PE essentials: top sports equipment you need for your school
PE essentials – top sports equipment you need for your school
Whether you're planning for the new school year or still have some PE & sports funding to spend before the deadline, our blog for essential school PE equipment will help your staff deliver high-quality PE lessons to your students.
Encouraging children to participate in PE can already be difficult, but as with any lesson, you want and hope that your school enjoys their PE sessions, especially since we know how important it is to develop healthy exercise habits. Here at GLS, we have written our list of top sports equipment you need for your school.
Balls
No school should be seen without a large and diverse range of balls. Balls come in various shapes, sizes and materials and are central to many popular sports. Bouncy ones, inflatable ones, playground ones, and not to mention sport-specific ones like netballs, basketballs, tennis balls and cricket balls. We’re confident that if you opened your PE cupboard and all you found were balls, you would still be able to provide brilliant PE lesson.
No matter what activity children perform with balls, be it throwing, catching or rolling, they’re developing their gross motor skills and working on controlling their movements. These skills are vital for your school too, so make sure you have plenty of balls for your PE teachers to use.
Rackets and bats
Rackets and bats are widely used PE essentials. They can be used in a variety of sports, including badminton, tennis, squash, cricket and table tennis. Racket sports, whether children use loosely or tightly strung, or have a short or long handle, help to improve a child's physical development in numerous ways. Improving their hand-eye coordination and balance and strengthening their lower and upper body muscles.
Cones
Cones are an essential PE resource. They are extremely adaptable and can be used in almost any sport. One example is using cones as section dividers to create boundaries between different sports games on a field. They can also be used as goal markers on a football pitch or as an obstacle for children to run through. Cones can be used in a variety of ways to improve children's balance, coordination, agility, speed, and endurance. Ensure you have these in your PE essentials list so your sports teachers are prepared.
Bibs
Bibs are an essential piece of equipment for team sports, especially when there are a large number of students involved. Training bibs come in a variety of bright colours and can be used to differentiate teams in competitive sports or groups in PE. Competitive sports games encourage children to engage in physical activity while improving their social skills and teamwork.
Athletics equipment
When the class begins their athletics lessons, this type of school PE essential is sure to get them excited. To reduce the risk of injury and ensure that the targets are attainable for all abilities, consider providing safe and soft equipment such as javelins, shot puts, and discuses.
Sports discs are a versatile resource that can create various entertaining games for students. Frisbee is a popular throwing and catching activity that helps children develop their handling, agility, and gross motor skills. However, discs can also be used in games like disc golf, flipping the disc, and tag.
Nets and hoops
Hoops are an essential PE item. The well-known classic hula hoop spinning activity is a simple yet enjoyable game that allows children to test their abilities. This improves body awareness, core strength, and coordination all at the same time. Hoops come in lots of bright colours and sizes, allowing you to create a variety of other activities around them.
Don’t forget sports nets for tennis, badminton, basketball, football and more. A PE essential, your sports staff can’t live without them. Ensure you’re all stocked up, especially leading up to the warmer months.
Sports accessories
Finally, every PE instructor requires sports accessories like a stopwatch and a whistle, whether you're watching athletics events on the running track during sports day . A whistle is a simple addition to your PE lessons that is required to regulate the games and the children, whether you are refereeing an energetic game of football or refereeing an energetic game of basketball. Using a stopwatch in PE is also a useful motivator, encouraging children to push themselves and set their own personal goals to improve their speed, pace, and stamina.
As an SBM, it can be a struggle to know exactly what sports equipment your school needs. By following our list of PE essentials, you’ll have everything you need for your students’ PE lessons. For more tips and advice, check out our blog on how to make your school money go further.
