? No-drop satisfaction leads to confidence, enjoyment and ambition.
Add a few Hedgehog Stones to the activity area and, suddenly, the floor becomes just a tiny bit more interesting, tactile and challenging to navigate but there is achievement in every step. Even the very best Cirque de Soleil tightrope walkers started somewhere!
Portable and Adaptable Equipment – now you have got your pupils feeling safe and confident in their activity, play and PE environments, you can scale up the skillset with the non-threatening introduction of equipment that can disappear just as quickly as it appeared, if need be! The Wibbly Wobbly Bridge is fun to look at, easily set up, plus short and achievable. Balance grows with each crossing as does the toddler’s desire to show his/her success to supervising adults and friends. Confidence breeds confidence – and confidence entices others to have a go.
Similarly, the Sure Shot Mushroom invites more exuberant play without the fear of hurt and the Individual Tunnel inspires imagination and interaction but all within a familiar environment. Move this approach into early PE lessons at school by introducing beautifully made, solid Balance Benches which can be used as very basic props to movement at first and then as a whole jumping, hopping, team, individual, balancing and performance resource.
Later, even in secondary school, less confident or smaller groups can take the portable Netball post or wheelable Football goal to a quiet corner for some practice; scale up those shooting skills in private before facing the match or full-on lesson.
Off the Ground – Once your pupils have mastered the Balance Bench and their increased coordination is motivating them to reach for the skies, there’s nothing much better than a colourful, sturdy outdoor or indoor climbing frame to combine those skills with a greater sense of adventure and exploration. Slightly more risk (carefully managed) challenges and inspires. Having friends all around also climbing at the same time adds to the social learning, observation and imitation. No need to rush, take it slow, try and enjoy. Every successful mountaineer must have started on a climbing frame at some point!
At secondary level, a well-designed, professionally installed indoor or outdoor fitness suite offers older students the same motivational steps. Watch how others do it; have a go at a quiet time or with help from friends; set their own targets – achieve and get fit at your own pace.
What is particularly noticeable about all the examples above is not only that new challenges and skills must be introduced slowly and carefully in measured increments if they are to be motivational but also that participants only feel truly confident when they have ownership of the activity. Just as the unusual layout of the writing on the board gave Greg the information he needed to organise his own day, so the provision of interesting, safe, sturdy play, PE and sports equipment gives pupils and students the resources to discover their own capabilities. Once they feel secure, they will be motivated and able to scale up in every aspect of life.
