Physical Education and Health Department

It has been another interesting term in the PE department. Lockdown meant that we were not able to run many team and group activities as planned, but students stayed active by exercising at home, with many in the junior school tracking their activities with a fitness log.

Year 7:

In Year 7 PE, students have enjoyed studying the Olympics. Movement activities have included team-building, multi-sport, blindfold races, basketball and relays. Year 7s have also been exploring the values the Olympics has fostered into society such as sporting opportunities for women, inclusivity of disabilities or culture. The year group was split into four teams: Japan, USA, India and Turkey. Teams had the opportunities to receive medals for their wins, supportive approach to activities and showing the Olympic Values - Friendship, Excellence and Respect. This unit flowed through the 7 Fitness module through swimming events and other fitness activities such as long distance running or sprints. Year 7s are now enjoying building skills in dance. 

Year 8:

In Year 8, students were looking at fitness activities as well as some expert coaching sessions, where pairs of students ran training sessions in a Multisport context. This cohort has really stepped up and delivered great sessions with the cooperation of their teams. We will continue this into the next term to allow everyone an opportunity to take on a leadership role.

Year 9:

This term we focused on traditional and modern Māori games and pastimes (Nga Mahia te Rehia). Activities were done using rakau, poi, poi toa and we finished off the term with Ki o Rahi. 

Year 10:

This term, the focus was on fitness and the students participated in a number of fitness related challenges. Finishing off this term students played some badminton, which will lead into some theory-based activities next term.

Year 11:

The focus for Term 3 with the Year 11’s has been on anatomy, biomechanics and physiology. We were very grateful for the purchase of a new skeleton, which is shared with the Science and Arts departments and proved very useful in learning anatomy. The students also learnt to apply new movement concepts to various sports including training circuits, badminton and basketball. We even a bit of fun with Newton’s Laws and Force Summation applied to a game of “Hungry Hippos” and Earth Ball. 

Lockdown provided students with a great opportunity for revision and application of these concepts. We are looking forward to getting back into the physical component of our classes for the rest of the term with Handball which will be a focus of the next unit where students demonstrate interpersonal skills in a group setting.

Year 12:

In Term 3 the Year 12 focus has been on learning methods and principles of training. The students have learnt to apply methods of continuous running training, interval training, fartlek and weight training whilst training for a 10km run. The class then completed an amazing 10km run, with all the runners achieving the standard and a third of the class speeding along to gain excellence. 

Lockdown provided students with a great opportunity for revision and application of these concepts for writing up their report. We zoomed in small groups to continually check in and keep motivated, with all students completing their report during this time. 

For the remainder of the term, the class are now enjoying the physical challenge of indoor and outdoor rock climbing. Our final unit of work involves the Year 12 students demonstrating their leadership skills through coaching younger members of the school and community.

Year 13:

The Year 13’s have been busy analysing a skill in order to apply their knowledge of biomechanics and anatomy, and be able to identify and advise on areas for skill improvement. This follows on from their Kayak camp in Murchison, where most of the students learnt to roll a kayak in an open water setting. We had one refresher at Moana Pool, were students were able to refresh their skills and show Ms Harpur how it is done! 

Lockdown had us mostly on survival mode and typing away at assessment tasks. The class kept motivation up with a shared fitness document, suggesting fitness activities for each other to try. There were some great suggestions and fun ideas to keep boredom at bay (or was it to keep assessment writing procrastination fueled?). Some of us are now adept jugglers, Les Mills Fitness pros and trail running sages. These will be useful physical activities for us to reflect on in our next unit of work, evaluating and reflecting on physical activities for lifelong well-being.

We would also like to welcome Kathy Harpur, who joined our staff at the end of Term 2, taking up the reins from Monique Grant (who is currently on maternity leave). Kat comes from a background of Sports Coordination, Physical Education and Life Skills Teaching in South Africa. After immigrating to New Zealand, Kat initially worked teaching Outdoor Education before taking up her current role as Physical Education teacher for Year 11 and 13. 

Rock Climbing, Mountain Biking, Trail Running and generally anything involving the incredible New Zealand outdoors are where Kat's passions lie, however the students have coaxed her into reviving her multi-sport skills (unihoc being the favourite) and kept her on her toes pace-setting for the Year 12's 10km run earlier this term. Kat's favourite form of recovery from all the activity is a good stretch out with yoga, where she shares her instructional skills with the girls on Fridays during lunchtime.