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These are the areas in the key stage requirements for Physical Education that learning circus skills are particularly good for.

Key Stage 2

Acquiring and developing skills

“1 Pupils should be taught to:
a Consolidate their existing skills and gain new ones.
b Perform actions and skills with more consistent control and quality. ”

Circus skills are great for this because they offer a large number of new skills to be learnt that are fun and accessible. Progress in the skill is easily measurable so it’s easy to assess how control and quality are improving over time.
 
Evaluating and improving performance

“3 Pupils should be taught to:
a Identify what makes a performance effective
b Suggest improvements based on this information. ”

When learning the circus skills some behaviours are effective and some are not. These behaviours are quickly identified by the students and they learn to modify these behaviours to improve their performance.

Key Stage 3 & 4

1.1 Competence

“a Developing control of whole-body skills and fine manipulation skills.
b Selecting and using skills, tactics and compositional ideas effectively in different types of physical activity.
c Responding with body and mind to the demands of an activity.
d Adapting to a widening range of familiar and unfamiliar contexts. ”

Circus skills are particularly good for learning fine manipulation skills, and some of them relate to whole-body skills as well, such as acrobalance. They encourage the student to respond with body and mind to the activity while introducing unfamiliar contexts.
 
1.2 Performance

“a Understanding how the components of competence combine, and applying them to produce effective outcomes.
b Knowing and understanding what needs to be achieved, critically evaluating how well it has been achieved and finding ways to improve.
c Appreciating how to make adjustments and adaptations when performing in different contexts and when working individually, in groups and teams.
d Understanding the nature of success in different types of activity. ”

Success is very easily measured in circus skills. It is a great individual activity that can be modified to a group activity of any number. It is easy to see how well goals are being achieved and to find ways to improve.
 
1.3 Creativity

“a Using imaginative ways to express and communicate ideas, solve problems and overcome challenges.
b Exploring and experimenting with techniques, tactics and compositional ideas to produce efficient and effective outcomes. ”

Circus skills allows for a large amount creativity. Imaginative ways to express and communicate ideas are strongly encouraged as is experimenting with different techniques.
 
2.1 Developing skills in physical activity

Key Stage 3:
“Pupils should be able to:
a Refine and adapt skills into techniques.
b Develop the range of skills they use.
c Develop the precision, control and fluency of their skills. ”

Key Stage 4:
“Pupils should be able to:
a Improve the range, difficulty and quality of their skills and techniques
b Develop the consistency with which they use and perform skills with precision, control and fluency. ”

Circus skills are ideal for this as there is a large range of skills and it is easy to measure how they are developing.
 
2.3 Developing physical and mental capacity

Key Stage 3:
“Pupils should be able to:
a Develop their physical strength, stamina, speed and flexibility to cope with the demands of different activities.
b Develop their mental determination to succeed. ”

Key Stage 4:
“Students should be able to:
a Analyse how mental and physical capacity affects performance.
b Maintain and develop their physical strength, stamina, speed and flexibility to cope with the demands of different activities and active lifestyles.
c Prepare mentally for successful involvement in physical activity, performance and engagement in healthy, active lifestyles. ”

Circus skills are great for developing upper body strength as well as speed, stamina and flexibility. They encourage the development of the mental determination to succeed in complex tasks.
 
2.4 Evaluating and improving

Key Stage 3:
“a Analyse performances, identifying strengths and weaknesses.
b Make decisions about what to do to improve their performance and the performance of others.
c Act on these decisions in future performances.
d Be clear about what they want to achieve in their own work and what they have actually achieved. ”

Key Stage 4:
“a Critically evaluate, analyse and judge the quality and effectiveness of performances.
b Make informed decisions about how to improve the quality and effectiveness of their own and others’ performances.
c Develop and implement imaginative action plans to improve the quality and effectiveness of performances.
d Design original and effective plans that improve the quality of their own and others’ involvement in healthy, active lifestyles.”

It is easy to analyse a circus skills performance in terms of the number of drops and how entertaining it was. From there it is easy to see what needs more practice for future performances.