ROAR Spring 2013 - St. John's International School

WHAT IS PSPE?3by Coaches Linda Erol & Marc VansteenbeeckPSPE stands for personal, socialand physical education.PSPE is concerned with thestudent’s well-being through thepromotion and development ofconcepts, knowledge, attitudesand skills that contribute tothis well-being. Well-being isintrinsically linked to all aspectsof a student’s experience atschool and beyond. It contributesto an understanding of self todeveloping and maintainingrelationships with others and toparticipation in an active, healthylifestyle.A good example of PSPE inaction was recently highlightedby a fifth grade parent in aconversation during the recentOur PSPE ‘ Stars of the Tom O’Donnell TournamentElementary Student LedConferences. The parent thenwent on to send an e-mail toMrs Bambridge expressing herobservations of the behaviourof the 5th grade students duringthe Tom O’Donnell indoor soccerTournament on the 16th March2013.I would like to give some directquotes from her e-mail relating tothe students behaviour during thesoccer tournament.‘I was impressed by the senseof responsibility and behaviourthe young boys and girls showedthroughout that day’‘I had the feeling the wholegroup rose to the challenge, andthat they, without guidance andhelp from the grown-ups, wereorganising themselves in a veryprofessional manner and behavingextremely well. They took careof each other, were cautious offollowing the rules and also madesure to create a good atmosphereat the same time’.‘Hard work creates results,and you should know that youhad a whole corps of goodambassadors for Saint John’spresenting themselves that day’The comments and observationswere a great reflection ofachieving our learning outcomesof our PSPE program inElementary School.Physical education in a PYPschool should be more than juststudent participation in sportsand games. Its purpose shouldbe to develop a combination oftransferable skills and promotingphysical, intellectual, emotionaland social development toencourage present and futurechoices that contribute tolong term healthy living, andto understand the culturalsignificance of physical activitiesfor individuals and communities.International Minded. Are We?by Dawn Rutland, ES librarianI am intrigued by the idea of beinginternationally minded. I work atan international school. I live ina foreign country. I speak threelanguages. I have visited fourcontinents. I have a third-culturekid. But am I internationallyminded and if I am, what impactdoes this have on my teaching atSt. John’s? These are questionsthat I had after reading currenteducational journals, attendingconferences and listening totopical ‘edu-speak’ discussions.Being internationally minded isthe new ‘it’ within internationaleducation. Being a lifelongstudent, I wanted to know more!So began the breakfast LearningCommunity at St. John’s toexplore the idea of internationallymindedness. A committed groupof 12 educators from all threeschools meet approximatelyevery three weeks from 7:30-8:15 to inquire and exploreinternational mindedness. Ourcommunity of learners representdiverse nationalities, personalbackgrounds and teachingexperiences as well as roles at St.John’s.What are we hoping todiscover? How does SJIS defineinternational mindedness?Whether internationalmindedness is alive at St. John’s?If not, how can we get it andif yes, how can we improve it?