Physical activity and body awareness, delivered weekly by the learner’s named practitioner. Not formal PE — Phase 2 candidate Edexcel IGCSE PE sits in the academic offer separately. The Movement Elective is about the body as a site of regulation, attention, and learning, not about fitness or performance.
What this includes
- Gentle movement practices that work for diverse bodies — yoga, tai chi, walking, dance, stretching
- Body awareness and proprioception — noticing what the body is doing, where tension lives, where energy is
- Movement as nervous-system regulation — using physical activity to shift state (down-regulating from anxiety, up-regulating from low energy)
- Movement as social practice — moving alongside others, mirroring, coordination, the embodied dimension of being together
- Personal movement preferences — what kinds of movement feel safe, sustainable, enjoyable for this learner
How sessions might run
Live, online, with the practitioner. Sessions can be:
- A guided practice the practitioner leads, that the learner does in their own space
- A walking session — practitioner and learner each walking in their own neighbourhoods, talking via phone
- A small-group movement session with a few learners on video
- A reflective conversation about movement the learner has been doing on their own
Cornerstone fits
Movement (●●●) — the explicit Cornerstone anchor. Rest (●●●) — movement as a route to nervous-system regulation. Connection (●●) — moving alongside others is relational practice.
Cross-curriculum links
- KS4 Science — Coordination and the body’s regulation (the biology of how movement regulates the nervous system)
- KS4 Science — Bones, muscles, and movement (the biology of movement itself)
- RSHE — Health Education (physical activity guidelines, mental wellbeing benefits)
- Relating Intelligently — Module 3: How to Stay Coherent (movement is part of the coherence-return toolkit)
- Independent Living — Healthcare and self-care (self-care includes physical maintenance)
Care note for delivery
Movement work with the EBSNA / SEMH cohort needs careful framing:
- No comparison, no competition — a learner’s movement should not be ranked against another’s
- Body neutrality, not body positivity — the goal is functional awareness, not aesthetic affirmation
- Disability and chronic illness considered from the start — movement practices need to be genuinely adaptable, not adapted as an afterthought
- Trauma-informed — for learners with histories of physical or sexual harm, body-awareness work can surface difficult sensation; practitioner training and signposting matter
The pedagogy is: the body is yours; we’re learning to notice what it tells you, and how to respond kindly.
Suggested evidence types (if learner wants to keep them)
- Movement journal — what kinds of movement felt good, what didn’t, what surprised the learner
- Energy / state log across a few weeks — the relationship between movement and how the learner has felt
- A short video or written reflection on one movement practice the learner has made their own
Not assessed
This elective has no mastery scale, no external assessment, no formal feedback. Practitioners may make session notes for safeguarding and continuity purposes (recorded in NOOMA per safeguarding protocol), but the learner is not graded on what they do.