Health & Physical Education ______________________Page

from SJc Yearbook Virtus 2015

Valete __________________________________Pages

In 2015 the Health and Physical Education department has once again successfully provided the students of St Joseph’s with the chance to experience a wide range of physical activity and learning experiences. This year we successfully launched our new “Health and Physical Education” subject at Year 7. This new, year-long course, provided the students with the chance to learn about a diverse range of important contemporary health topics, integrated with physical activity.

Year 10 was also given a re-vamp this year with 3 new subjects,

“Optimal Health”, Sport Science and Action in the Outdoors, taught for the first time. These new courses were designed to introduce the Year 10’s to topics from VCE HHD, VCE PE and VCE OES in a highly practical setting. All three subjects were a great success and hopefully they have provided a solid preparation for the boy’s VCE studies.

The outdoor education department has continued to strive to teach our boys the enormous value of healthy outdoor environments for them and society. In doing this, we hope that many SJC boys will leave our walls respectful and appreciative of the environments around them and value the opportunities they have to participate in activities in them. We are so lucky to live where we do - surrounded by beautiful beaches and bushland. We aim to give our boys a theoretical understanding of these places, but also an understanding of how they can be enjoyed in a recreational sense. If we have more boys leaving school as mountain bikers, rock climbers, surfers, skiers, paddlers, divers, rafters, etc. we will have more boys willing to look after the environments they enjoy and we’ll have a healthier world to live in.

In his first year as a Health and Physical Education Coordinator Mr Sam Querella has done an amazing job and I would like to thank him for his enthusiasm and dedication in this role. I would also like to thank Mr Nick Jones for filling in for Sam in Term 3, his hard work was much appreciated. James Hickey has done a fantastic job as AFL trainee this year and we wish him the best of luck as he starts his tertiary studies at Deakin in Business / Law next year. To finish I would like to say thank you to all of the staff and students from the Health and Physical Education Department, you are what makes our department such a successful one and I look further to more great work next year.