Physical Education

TEACHING AND LEARNING APPROACH

The purpose of physical education is to enable our North Springers to demonstrate individually and with others, the physical skills, practices and values to enjoy a lifetime of active, healthy living. Physical education is about movement. Movement is fundamental and essential to life, work and play. Movement competency facilitates participation and allows individuals to derive pleasure and satisfaction from physical activities. An individual who can move proficiently has the skills and knowledge related to movement and values purposeful moving for life. Physical education, therefore, is responsible for helping North Springers take on the responsibility of learning by providing them with the capacity to make reasoned and wise choices through a lifelong process of change.

Movement Experiences

Physical education distinguishes itself by its primary focus on the body and physical skills. It emphasises education in movement or the psychomotor domain. Education in movement presents our North Springers with carefully selected physical activities that develop efficiency, effectiveness and versatility across various complex movement situations which our North Springers will experience in school and in the future.

Play Activities

ATHLETICS involves North Springers primarily in running, jumping, and throwing activities that promote both personal striving and comparison. Initial learning focuses on exploring the fundamentals of walking, running, jumping and throwing while progressively developing and applying these movements into techniques in the later stages of learning. These opportunities encourage our North Springers to run faster and over different distances, jump higher and further, and throw different objects with improving distance.

DANCE develops in North Springers an understanding of rhythmic movement. It also enables North Springers to express and communicate feelings and ideas through exploration, creation and performance. The focus is on the use of body as instrument of communication and self-expression, accompanied by various stimuli. Through a variety of learning experiences ranging from creative to other dance forms, the enjoyment and appreciation of the quality of movement can be achieved.

GAMES AND SPORTS promote our North Springers’ playful tendency to control objects and the body during the early stages of learning. Early movement experiences, practised individually and in cooperative relationships with others, help develop competency and confidence in critical elements of discrete motor skills that progressively lead toward mature patterns. A range of game play experiences from territorial-invasion, net-barrier, striking-fielding, and other games encourages North Springers’ safe and maximal participation, with modification to game rules to match and enhance their developing skills and understanding.

GYMNASTICS enhances overall body management and control through creative interpretation of movement and sequence. The learning experience starts within the boundaries of open-ended tasks, and progressively moves onto more stylised gymnastic movements. The emphasis is on challenging North Springers, working either alone or in pairs and groups, to manoeuvre their bodies safely on the floor and when negotiating a variety of apparatus.

OUTDOOR EDUCATION engages our North Springers’ sense of adventure through the exploration of both natural and urban environments from their immediate surroundings to other unfamiliar locations. North Springers develop appropriate outdoor skills through physical activities while cultivating an attitude of care and appreciation for the environment, and thoughtful consideration of the risks and safety of self and others. These exploratory experiences will enable North Springers to develop connections with the environment and the responsibility to safeguard it, thereby facilitating a lifelong pursuit of outdoor physical recreation.

PHYSICAL HEALTH AND FITNESS stimulates North Springers’ interest in physical activity as meaningful connections between health concepts and practical applications are made through experiential learning. Our North Springers gain an understanding of good health practices in nutrition, exercise, safety and hygiene as they are put through regular and purposeful health-enhancing physical activities and learning tasks. These activities generate fun and promote a positive attitude towards continual participation in physical activities for health, fitness and enjoyment.

SMILE (aweSoMe fruIts we LovE) FRIDAY promotes the healthy habit of eating fruits in our North Springers. Every Friday, all students will be provided a fruit to eat during their QuickBite. At the same time, North Springers will also learn more about the fruit and its nutritional values from the PE Champions’ presentation to the school. The school strives to provide our North Springers with the opportunity to taste a variety of delicious and refreshing fruits.