Health and Physical Education

STEVEN BAKER

Head of Health and Physical

Education

2014 was a productive year in the Physical Education Department. The clear pathway for boys to follow from Year 7 to Year 12 has been further bolstered with underpinning principles of age-appropriate Long Term Athletic Development (LTAD), leadership opportunities and outstanding program development and results in Senior Physical Education and Recreation Studies. The Physical Education Department this year had an experienced staff including myself, (the Director of Cricket, Mr Steven Baker), the Director of Rugby, Mr Adrian Blundell, the Director of Athletics and Cross Country, Mr Andrew Stalling, First XV Coach Mr Mike Wallace, Assistant Director of Athletics and First XV Manager Mr Greg Norman and Director of Sport, Mr Bryan Hain. The cutting edge Sports Excellence program for Years 7-10 Physical Education lessons has further evolved. This program has offered the boys to select from a wide range of sporting options each term, working with selected specialist staff in these areas. This has allowed for high-quality teaching and learning. Furthermore, the Years 7-10 lessons have been periodised, working towards components of fitness in core strength, running technique, plyometrics (jump/power training) and flexibility. The activities conducted were age appropriate and are fundamental to long-term athletic development as well as providing health improvement and injury prevention. This was progressively developed through the year from swimming/cross-country running training through to athletics, and followed by compulsory fitness tests that was reported to parents at the completion of each semester, coupled to diligence grades and TSS average results. The careful planning of Years 7, 8, 9 and 10 Physical Education has allowed the successful transition from Junior Health and Physical Education to Senior Board Physical Education and Recreation Studies.

In 2014, Senior Board Physical Education included Cricket, Touch Football, Volleyball and Golf in a program that integrated theoretical content learnt in Sports Psychology, Training Principles, Sociology and Biomechanics. Further improvement in use of ICT and resourcing on Moodle, with improvement in academic writing, research methods and referencing, has also assisted the results of the Year 12 cohort in an outstanding effort to set a high standard for the Year 11s to emulate in 2015. Well done to all boys involved in the subject and special mention goes to Jordan Brook, who received the Year 12 PE Prize. Mr Mike Wallace, Mr Andrew Stalling and Mr Peter Bromley delivered the Senior PE Lessons exceptionally well through Years 11 and 12 as we continue to refine and evolve in seeking best practice in the subject area. This year has also seen the Board Registered Recreation Studies include practical and theoretical components of striking skills, fishing and surf skills, invasion games and strength and conditioning. Underpinning these activities was development of coaching and leadership development through giving boys ownership in running activities.

Finally, congratulations to the graduating Year 12s and I would like to commend the work of all staff on a great year.

ROBERT RITCHIE

Head of Humanities

2014 has been a year of new curriculum and new adventures for the Humanities Faculty. Such innovation has occurred hand-in-hand with our traditional commitment to facilitating high student performance. It continues to be a source of considerable pride among the teachers in the Humanities Faculty that we are able to graduate students with well-developed thinking, writing and research skills, knowing that these boys have gained a solid foundation for tertiary success. At The Southport School, the Humanities Faculty offers three subjects at Senior level. These are Modern History, Geography and Ancient History. This year, among our Year 12s, we are pleased to report that 23 of 34 Ancient History students graduated with high or very high achievement, with 10 achieving VHA for this subject. Congratulations especially to top student Hamish Mulcahy and runners-up Martin Young and Patrick Lin. In Modern History, 25 of 31 graduates exited with high or very high achievement, with seven achieving VHA. Congratulations again to top student Patrick Lin, and runner-up Tom Fish. Of the Geography students, 10 of 18 graduates exited with high achievement or better, with four VHAs. Congratulations to top students Robbie Benadie, Luke Weightman and Lachlan Postle.

The Humanities subjects are especially important for students as they provide an avenue for boys to perfect their research and writing skills in particular. In both Ancient and Modern History, the boys formulate hypotheses and research questions, then undertake deep research into primary and secondary sources for evidence to validate or reject a hypothesis. The analytical essays and multimodal presentations completed in these subjects are solid grounding for similar tasks at university. This is very important for all boys to recognise. While History is a natural fit for highly literate students, we strongly advocate that Maths/Science-oriented students also consider adding a History subject to their subject selections, to take the opportunity to learn to master research and extended writing tasks. In writing reports in Geography, the emphasis is on primary research conducted in the field. Students must gather the data while on field excursions that they will need to draw conclusions and make decisions. Through response to stimulus exercises, geographers engage in the analysis of a range of sources, similarly leading to evaluation of options and recommendations, for example, about which is the best strategy to implement or the preferred location for a particular project. The higherorder thinking skills of analysis and decision-making are explicitly taught. All Humanities subjects demand a high level of written expression, but Geography balances this skill with the development of students’ graphical and numerical skills through its practical work component. The Histories, in comparison, give students opportunity to develop their oral communication skills through multimodal presentations. At The Southport School, it is pleasing to be able to report that enrolments continue to be healthy in the Senior subjects offered by the Humanities Department, and I have no doubt this is because our students recognise the real benefits of the generic skills taught in these subjects for their tertiary success, regardless of their chosen pathway. I take this opportunity to congratulate the Senior History teachers, Mr Virgoe Buckland and Mr John Wallace, on another successful year. Alongside the excellent results of our graduating classes, the highlight of the year has been our Greek Island Odyssey during the June-July holiday period. History comes alive when one has the opportunity to see it, touch it and feel it in the very places where pivotal events occurred years ago. That was the case for 27 lucky students, parents and History teachers who enjoyed the 2014 History tour to Greece. In charge of the tour was Mr John Gayton, assisted by myself, Mr Denzel Wilson and Mr Virgoe Buckland. Travelling to Athens via Singapore and Istanbul, the tour group visited historic sites as the Acropolis, Epidaurus, Mycanae, Olympia, Delphi and Marathon on the mainland, before taking the overnight