Health and Fitness — Understanding the Body — Year 6 Lesson Plan
National Curriculum: PE KS2 — lead healthy, active lives; understand how to improve in different physical activities; compare performances with previous ones and demonstrate improvement to achieve personal bests
Overview
Pupils explore the relationship between physical activity, health and wellbeing, understanding how the body responds to exercise. They investigate heart rate, the components of fitness, and the concept of training principles. Pupils design a simple warm-up and cool-down sequence and reflect on how their own physical activity habits contribute to long-term health.
Learning Objectives
- Measure and explain changes in heart rate during rest, moderate exercise and intense exercise.
- Identify the six components of fitness: strength, speed, stamina, flexibility, power and agility.
- Lead a five-minute warm-up that includes pulse-raising and dynamic stretching.
- Explain how regular physical activity contributes to physical and mental health.
Key Vocabulary
Suggested Lesson Structure
Pupils take their resting heart rate: find pulse on wrist or neck, count for 15 seconds and multiply by four. Record. Then two minutes of brisk exercise (star jumps, running on the spot). Immediately re-measure. Record. Discuss: what changed? Why? Cool down for two minutes and measure again. Introduce recovery rate: how fast your heart rate drops after exercise is a measure of fitness.
Components of fitness: demonstrate or describe each — strength (press-ups), speed (sprint), stamina (long run), flexibility (stretch), power (explosive jump), agility (cone weave). Discuss: which sports need which components most? Warm-up purpose: raise heart rate and muscle temperature, prepare joints, reduce injury risk. Cool-down purpose: gradually lower heart rate, stretch muscles that were contracting. Training principles: overload (push harder than comfortable), rest (body adapts during rest, not during exercise), specificity (train the component you want to improve). Mental health link: physical activity releases endorphins; regular exercise is linked to better sleep, mood and concentration.
Groups design a five-minute warm-up for a given sport (football, gymnastics or athletics). Must include: 2 mins pulse-raising (linked to the sport's movements), 3 mins dynamic stretching (relevant muscle groups). Groups practise leading it before teaching it to another group.
Each pupil completes a 'fitness profile': rate themselves 1-5 on each of the six components (self-assessment), then identify one component they want to improve and describe one activity that would develop it. Write two sentences on how they currently use exercise for their own health.
Pupils lead their warm-up for another group: the group follows and gives one piece of feedback. Cool down: gentle stretches. Ask: what is recovery rate? How could you use heart rate to judge whether you worked hard enough? End with: physical education is for life — the habits you build now are the foundation of your health.
Common Misconceptions
- Pupils think cool-down is optional or just for getting changed — static stretching after exercise is most effective and helps prevent soreness.
- Believing fitness is all about stamina — there are six components; different activities require very different fitness profiles.
Prior Knowledge
Pupils should already be able to:
- Basic understanding of the heart and circulatory system from science.
- Practical experience across all PE strands from KS1 and KS2.
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