Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency

James, a year 6 pupil, had little interest in any form of physical activity or some parts of the curriculum until he participated in a workshop at the Capoeira dance club.

At the start of the year, we introduced mentoring for year 6 pupils who were disengaged from PE and other parts of the curriculum. James was selected and our PE subject leader became his mentor, regularly talking to James about his progress, attitudes to learning, likes and dislikes. However, James made little progress in overcoming his difficulties.
 
James was sensitive, lacked confidence and was worried about the national tests later in the year. He was also worried about going to secondary school because he is small for his age. He tried hard with writing, but struggled to achieve level 3C in September. After talking to his mentor, James did, however, express enthusiasm for dance. His mentor invited him to the Capoeira dance club and arranged for him to attend a workshop with a Capoeira master from Brazil. James participated with great enthusiasm and confidence and afterwards started to seek out his mentor to show his writing, which was improving, with a feeling of pride.

James joined dance and rounders clubs and now plays football with his friends at playtimes. He exceeded his target in numeracy, met his target for reading and improved his writing by two-thirds of a level. He now completes more work and has steadily grown in confidence throughout the year. He was not worried about the tests when they arrived and thought he had done a lot better than he ever expected.

James says, ‘I reckon sport helps me to enjoy school, to make friends and show off my skills. At playtimes I play football with my friends, although I don’t like football that much. I would like to play hockey as I am quite good at that. The main thing I have enjoyed is being part of the football team and working together with the others. I really enjoyed the Capoeira dancing, learning a Brazilian dance and meeting the master. I have asked if I can perform it in assembly with Danny. I was really interested in finding out more about when the Brazilians celebrated to their gods, and about Brazilian cities. I think the dance and football have built my confidence and I’m much more confident about joining secondary school now.’