Project 'Perfect' PE Teaching: a brave, terrifying, free CPD event in Gloucestershire

Foreword:

There are times in life when, in order to see the change that you believe in, you have to step into the fast lane and do things for real. What you are about to read about is, in my opinion, a daring and controversial action and one which most people, including the self-appointed leaders in our sector, would shy away from attempting. It is for exactly this reason that I am going to give it a go. As you read through this post and what I am suggesting, please remember that, a bit like Julia Roberts just standing in front of Hugh Grant asking him to love her, I am just a PE teacher willing to put my reputation on the line to demonstrate something that really, really matters and asking you, the PE teaching sector, to understand what a bold and risky action this is. Enjoy the post.

Dear PE colleagues,

On the morning of 24th June 2026, I am going to stand in front of 30 PE teachers at Churchdown School in Gloucestershire and attempt to deliver a perfect PE theory lesson on the topic of energy. I've written "perfect" in lowercase for a reason. I know nothing is perfect, and I am genuinely nervous that this particular morning could go badly for me in a very public way. I'm doing it anyway. We are calling this Project Perfect PE Teaching, and my honest question to you is simple: Will you be there?

A burst tyre, a second burst tyre, and a motorway dash

We waited until Tuesday morning for recovery, split up so one of us could reach the morning session while the other sat at the garage, and we got the tyre changed in time. Driving out of the Tuesday-morning car park, I clipped the curb and burst the brand-new tyre. The same recovery driver came back, took us to the same garage for exactly the same work to be done again, and, once completed, we tore up the motorway to make the afternoon session by minutes. 

It was ridiculous. It was humbling. And the lessons themselves, 10 of them, in front of real teachers acting as my students, taught me more about PE theory classrooms than any CPD I'd ever attended.

Why I'm doing it again, and why it's different this time

In 2017, I was obsessed with valuable time and removing the "muddle-distance" that stops learners from mastering content. That model served me well. In 2026, I'm obsessed with something sharper and, I think, more useful to you. The lesson I teach at Churchdown will be built on the five domains of The PE Teacher Academy:

• PE Curriculum (exam-board specific)

• PE Subject Knowledge (exam-board agnostic)

• PE Cognitive Science

• PE Pedagogy

• PE Course Design and Assessment

Those five domains are the scaffolding. The topic (energy) is the content. The aim is to show a lesson that genuinely honours the ways human beings learn, remember and forget. I'm deliberately keeping the techniques you'll see on the day a little under wraps; I don't want to write the post-mortem before I've written the lesson.

What's actually happening

• Where: Churchdown School, Gloucestershire

• When: Wednesday 24th June 2026

• Timing: 09:30 to 12:00 (15-minute intro, 60-minute lesson, 30-minute guide to what would follow the lesson, 30-minute debrief)

• Cost: £0

• Format: Live, in-person, for 30 PE teachers, who will sit in the classroom as my students. The session will also be broadcast live for colleagues who can't be there in person.
  
  

Who this is for

This is for UK-based PE teachers who want to see a single lesson built end-to-end on the five domains of the PE Teacher Academy, and who are prepared to sit in a classroom for 60 minutes and experience it as a student. If you are a Head of Department reading this, please note: We are capping attendance at two colleagues per school so we can welcome teachers from as many departments as possible. And a warm word to international PE colleagues home in the UK for the summer: If the timing works, I would love to see you in the room.

How to register, and why you need to move quickly

There are 30 seats in the room. Only 30. Maximum two colleagues per school. Registration is a single form. You can choose to attend in person or receive the live broadcast link. Register now or miss out.

👉 REGISTER HERE

What comes after June

This morning in Gloucestershire is the opening move. Marta and I are, very likely, taking an adapted version of this session to Asia in September (Ho Chi Minh City, the FOBISIA conference in Shanghai, and Beijing and then on to Tokyo). Closer to home, we're planning something bigger: a UK PE theory teaching conference in summer 2027. We believe there is real demand for a two-day, PE theory-specific event that delivers world-class experiences to UK and international colleagues, blended, in-person and online. More on that soon.

A final, honest word

I am genuinely nervous about the 24th of June. One PE lesson, 30 teachers watching, cameras rolling, energy as the topic, and me pretending I can get this right on a single take. I might nail it. I might crash and burn. The alternative is to be timid and not try, and that's not an option I can live with. Whatever happens, those of you in the room will see something real. And then we will refine, and do it again, and again and again.

Closing

What I keep coming back to is this: perfect is a ridiculous ambition. But aiming at perfect is the only ambition that produces genuinely great PE theory teaching. It costs you nothing to be in the room on 24th June, except your time and a trip to Gloucestershire. It costs me quite a lot more, but that's exactly why it's worth doing.

Thank you for reading. If you are home for the UK summer from an international school, I hope this is one of the highlights of your trip. If you are a UK-based PE colleague, I hope this is the CPD morning that changes a lesson or two back in your own classroom next September. Either way, I genuinely hope to see you there.

James

PS. If your school is within 90 minutes of Churchdown and you'd like to host a second delivery of this same lesson on the afternoon of the same day, please get in touch. I'd love to teach it twice in one day and double the number of colleagues who get to see it live.