Sport in Education Project

Our Year 7 & 8's with Tamaki College Year12 P.E students on Friday afternoons, March 2015

The Sport in Education Project that's being piloted in eight different New Zealand secondary schools is something that I'm really interested in.  It's aims are to develop, trial and evaluate if increased participation in sport and physical activity, leads to improved academic and social outcomes that benefit the students, schools and communities.

The project also aims to improve the delivery of PE and sports programmes in the surrounding primary schools, and to engage community organisations, such as clubs, also in supporting teachers and students involved in sport in schools. (SiE May 2014 from the Sport NZ website)

I recently met the Sports Coordinator at our local high school, Tamaki College, who had experienced how this worked in his previous high school in South Auckland.  Along with the Head of the P.E department, we discussed ways on how we could support one another and to strengthen our intermediate to high school link.  I believe that this will mutually benefit students from both schools as another way to improve our academic results.

Priority Learners

I've been thinking about the priority learners that I should focus on working with, this year.  Priority learners in the New Zealand education system are Maori, Pacific Island learners, those from low-socio economic backgrounds and students with special education needs as stated in the Education Review Office report in August 2012.

So here are twenty groups of children that I work with in the capacity of my role:

• the increasing number of obese children
• the well behaved children who excel in sport but are not achieving academic outcomes
• the children who are committed to sports but are not engaged in the classroom
• the children who lack self-confidence
• the children who dislike any form of physical activity
• the children with special needs
• the children who have been through traumatic experiences
• the children who have a short temper and a low tolerance rate for others
• the children who need help to develop the social skills to make and keep friends
• the children who are 'talented' in sports with leadership potential
• the talented children who dream of 'making it big' one day
• the talented sportsperson who lacks motivation to participate or compete
• the talented sportsperson who thinks that they're too good for everyone
• the children who have potential talent but don't realise how good they are
• the children who would love to play sport but need the support from home to continue
• the children who come from supportive homes and strong families
• the absent child who doesn't want to come to school 
• the children who want to play in a pay-to-play sports team but can't afford it
• the children who want to play in a team but don't have a coach
• the children who are 'all rounders', who do well in sports, academics, the arts

Year 5 & 6 Camp March 2015 - my 'All Stars' group

The groups are not separate as a number of children can be several of those things combined - I'm mindful that each child is unique and that they learn in different ways and need time to develop at their own pace.

So what I would like to do, is to share ways of how I've tried to use sports or physical activities to help an individual on their journey to become a better person and to transfer the disciplines learnt in sport to improve their lives and their academic status.