ENTHUSIASM and positivity was the highlight of my visit to Bishop Perowne Church of England College, in Merrimans Hill Road. Upon my arrival, I was greeted by the head of PE, Jim Preece, to see the pupils during a lesson.

Despite the weather being miserable, the students certainly were not - instead their attitude was ‘keep moving to keep warm,’ during PE.

I obviously came unprepared as I arrived at the school with my suit and work shoes on. Generously, Mr Preece offered me his coat to wear and also provided me with a pair of boy’s football boots for the muddy pitch – it was quite the look.

I watched the Year 10 boys during their football session - it was clear every single one of them enjoyed themselves, regardless of the winter weather.

Mr Preece said: “PE is all about focusing on the holistic development of a child. We want the students to grow and go into the wider community and use the skills they have learnt. We want to develop them physically, cognitively, socially and emotionally.

“The whole PE department looks at the individual and sets them their own personal learning targets. This is important so they can develop at their own pace and make progress. The subject focuses on developing communication skills, leadership skills, team ethics, the ability to think and make decisions.”

The students led the beginning of the lesson by conducting a warm up.

Student Harvey Neal, aged 15, said: “I like that Mr Preece personalises the lessons to each of us. He gives us specific targets and we all work as hard as we can to achieve them.”

Mr Preece added: “The students are the central focus of the lesson. We understand each student and set them goals and objectives to meet their needs. We differentiate and put them into groups. The school's strap line is ‘endeavour forever’ which is about resilience.

"We try and embed this in our students. We create an environment where they can be the best they can and challenge them. We are setting P.E as a lifetime activity. We aim to develop physically literate students. This allows them to have the confidence and motivation to perform in a full rage of activities and take these skills with them when they leave school.

“P.E is not about the better students doing well because they play outside of school, it is about looking at the children in the class and allowing them to make the progress that they can make. We value each student and we want everyone to feel confident and develop their skills as they move through their journey at school."

Ahmet Celik, aged 14 said: “We learn a lot about tactics and how to get on with each other during P.E. We feel a real sense of team work and this enables us to take these skills with us.”