The EverLearner

New to Head of PE, stepping up soon, or years into the role and need a reminder why you got into leadership? Our summer blog series this week focuses on the Head of PE role and everything it entails.

This post has pulled together 10 must-read blogs covering everything from goal-setting frameworks and assessment models to mentoring ECTs and challenging your own assumptions about students' potential.

Highlights include:
- A practical "how do I actually do this job" guide for course managers
- Goal-setting with the end in mind for year-one leaders
- A real case study on blending theory and practice in core PE
Whether you're building your department philosophy from scratch or just need a summer refresh, there's something here for you.

📖 Have a read here: https://hubs.ly/Q04rQqzL0

The summer holidays are well and truly underway, which means two things: you’ve (hopefully) put your feet up at least once, and the new academic year is edging that little bit closer (sorry!).

If you’ll be teaching A-level PE for the first time, there’s no better moment to get ahead than now, while there’s still time to read before INSET days and back-to-back meetings, getting your new teaching timetable, planning the new extra-curricular programme, lesson planning… The list is endless.

So make sure you’re sitting comfortably and take a look through our top ten blog recommendations at your own pace over the next few weeks.

Don’t forget, if you are a HoD or a caring colleague, please do share this post with your team so everyone can benefit.

As usual, click on the link in our bio to access this blog post and all the others.

Did you catch the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony last Thursday?
I did, and thought it was fantastic... who doesn't love the King coming out of a Tardis and a flying Tunnock's Teacake. I have to admit, I was definitely shoulder-shimmying to "Yes Sir, I can boogie" and tried to guess the next country or territory in the athlete's parade (it turns out, I need to swot up on my Commonwealth knowledge).

What was your favourite bit of the opening ceremony?

🏆 Big news! We just won a Demo Dundie from Storylane for Most Innovative Use Case! 🎉

At The EverLearner, we know just how busy teachers are. That's why we built an interactive demo that lets you explore our platform in minutes, no meeting required. Just a quick, self-guided walkthrough that shows exactly how our resources can support your teaching and save you time.

We're thrilled that this approach has allowed even more teachers to see the different resources that we offer. Our demo has now been viewed by hundreds of teachers looking for a fast and flexible way to find out more.

Huge thanks to Storylane for the recognition, and to every teacher who's taken the time to explore our platform.

Haven't seen the walk-through demo yet?
👉 Check it out here: https://hubs.ly/Q04qPhqG0

New to teaching GCSE PE theory this year?

Grab a drink (a cocktail, a beer, an iced tea… whatever floats your boat!), put your feet up and have a read. Don’t forget to bookmark this post to come back to it when you return to school.

They’re some of the most useful things we’ve written for exactly this moment, to reassure you and help you to feel confident as you return to school for the new academic year.

Everyone in the PE team certainly wishes that they’d had access to some of these resources when we all first started out as classroom PE teachers (many years ago now!)

Scroll to the end to see some of our “wider” team getting involved with reading. 😍

Links to all the blog posts can be found in our bio.

As we move into the summer holidays 🥳 instead of bringing you Topical Tuesday and sporting news you can use in your classroom (because there are no classrooms in the summer holidays - hopefully!), we are going to share some of the more intriguing/controversial/opinion-forming sporting news and ask for your thoughts.

So let's begin...

🇪🇸 Spain won the World Cup, beating 🇦🇷 Argentina in the final. In a match, which was nowhere near as thrilling at the bronze medal match, Argentina had zero shots in the first 90 mins of the game. This was World Cup history! Also making the history books was Argentina’s GK having to make 11 saves - the most by any GK in a World Cup final.
The win made Spain the first team to hold both the men's and women's World Cup titles at the same time, and their second star overall after 2010. Was this the exciting end of a World Cup which drew big crowds and was famed for expensive ticket prices, or did England’s poor tactical decisions and Spain's dominance leave fans a bit deflated?
❓Was Spain the best team throughout the tournament and did they deserve to win the World Cup?

The Commonwealth games is returning to 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Glasgow this week after only 12 years away from the host city. The games will be a scaled-down version with only 10 sports making the cut this year, but 215 gold medals will be handed out. 74 nations are taking part, which is an increase of 2 since Birmingham, 2022. Welcome to 🇬🇦 Gabon and 🇹🇬 Togo.
The saddest news is that the BBC were outbid this year and The Games will not be shown free-to-air but rather on TNT sports via the HBO Max platform, although a highlights programme will air daily on Channel 5.
❓Will you be watching the Commonwealth games this year, in person or on TV? In fact, did you even know it was starting this week?!

Continued in the comment...

It has been an incredible year at TEL headquarters. We have done so much in the past year and have so many new and exciting projects coming up from September as well (stay tuned for our new website!).

This post looks back at some of this year's top five:

💚 New additions in 25/26: We have added so many new parts to our platform this year including our Teacher Academy, Exam Technique, ready-made exams and our KS3 resources. Let's not forget Project 'Perfect' PE Teaching which was a huge hit and we will be taking into the next academic year! Let us know if you want to be part of it.

💚 Blogs: As you are aware, James writes a blog every week covering a whole host of different PE & Sport areas. Keep an eye on upcoming posts where we will be highlighting some of our favourite blogs. However, these were yours:
✏️2026 Revision
✏️CUB
✏️Teaching levers
✏️Classification of skill
✏️Dear student, ace your exam series

💚 Countries: We are so proud to work with over 1,200 schools, not just in the UK but also internationally - 15% of our schools are based outside of the UK. This graphic shows where some of our international schools are based.

💚 Podcasts: Back in November 2025, James revitalised "The Changing Rooms" podcast and over the past 7 months we have covered topics such as revision, feedback, extended writing, AI, puberty, and of course, Project 'Perfect' PE teaching.

💚 Exam Courses: We have over 22 different exam courses on our platform, including GCSE, A-level, AS, technical, vocational and IB. Our top 5 performing exam courses are ones which have the most active groups on our platform.

💚 MATs: Did you know we offer a MAT discount? If your school is part of a MAT and more than one school signs up, you may be eligible for a discount ranging from 10% - 35%. If you want to know more about this, contact Elle on [email protected].

That's it, our top 5s of the year... And what a year it's been! Bring on the next academic year - but not before a well-deserved and relaxing break.