As published in the Canberra Weekly – Thursday 25 July 2024
Our last Canberra Weekly article outlined ways of knowing the world through the arts, and this following article is about physical education. With many children less active at home and less likely to walk or ride to school, it is increasingly important for schools to offer structured, unstructured, formal and informal opportunities for children to move. At Orana, our physical education curriculum begins by creating an environment that encourages movement. We promote incidental exercise by encouraging students to wear sensible clothing and footwear, allowing them to engage in practical and physically active tasks. Unlike schools that mandate restrictive uniforms for more corporate environments, Orana’s dress code supports freedom of movement, which is modelled by our teaching staff.
Our 15-hectare campus requires students to walk large distances between lessons where the surfaces of pathways and playgrounds deliberately vary in levels and materials making students’ journeys interesting and challenging. Frequent movement benefits, not only the students’ physical well-being, but also their mental health and academic capacity.
As with everything in our curriculum, our physical education program is deliberately focused on the developmental stage of the child. The PE program is broad in its scope and integrates arts and sciences.
In our hands, heart and head curriculum, early childhood focuses on physical development through gross-motor and fine-motor activities. Students engage in unstructured play and structured activities like lifting, carrying, jumping, climbing, pulling, running, and skipping. This works with what we call their ‘will’, where they learn resilience and tenacity. This helps not just in their physical development but also develops stamina in more academic and artistic work later in their school life. Fine-motor skills are developed through activities such as carving, knitting, painting, and drawing.
In primary school, children learn more sophisticated games, developing skills in catching, throwing, kicking, chasing, and dancing. Unique to Steiner schools, we introduce Eurythmy, an artistic dance that works with moving with grace, poise as well as expressing colour sound and shape through movement; and Bothmer gymnastics, which focuses on the theme of “the upright human being”.
Competitive team sports are deliberately introduced around the age of 8, as we feel children are developing in their physical, intellectual and emotional capacity to be able to think strategically and work collaboratively in teams. It needs careful guidance with concepts such as understanding and sticking to the rules, collaboration and fairness. Mistakes are made and risks are taken but these are also an important part of the learning process.
Physical education is also a key part of our outdoor education program. Our large bushland setting allows students to climb trees, bushwalk, build cubbies, and engage in gardening. They also participate in activities such as camping, hiking, skiing, mountain biking, abseiling, kayaking, bush regeneration, cooking and cleaning.
In upper primary and high school, specialist PDHPE lessons emphasise teamwork and individual skill development. Students are encouraged to pursue excellence in their chosen activities, whether in team sports like basketball and football or individual pursuits like juggling and parkour. We celebrate the successes of students who excel in state and national competitions as well as those who try new activities at the beginner level.
Overall, while our students achieve excellent results in physical education, both practically and academically, the primary goal of our curriculum is to help them become well-rounded individuals and lead rich, fulfilling lives.
James Goodlet – Principal
