How active are our Magdalene students? How often do they participate in physical activity?

Did you know Australian school children rank among the worst in the world when it comes to their physical activity levels. To tackle this problem, National Health and Physical Education Day on the 12th September was designed to raise awareness of and advocate for a greater focus on physical education in our school communities.

Most of their waking hours are spent sitting at school in the classroom and at home - watching netflix, playing games or finding the latest youtuber to watch, so it’s important for them to become more active

The 2018 Active Healthy Kids Australia Report Card showed a similar story in 2014 and 2016, in that Australian school children were given a D- for overall physical activity levels. 8 in 10 children and young people are not active enough for good heart health and will take years off their life because of it.

For Children and Young People (5 to 17 year olds), being physically active every day can have: 

• Social benefits like helping to develop cooperation and teamwork skills. 
• Emotional and intellectual benefits such as help with management of anxiety and stress and improved concentration. 
• Health benefits such as improved physical fitness, including coordination and movement skills and strong muscles and bones.

The hardest part is making a commitment to being more active and then sticking to it. The good news is that there are small ways which can add up to the necessary 60 minutes of daily activity. This is where Magdalene can help our students. Participating in their allocated 75 minute PE lesson and participating in sport and physical activity on Tuesday afternoons for at least 60 minutes hits the daily recommended levels of physical activity for young people.

So what did we do for Health and Physical Education Day? 

We ran activities over two days for our students to engage in physical activity during lunchtime on both the Thursday 12th September and Friday 13th September. 40 of our Magdalene students participated in the beep test and we saw Emily Predl take out the champion female and both Matthew Georgievski and Jacob Simpson took out the champion male.

On Friday, over 70 students participated in either an oztag game or soccer game on the back oval. The students participated well and had a great time. Their participation on either day went towards our house points system and each student were given the option to enjoy a zooper dooper after the activities.

I encourage everyone to keep the conversations going around participating in physical activity. Keeping active can help our students stay physically fit and mentally healthy.

Miss Tahlia Cupillari

PDHPE Teacher