Physical Education
Gembrook Primary School provides a high quality Physical Education program for every child. It is designed to prepare students for a healthy and active lifestyle through the development of skills, knowledge, teamwork and positive attitudes.
Our comprehensive program provides children with a wide range of physical and sporting experiences focusing on the sequential development of fundamental motor and locomotion skills, athletics, fitness and sport education.
To implement the P.E. program, we have access to our gym, oval, basketball court, and soccer pitch. We also have a range of equipment that ensures a variety of exciting new experiences each session.
Our specialist Physical Education teacher, Jorden Adnam, leads skill based Physical Education programs with Prep – Year 6 children each week. Children in the junior school learn and practice the correct techniques for running, hopping, jumping, skipping, catching, throwing, kicking, rolling, balancing, twisting and turning. While those in the middle and senior school will develop the capacity to link these skills into more complex and coordinated movement sequences. As students develop increasingly complex motor skills, they will be given opportunities to then apply these to appropriately modified games and sports.
Teamwork and safety are encouraged with value placed on cooperation, safe and sensible participation, respect of each other and equipment, trying your best and listening to instructions.
PHYSICAL EDUCATION: Curriculum
Foundation Level: (Preps)
The Prep program focuses on perceptual motor skills. The six skills we aim to develop are auditory, visual, motor, social, language and memory. These skills can be broken down into the following:
- Developing language skills necessary for active involvement in the program
- Developing eye muscles for effective visual focus and tracking
- Improving eye/hand and eye/foot coordination
- Improving locomotion, balance and fitness
- Developing the social skills of sharing, participating, assisting and caring for other children
- Building confidence while using equipment and during movement
- Developing spatial awareness
- Developing motor memory
Grades 1 & 2:
The grade 1 & 2 program focusses on catching, throwing and striking. They will:
- Learn and execute basic gymnastic shapes
- Perform and understand safe landings
- Demonstrate basic movement patterns including jumping, landing, balance & rotations
- Building upon the fundamental motor skills of throwing and catching
- Building upon the foundation learning of athletics including sprints, relays, high jump, long jump, shotput, discus and hurdles.
- Develop their skipping skills, gradually becoming more fluent and confident
- Learning the foundations, rules and objectives of invasion games and sports such as basketball, football, netball, and soccer.
- Learning the foundations, rules and objectives of net/wall games such as tennis, newcomb and volleyball.
- Learning the foundations, rules and objectives of striking and fielding games and sports such as cricket and t-ball.
- Learning the foundations, rules and objectives of target games and sports including bowling.
Grades 3 & 4
The grade 3 & 4 program focusses on team building, more advanced coordination including skipping, fitness and athletics.
In fitness activities students will be assessed on their aerobic capacity, agility and strength.
In athletics students will work hard on improving their knowledge, skills and techniques in all events.
During Physical Education Lessons, the Year 3 and 4 students begin to work on game sense, and how to incorporate fundamental motor skills, teamwork, and strategic thinking into a range of individual and team games and sports.
The Year 3 & 4 students will:
- Participate in the School Swimming Carnival at Lilydale Pool
- Participate in the School House Athletics at the Cockatoo athletics track
- Participate in our School Cross Country at the Mountain Rd reserve
- Participate in Orienteering with local volunteer Carl Stemp
Level 5 & 6:
The senior students have units to complete in team building/sports, fitness and athletics
Additionally 5 and 6 students will be beginning to understand and execute complex strategies within games and sports.
The Year 5 & 6 students will:
- Participate in the School Swimming Carnival at Lilydale Pool
- Participate in the School House Athletics at the Cockatoo athletics track
- Participate in our School Cross Country at the Mountain Rd reserve
- Participate in Orienteering with local volunteer Carl Stemp
- Be part of the School Inter-School Sport competition at a district level representing our school in competitions against other schools in the Emerald and District Education Cluster (EDEC).
- Students will have the opportunity to represent the school at district, divisional, regional and state level if they are successful in athletics, swimming, cross country or any of the EDEC events.
HOUSE SPORTS
School-based house competitions in swimming, cross country and athletics are conducted each year to promote a sense of community and connectedness.
In Term 1 of each year we hold our School Swimming Sports at Lilydale Pool.
In Term 1 we also have our School Senior Athletics Carnival at the Cockatoo athletics track where all grade 3-6 students attend and compete in a variety of track and field events. They learn and train for each of the events during Phys Ed classes in the weeks preceding the carnival. Some students will then be selected to participate at the EDEC Athletics Carnival.
In term 2 we have our School Cross Country at Mountain Road reserve in Cockatoo where all grade 3-6 children are encouraged to participate in their own age group.
In term three we have the Junior House Athletics carnival held at school where all prep to grade 2 students participate in fun games and athletic events. The House Captains enjoy organising the event and encouraging their house team members to participate.
EDEC TOURNAMENTS
In term 3 and 4 we have the EDEC Lightning premiership where we compete in football, netball and volleyball at Worrell reserve in Emerald, the EDEC basketball tournament at the Dandenong Basketball stadium, the EDEC soccer tournament held at the Monbulk Soccer club and the girls’ football tournament at Gembrook football ground.
We thank all teacher and parent helpers that make the house and EDEC tournament days run as smoothly as possible.
DIVISION & STATE SPORT
Our school is affiliated with School Sport Victoria which runs carnivals and tournaments in many sports. Gembrook Primary school individual and team athletes have opportunities to participate at Division and State level.
SWIMMING PROGRAMS:
Students at all levels participate in a 5 day swimming program in term 4 at The Yarra Centre in Yarra Junction. Each lesson is one hour in duration. The sessions are taught by the Yarra Centre teaching staff and focus on developing water safety and swimming skills.
HOUSE CAPTAINS
The school has four houses: Beenak, Kurth Kiln, Redwood and Tynong.
House captains have leadership roles in all school and EDEC level competitions.
House captains also coordinate lunch time student equipment loans and cross year level games.