St White’s Primary School – PE - Year 5/6 Tennis - Autumn 1 Year A

Sep 28, 2026

Uploaded by Kyle

PE curriculum plan for Year 5/6 Tennis, focusing on autumn term teaching for Autumn 1 Year A. The plan lists prior knowledge expectations, including forehand and backhand fundamentals, the ready position, and how points are scored. Key learning areas cover forehand groundstroke, backhand groundstroke, volleys and when to use them, underarm serve, and a scoring system explaining 15/30/40, 15-all to deuce, and advantage rules. Technical vocabulary supports consistent terminology.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryExam

FormatPDF

Pages1

Reading Time3 min

AccessFree to download

What should I already know?

Key learning 1: Forehand Groundstroke

Key learning 2: Backhand Groundstroke

Key learning 3: Volley and when to use it

Key learning 4: Underarm serve

Key learning 5: Scoring system

Technical vocabulary

| St White’s Primary School – PE | | | | --- | --- | --- | | Year 5/6 | Topic: Tennis | Autumn 1 Year A | | What should I already know? | | --- | | - Preform underarm, forehand and backhand shots.
- Demonstrate the ready position.
- Show that a point is won when a player misses the ball, the all hits the net or the ball bounces twice. | | Strap line | | --- | | In PE we know how to lead healthy active lives through competitive sports. We always display sportsmanship and celebrate our success. | | Key learning 1: Forehand Groundstroke | | Key learning 2: Backhand Groundstroke | | --- | --- | --- | | • Start in the ready position, with feet apart, knees bent and eyes on the ball.
• Move from the ready position to slightly sideways on to the feeder. Swing the racket from low with one hand over to the other shoulder high.
• Make contact with the ball as your racket face points towards your partner, turning the strings to face downwards to help the ball to spin. | | • From the ready position, grip the racket with two hands, placing the dominant hand at the bottom of the racket and thenon dominant hand above.
• Turn sideways to the ball and move the racket backwards. The racket is swung forwards from a low position to finish high with both arms over the opposite shoulder.
• Hit the ball with the racket face facing your partner, and brush your racket over the top of the ball so that the strings face downwards to the floor. | | | | | | Key learning 3: Volley and when to use it | | | | • Start in the ready position with the racket in front of you.
• Hold the racket in one hand at the bottom of the handle.
• Hit the ball in front of your body with a punchy action, try not to use a big swing.
• The ball is hit downwards over the net.
• A volley can be used as an attacking shot where you try to return the ball quickly so that your opponent has little time to react and return the ball. | | | | Technical vocabulary | | | --- | --- | | Forehand | A stroke where the player hits the ball with their palm facing forward. | | Backhand | A stroke where the player hits the ball with aswing that comes across their body. | | Ace | A serve that is a winner without the receiving player able to return the ball. | | Baseline | The line indicating the back of the court. | | Face | The top part of the racket that has strings and is meant to hit the ball. | | Key learning 4: Underarm serve | | --- | | • Throw the ball upwards to head height with a straight arm.
• Hit the ball with the racket underarm so that the ball goes over thenet and into the court area. Hit using the center of the face of the racket.
• Do not allow the ball to bounce before hitting it.
• Don't hit the ball too hard as it needs to bounce before the base station. | | Key learning 5: Scoring system | | | --- | --- | | •
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• | The first point won is ’15,’ the second point won is ’30,’ the third point won is ’40,’ and then ‘game.’ E.g. if the server has won three points and the non-server has won one point, the score is 40-15.
If both players have won the same amount of points the score is called’15-all,’ ’30-all,' however, if the score is 40-all it is referred to as ‘deuce.’To win the game when the score is at deuce, one player must get two points in a row to win the game.
The player who wins the point after deuce then has ‘advantage.’ If they win the next point, they the win the game. However, if they lose the next point, the score goes back to deuce. |

FAQs

What prior skills should Year 5/6 pupils already know before this tennis unit?

Pupils should be able to perform underarm, forehand and backhand shots, demonstrate the ready position, and understand when a point is won (e.g., opponent misses, ball hits the net, or the ball bounces twice).

How do pupils perform the forehand groundstroke described in the unit?

They start in the ready position, move slightly sideways to the feeder, swing the racket low to shoulder height, contact the ball with the racket face toward their partner, and turn strings downward to help the ball spin.

What is the scoring system for winning a game in this unit?

Points are won as 15, 30, 40, then game. If scores are equal it becomes 15-all or 30-all, and 40-all is deuce. From deuce, a player must win two points in a row; after deuce the next point gives advantage, and the following point determines the game.

Sep 28, 2026

Uploaded by Kyle