01 - Department of Education and Communities - NSW Government

GETTING THE FOUNDATION RIGHT• the majority of students ateach age level were found tohave satisfactory or abovesatisfactory levels of healthrelated fitness (i.e. aerobiccapacity, muscular endurance,muscular strength, flexibility)• the mastery of fundamentalmotor skills (i.e. run, catch,throw, kick, jump, strike) waspoor across all age groups andparticularly poor for girls incomparison to boys• the majority of boys and girlsare adequately active, with asmaller proportion of girlsthan boys vigorously active,particularly during winter• schools currently offer a widerange of activities to meetstudent interests in their PEand Sport programs, butexpressed concern at thecurriculum time available forphysical activity in school andthe lack of use of schoolfacilities outside school hoursfor physical activity programs.Time Spent in PhysicalActivityThe Department’s minimumrequirement for sport in Years 3-6is 60 minutes per week. In Years7-11 between 80 and 120 minutesis allocated to sport.A Sports Audit of all secondaryschools was conducted during theyear and found:• eighty-five per cent ofprincipals agreed that theschool’s sport programprovided positive experiencesfor most students. Eighty-fourper cent considered the parentbody to be supportive ofschool sport• the major inhibitors to schoolsport appear to be the cost ofstudent travel and the timetaken to travel to venues.Access to facilities and venueswas found by a significantnumber of schools to be amajor constraint to theprovision of quality schoolsport programs• the traditional afternoon ofsport was heavily favoured byschools, particularly for Years9-12 where in excess of 82 percent operate this model. Thirtyper cent of schools operatedintegrated sport for year 7 and17 per cent for Year 8• house/recreational sport as aneffective part of the sportprogram ranked a distant fifthwith principals. Schoolcarnivals were considered themost effective, slightly aheadof Combined High SchoolKnockouts, inter-school sportand integrated sport. Eightysixper cent of principalsconsidered the competitiveinter-school programcontributed to a positive schoolimage and pride in the school• while the vast majority ofschools timetable well inexcess of the required time forsport, time allocations neededto be consistent and regularacross all years.A minimum of 300 hours acrossYears 7-10 is specified for PersonalDevelopment, Health and PhysicalEducation, with a minimum of100 hours devoted to PE.In Years 11-12, a 25 hour PersonalDevelopment and Health course ismandatory for government schools.Participation for SecondaryCompetitions and Programs(No. of students)1997February 536March 12,828April 3,329May 1,842June 16,195July 3,465August 6,001September 57,915October 9,752November 3,406TOTAL 114,723Participation in Primary SchoolKnockout Competitions(No. of teams)1997Australian Football 53Basketball Boys 245Girls 235Cricket Boys 407Girls 120Hockey Boys 168Girls 177Netball 427Rugby League 246Rugby Union 56Soccer Boys 410Girls 230Softball Boys 267Girls 320Tennis 176Total 3,537❝the majority of students at each age levelwere found to have satisfactory or abovesatisfactory levels of health relatedfitness.❞Findings of NSW Schools Fitness andPhysical Activity Survey, 1997DSE Annual Report 1997 25