Key Stage 4 PE · Evaluating and improving

KS4 PE: evaluating performance and personal bests, a guide for parents

In Years 10 and 11, PE asks pupils to evaluate their performances compared with previous ones and to demonstrate improvement across a range of physical activities to achieve their personal best. It also asks them to tackle complex and demanding physical activities. The emphasis is on comparing yourself with yourself: measuring where you started, working out what to change and showing real progress over time.

Evaluating performance and improving, explained

The key phrase in the curriculum is “compared to previous ones”. Pupils are not being asked to beat the rest of the class, but to beat their own earlier results. This matters for motivation. A teenager who is not the fastest or strongest can still be the person who improved most, and this makes PE meaningful for everyone. A personal best can be a time, a distance, a score, a number of successful passes or a quality of movement that is clearly better than before.

To compare fairly, pupils need evidence. Some of it is numbers: a time over 800 metres, a height or distance jumped, the number of free throws scored from 30, or a heart rate recovery time. Some is observation: a checklist of technique points, a video, or feedback from a teacher or classmate. The best evaluation combines both, because numbers show what happened and observation helps explain why. Fair comparison also means repeating a test in the same way each time, with the same surface, the same number of attempts and a similar warm-up.

Evaluation leads to action. Pupils are encouraged to set a target that is specific and measurable, to choose what to practise, and to test again after a set period. Teachers often use the idea of SMART targets: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound. A training log or a PE journal helps, since it stores results and shows patterns, such as whether performance dips after a poor night’s sleep or improves after more practice on a particular skill.

The objective covers a range of activities, so evaluation looks different depending on the sport. In an individual event such as running or jumping, it is mostly times and distances. In a team game, pupils may track their own contribution, such as passes completed, shots on target, successful tackles or how often they were in a good position, alongside the team’s result. In dance or gymnastics, the evidence is more about quality, such as control, timing and fluency, judged against clear criteria.

“Complex and demanding” also applies to the habits of evaluation. Progress over weeks is rarely a straight line. Results can plateau, dip because of tiredness, illness or a growth spurt, or vary with weather and surface. Pupils learn to be honest and patient: to notice a trend rather than react to one result, to accept constructive feedback and to keep going. A healthy relationship with personal bests supports confidence and wellbeing, and it should never turn into obsession or training through pain.

Words your child will hear

Personal best: Your own best result so far in an activity, which you aim to beat.
Baseline: A starting measurement taken before practice, used as the point to compare later results with.
Target: A specific, measurable goal for improvement, with a date to review it.
Feedback: Information about your performance from a teacher, a classmate, a video or your own results, used to improve.
Plateau: A period when results stop improving for a while before they rise again.
Peer assessment: Evaluating a classmate’s performance against clear criteria, and receiving the same from them.
Training log: A record of activities, results and notes over time, used to spot patterns and plan next steps.

What the National Curriculum says

The programme of study for Key Stage 4 says:

Pupils should be taught to evaluate their performances compared to previous ones and demonstrate improvement across a range of physical activities to achieve their personal best
Pupils should tackle complex and demanding physical activities.

Objectives from the National Curriculum in England, © Crown copyright, used under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Try it: evaluating a basketball free-throw performance

At the start of a half-term a pupil takes 30 free throws and scores 12. After six weeks of practice she takes another 30 under the same conditions and scores 18. How should she evaluate her progress?

Record the baseline. 12 out of 30 is 12 ÷ 30 = 0.4, which is 40%.
Record the new result. 18 out of 30 is 18 ÷ 30 = 0.6, which is 60%.
Measure the improvement in two ways. She is 20 percentage points higher (60 − 40 = 20). She also scored 6 more baskets, and 6 ÷ 12 = 0.5, so the number of baskets rose by 50%. These are two different ways to describe the same improvement, so she should say which one she is using.
Add technique evidence. A video shows that she now keeps her elbow under the ball and follows through with a soft wrist, and early shots that fell short have become rarer. Numbers and observation point the same way.
Be honest about limits and set a target. Thirty throws is a fairly small sample, so luck plays a part. She sets a new target of 21 out of 30 (70%) in six weeks, will practise a fixed number of shots in each session and will re-test in the same way.

She has improved from 40% to 60%, a rise of 20 percentage points, with technique evidence to match. A model summary is: “My accuracy improved because my follow-through is more consistent. My next target is 21 out of 30 by the end of next half-term.”

Common mistakes and how to help

Thinking improvement means beating other people

School sport often ranks pupils, so it feels as if success only means finishing ahead of others.

What helps: Talk about progress against yourself. A teenager who improves a time by five seconds has succeeded even if others are faster.

Judging progress from a single result

One great or terrible day feels like it shows the whole picture.

What helps: Look at several results over time. A trend over weeks is more reliable than a single day, which may be affected by sleep, weather or nerves.

Changing the conditions between tests

It seems natural to try a faster surface or an extra warm-up attempt to get a better number.

What helps: Explain that a fair comparison repeats the same conditions, like a fair test in science. Otherwise it is unclear whether the performance really improved.

Reading a plateau as failure

People expect steady improvement, so a flat period feels like losing ground.

What helps: Plateaus are normal. Check sleep, rest and technique, change the practice, or choose a new target. Progress often restarts after a short pause.

How to help at home

Ask for the one thing. After a session or a match, ask your teenager “What is one thing you did better than last time?” and “What is one thing you’ll work on?” These two questions are the foundation of evaluation.
Keep a simple log. A notebook or note on a phone can record the date, what was done, a result and how it felt. Over a term, patterns appear that help your teenager see their own progress.
Run a fair family challenge. Try a safe test such as a plank hold, a standing jump on grass or the number of keepy-ups. Test it once a month in the same way and compare with your own earlier result, not with each other.
Film the same skill every few weeks. A short clip from the same angle shows changes that are hard to feel, such as a straighter back or a longer follow-through. Watching it back together often prompts better questions than comments from the side.
Celebrate effort and protect rest. Praise the practice, not only the result. Make sure your teenager gets enough sleep and rest days, and encourage them to tell a teacher or doctor if they have any lasting pain.

Builds on

Key Stage 3: Analysing performance

Everything in Key Stage 4 PE

Updated 20 October 2026.