Personal development, health and physical education (PDHPE) is mandatory from Kindergarten to Year 10.
According to the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA), students are expected to participate in PDHPE for between 1.5 and 2.5 hours per week in Kindergarten to Year 6.
PDHPE provides students with opportunities to explore issues that are likely to impact on the health, safety and wellbeing of themselves and others – now and in the future. Students also participate in challenging and enjoyable physical activity, improving their capacity to move with skill and confidence.
Students at Waitara Public School benefit greatly from receiving weekly sport lessons with specialist teachers. There teachers are
- Mrs Taylor
- Mrs Borley
Our Kindergarten and Stage One students get together each week for sports rotations where they work on strengthening their fundamental movement skills (FMS). FMS are a specific set of skills that involve different body parts such as feet, legs, trunk, head, arms and hands. These skills are the "building blocks" for more complex and specialised skills that our students need throughout their lives to competently participate in different games, sports and recreational activities.
For Stage Two and Stage Three we offer opportunities to participate in PSSA (Public Schools Sports Association) sport on Fridays. Any student who does not participate in PSSA take part in 'School Sport' at our local PCYC. Students are exposed to and rotate through a variety of activities such as basketball, tennis, league tag, table tennis, gymnastics.
At Waitara Public School, we believe that sport and physical activity in all its forms plays a major role in the holistic development of children. Sport allows each child to gain experience and skills in teamwork, leadership, initiative, and creative thinking. It also allows the development of confidence and resilience.
Our goal is to promote a culture that values and encourages a lifelong passion for sport and physical activity and allows every student to be involved in sport and above all, have fun.
We encourage this in a variety of ways:
Weekly PE (Physical Education) lessons for each class from Kindergarten to Year 6 delivered by trained specialist PE teachers.
Hornsby Zone School Sport (HZSS: Formerly PSSA) – where teams are selected by coaches from students who trial. These teams then go on to play in a competition against other local schools. Students are notified of trials well in advance and must trial in order to be considered. Please note that HZSS is only available for students in Years 3-6. There are two seasons for HZSS
Summer (Term 1 and 4) – Mixed Gender Junior (Years 3 & 4) and Senior (Years 5 & 6) League tag, Junior and Senior Cricket, Junior Tee Ball and Senior Softball. Trials are held in early Term 1.
Winter (Term 2 and 3) – Boys Junior and Senior Soccer, Girls Junior and Senior soccer, Girls Junior and Senior Netball, Mixed Gender Junior and Senior AFL. Trials are held in late Term 1.
Friday Sport Rotations: Students who do not participate in HZSS sport will participate in a school sport rotation at various locations including the PCYC, Mark Taylor Oval, James Park and on-site at Waitara Public School. This allows each student to experience a wide variety of sports and activities such as Gymnastics, Dance, Cricket, Soccer, Tennis and a variety of court sports such as Netball, Basketball and Badminton.
Carnivals: For Year 3-6 students, we hold 3 major carnivals per year; Swimming (early Term 1), Cross Country (late Term 1 or early Term 2) and Athletics (late Term 2 or early Term 3). Due to our size, the Swimming Carnival will only be for experienced and competitive swimmers.
Highly skilled students that play a sport at Representative (not club) level or above may be considered for selection to trial for a Hornsby Zone team. Evidence of Representative experience may be required.
Mr Michael Giuffre