Hero photograph
 
Photo by Stuart Cameron

Health Curriculum Update

Mandy Dellaca —

Thank you to the parents who took part in the recent draft Health Curriculum online survey. We had a total of 19 responses. The majority of respondents (68%) felt that the proposed Health programme would meet the needs of their children going forward. The remaining 32% were undecided. Those who were undecided commented that they needed more details in order to answer this question.

To help address this, we would like to encourage any parents who have questions about the Health programme at Halswell School and/or would like more information about the content of the programme to please contact your child’s teacher or the Team Leader.

The survey also asked for any additional feedback about the Health programme offered at Halswell School. The majority of comments reinforced that parents were satisfied with how the Health Curriculum is delivered at Halswell School but there were some specific questions around the content of the Sexuality Education topic.

Please note that if your child is in Years 0-4 and you wish to know more about what is involved in Sexuality Education, please contact your child’s teacher or the Team Leader. If your child is in Years 5 - 8, a Parent Information Evening is being offered at 5.30pm on Tuesday, July 23 in Ōtumatua.

The school has prepared the following statement about the Health Curriculum at Halswell School:

In order to foster academic achievement and provide Halswell School students with appropriate educational opportunities, we need to address the broad health issues that affect students’ learning. We believe that the health and well-being of students affects their academic achievement, and each student’s attitudes, values, and behaviour affect the people around them.

Through learning in this curriculum area, our students’ will gain the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values to enjoy a healthy lifestyle and to contribute actively to the well-being of other people and the well-being of our community. They will undertake units of learning pertaining to four key areas of learning: Mental Health, Body Care and Physical Safety, Sexuality Education and Food and Nutrition.

The Health curriculum clearly supports a holistic vision of what comprises well-being, encouraging students to appreciate the contribution of physical, social, mental and spiritual facets of their humanness to all of the activities they engage in.

New Water Only Policy

Following the feedback the Board received on the Food and Nutrition policy earlier in the year, we have now included a water only requirement. This means that going forward, we ask that water is the only drink students bring to school and no other drinks are provided in their lunch boxes. We will also only be providing water at child-centred events such as school discos.

A reminder that all of the school’s policies and procedures can be found on the Halswell SchoolDocs site  User name Halswell, Password quarry

Thank you for your ongoing support.

Mandy Dellaca

Teacher in Charge of Health and Physical Education