Health and Physical Education Statement

At Botany Downs School Health and Physical Education is aimed at providing regular learning experiences where positive attitudes to health, physical education and sport are encouraged.

Programmes for Health and Physical Education are developed by Year level teams to cater to the needs of students from Year 0/1 to Year 6, specific to our school and community. Our aim is to plan and deliver engaging units of learning that empower students to make health enhancing choices in the key areas of Mental Health, Relationships and Sexuality, Food and Nutrition, Body Care and Physical Safety, Physical Activity, Sports and Outdoor Education.

Students are encouraged to use our School Values (Manaakitanga/Respect, Whanaungatanga/Relationships, Manawanui/Resilience, Kaitiakitanga/Responsibility) and Learner Capabilities (I am Curious, I am Connected, I am a Communicator, I am Confident) to develop responsibility and promote well-being for themselves and others. Teachers use a range of appropriate teaching strategies that engage students with expertise from within school and the wider community e.g. Mitey, Life Education, Nest Consultants, Sports coaching, to enrich the programmes. Students’ learning and progress are monitored through a variety of assessments.

 

Health: All students develop the knowledge, understanding, skills and attitude needed to maintain and enhance their personal mental and physical health. This includes exploring how they can make positive contributions to their own well-being and that of communities, society and environments. Students are encouraged to think and reflect on these relationships. From this, students are then able to build Manawanui (Resilience) through strengthening their identity, self-worth, interpersonal relationships, empathy for others and responsible decision-making. Other valuable learning covers health, and personal safety including: food and nutrition, animal safety, road safety, and more.

 

Physical Education: All students benefit from physical activity, both physically and emotionally. Body movement skills such as balancing, throwing, catching etc help develop learning skills, and playing together helps build important social skills such as: sportsmanship, sharing, teamwork, persistence, goal setting etc. Each class has regular time-tabled P.E and fitness sessions where they learn and practise a range of skills, games and sports. During the summer months, all students participate in swimming lessons taken in our school pool by a qualified swim instructor. Annual school events such as cross-country, athletics day, and swimming sports offer more opportunities to participate and have fun. All students are encouraged to take part in the activities, and to cheer for their peers.

 

Sports: Students also have the opportunity to join teams to represent our school in inter-school competitions. These teams are coached and managed by teachersand parents where possible. Students who take part are expected to attend regular practices, and to represent the school by giving their Best. Some of the sports on offer include: cricket, softball, swimming, basketball, soccer, rugby, netball, hockey, cross country, gymnastics, touch and athletics.

 

Health Overview:

Term 1 – Cyber Safety, Sunsmart, Keeping Ourselves Safe (alternate years), All About Me, Values

Term 2 – Food and Nutrition, Values

Term 3 – Well-being, Hauora, Values

Term 4 – Body Care, Puberty Talk (Year 6), Firewise, Values

Ongoing – Mitey Mental Education Programme

 

Physical Education Overview:

Term 1 – Fitness, Swimming, Small Ball Skills (catching and throwing), Swimming Sports

Term 2 – Fitness, Large Ball Skills (catching, throwing and kicking), Senior Cross Country

Term 3 – Fitness, Hitting and Striking, Junior Cross Country

Term 4 – Fitness, Run/Jump/Throw, Athletics, Hitting and Striking, Small Ball Skills

 

 

Fairplay Expectations: Our school is a signatory to the HPPA Fairplay Charter.  All staff, coaches, parents, children and supporters are expected to show respect, and behave in an appropriate manner at all times. 

A copy of the Fairplay charter is available here: HPPA Fairplay Charter.pdf