From the Leadership Team
Lucas Collins, Head of Junior School
The importance of being active and outdoors
Watching our Junior School students at their recent House Athletics Carnival, I was heartened by their awesome show of perseverance, sportsmanship and spirit. As a one-time Physical Education teacher, I absolutely loved seeing the students bright-eyed, red-cheeked, smiling, laughing, and puffing and panting!
Moments like these remind me how valuable outdoor activities and physical exercise are for the development and wellbeing of young people.
This is a message I recently reiterated in a camp information session for our Years 3 and 4 families, recalling important research linking a connection to the outdoors with overall student wellness.
KILVINGTON HEALTH, PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND SPORT PROGRAM
The Health, Physical Education and Sport program at Kilvington is comprehensive in scope and impressive in the messages it promotes.
We celebrate our ability to ‘punch above our weight’ — nurturing highly-capable athletes and competing against larger schools at interschool level.
However, the core messages we share with our students focus on the value of being active, the importance of cooperation and contributing positively as a team member, and the merits of setting and working on personal health and fitness goals.
We can see from any number of scientific studies that there's a clear correlation between regular physical activity and a wide range of health benefits that span physical, psychological, social and cognitive domains.
This aligns perfectly with what we offer as part of our Camps and Outdoor Education Program. Our programs — underpinned by academic research — are specifically designed to foster enjoyment of and connection to the natural environment, while encouraging our students to stretch their physical and personal capabilities beyond the classroom.
Taking learning outside the classroom, into nature-specific settings, has measurable benefits for children. This includes increased student engagement and ownership of their learning, academic improvement, improved self-esteem, and development of social and collaborative skills.
According to the Australian National Health Survey (2021), over 90% of Australian children and young people aged between five and 17 years are not regularly meeting the recommendation of 60 minutes of daily moderate to vigorous physical activity.
We're proud that Kilvington students have ample chances to be active outdoors as part of their curriculum, while also learning the importance of regular activity for their overall health and wellbeing.
Top 50 Victorian primary schools
We’d like to thank our entire Junior School community for helping us to achieve a position in Better Education’s Top 50 Primary Schools of 2023.
Better Education is an independent organisation that analyses academic outcomes to offer informative and comparative school results, including school rankings or ratings and lists of best-performing schools. This resource assists parents in making informed choices about schooling for their children.
Full school rankings and more details here (Herald Sun paywall).