Health and Physical Education
As we start a new semester, it brings new opportunities for learning and activities for all our classes. Over the course of Semester 2, we hope to be able to catch up on a few activities that needed to be rescheduled, such as the Year 7 Swimming program. Our Year 10 Health and Physical Education classes that run this semester will also be able to experience the self-defence program that they missed last year due to COVID restrictions.
Our regular Health and Physical Education programs and activities that run at each level may need some adjustments due to this latest lockdown. However, we will do our best to ensure all the planned programs go ahead and our Health and Physical Education students are able to experience the wide variety of activities that we offer.
This semester our Year 8 Physical Education classes will undertake a cheerleading program. This program is run by experienced coaches to support our students to learn about teamwork, resilience, patience and positive and respectful sportsmanship. Cheerleading is not just fun but a sport that benefits participants by improving physical endurance and strength. Cheerleading can be a great cardio and whole-body workout. It also helps to develop flexibility and increase your range of movement. It requires participants to not just move through different sequences but engages athletes in fine motor coordination through hand and feet patterns, therefore improving coordination. Cheerleading requires everyone to work together to move as one unit, helping to develop leadership and good communication skills.
Our Year 9 Physical Education classes will have the opportunity to learn some very important life skills through a self-defence program. The self-defence program is designed to help the students be aware of, recognise and avoid dangerous situations. It teaches some basic skills that can help students defend themselves in the event a dangerous situation arises.
Our Year 9 elective classes will be busy as they always are, bike riding, walking, orienteering, going to the Melbourne Cable Park to experience the high ropes course and stand up paddle-boarding. We are so lucky that we have such great resources close by like the bike paths and the beach and we’re able to utilise these different environments during these classes.
Over several physical education lessons this term, our Year 10 Health and Physical Education classes will not only do the self-defence program that they missed out on last year but also participate in a number of fitness classes, such as HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) and yoga run by Proactivity and a Body Pump and Body Balance class over at South Pacific Health Club in Mentone. The main focus of our Health and Physical Education program at Year 10 is to try to guide the students towards a healthy life. By participating in a wide variety of activities we hope to provide enjoyment for the students but also to provide lifelong health and physical activity.
Our Year 7, 8 and 9 Health classes this semester will cover several very important and relevant health issues. Each class will attend an incursion run by ’Elephant Ed’ focussing on the relevant topics at each year level.
Natalie Burke
Learning Leader:
Health and Physical Education