WHAT DOES COVID MEAN FOR GCSE PE SKIING?

WHAT DOES COVID MEAN

FOR GCSE PE SKIING?

Kaeti Breward (PE Teacher, GCSE PE Moderator, Ski Instructor and former organiser of the ISSC) runs through some of the benefits and ways of obtaining your GCSE PE skiing footage.

The road to returning to school has been an interesting one, having just spent a year out of teaching working on my skiing instructing amongst other things it’s been a bit of a shock to the system returning to the classroom (well mostly sports hall/field)! One thing that we are still not overly certain of is how the assessment of practical’s will take place for our current year 11’s and also going forward with our year 10’s in GCSE PE. My guess is that exam boards are waiting to see what happens with a second lockdown, travel restrictions and what life after COVID will look like. One thing is for certain, seasonal sports such as skiing are going to be tricky especially as the majority of the exam boards currently require candidates to be assessed on snow and not on dry slopes and indoor slopes may restrict the marks they can access. Personally, I would love for the exam boards to recognise the excellent work that is going on training our skiers and racers on plastic and indoors in this country. Who knows, COVID may be the catalyst for this happening! As GCSE moderators we are contracted on a yearly basis. We were all trained, had completed standardisation, had our allocated schools and most of us had dates in the diary to complete the practical or video moderation of marks. Some PE teachers reading this may even have fitted in a moderation early on in the window before we got locked down, I was pleased that some of the Independent Schools Skiing Champs schools managed to get their moderations in and received excellent feedback for the videos that were filmed at the 2019 ski races in Les Deux Alpes last December. It was a funny feeling that after years of juggling my PE teacher hat with my moderators hat in the summer term that I would be doing either for a fair few months on lockdown. The fact that our training and standardisation doesn’t happen until early January is a worry for me as I have returned to my job as a PE teacher…what if we don’t know what the expectations are of filming and gathering evidence is until then?

I had hoped that when I was writing this that I would have more answers. I’m sorry I don’t! All I can suggest is what I am personally doing with my own cohorts and what I’m advising colleagues in schools across the

country that I have built a working relationship with over the years I have moderated and in the past year working in school skiing.

Here are my top tips for planning for your GCSE skiers for the foreseeable:

• Have they got any historical footage that you can use? You will not get away with footage of them hurtling down a slope after their parents at 5 years old but your moderator may accept footage from a school, competition or family ski trip from the past couple of years. • Take them to an indoor slope to record the skills and if you can, some competitive skiing.

The National Schools Snowsports Association can help with this. • In days gone by of GCSE PE, we used to get instructors to write a report on the candidate.

This is now not a requirement BUT again, it shows willing. If you have candidates that have had askiing instructor or coach for an extended period of time, ask them to write a report using the exam board specification. • If there are schools competitions indoors or on dry slopes this winter, enter them and film them in these competitions. • Are they planning on a family ski trip? I wouldn’t rely too much on this as we have seen that travel restrictions can change at the drop of a hat but if they do end up going, encourage them to ask their parents to film them on a variety of runs. Not all exam boards require competitive footage. Write a check list for videoing for the parents to follow, keeps them on track! If they are in lessons, brilliant that the instructor can do all the work!

SKIING FOR GCSE, BTEC AND A LEVEL P.E.

Need filmed evidence of the technical skills and competitive elements for your GCSE PE? The NSSA, working with coaches from Impulse can help with this.

More and more pupils are choosing skiing as one of their sports at either GCSE or A level and why not use a sport you are already proficient at for your PE exam? Technical skills can be filmed at indoor centres in the UK. With the competitive element being filmed during one of our indoor gates sessions. Individuals or groups – perhaps several local schools can team up to bring a group. This is something that we can offer. Our coaches set the environment, film the skills and edit the video for you to submit to the moderator. For more information or to discuss how to book a GCSE session for your school in the UK or weekend training and tasks for A level, please contact office@schoolssnowsports.co.uk