physical education

in the Junior School

What a fantastic Term in PE. The Junior Students absolutely love it! They literally bounce to class. This Term we have been looking forward to the Olympics and were lucky enough to have Olympic Ambassador Luuka Jones come to school and share her Olympic journey with us. We have also completed our school cross county with many great performances by our girls. They showed terrific attitudes towards participating and goal setting to be ‘Fit for life.’

Our little Year 0 and 1’s have been focussing on their fundamental movement skills in Physical Education. These are the foundation building blocks that more complex movements are built upon like skipping, running, jumping, dodging, throwing, catching and striking. Making friends, fair play and having fun are also an important part of the Junior PE programme. In our aquatics programme our smallest students have been developing their water confidence through a range of games and activities. It is important students are participating in swimming lessons in their own time to improve their stroke development as swimming is such an important life skill. Students in Year 2 and 3 have been participating in a range of throwing and catching games to enhance their skills. During the aquatics programme, students have been developing floating and kicking skills to enhance their mobility and safety in the water. Year 4–6 Students have been improving their basketball skills with basketball, basketball and more basketball. We have been lucky enough to have Stuart McEwen from Youth Basketball NZ coming in to coach the Year 4–6 students. He has been fantastic sharing his knowledge, expertise and basketball skill in a really fun way. There has also been a focus on team work and the understanding of rules. During the aquatics unit, there has been an emphasis on water safety. The students have focussed on treading water, sculling techniques and survival strokes. We have managed to fit in some gymnastics too which is always a favourite for the students. They love it and it helps develop brilliant body control, balance and many transferable physical skills that are beneficial in a range of sports. — Des Knight

Luuka Jones

In May our girls from Years 3–6 were very lucky to meet a NZ Olympian, moments before she left New Zealand to prepare for the Tokyo Olympics. Luuka Jones competed in the Canoe / Kayak Slalom discipline at the Olympics and, thanks to our Junior School PE teachers, she came to speak to our girls about her passion for the sport. Luuka told how she started kayaking because she lived down the road from a kayak adventure park in Tauranga. She was very taken with the sport, to the point where the park’s manager offered her lessons in exchange for helping out at the park. Luuka skills continue to build until at the age of 14 she took part in her first competition, the NZ Secondary Schools Canoe Slalom Nationals where she achieved 3rd place. From there it’s been onwards and upwards and we look forward to supporting Luuka at the Olympics.