
Physical activity has many health benefits for young people. The WHO (2011) recommends that children and young people aged 5-17 should aim for an average of at least 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous intensity, mostly aerobic, activities. Studies have shown that physical activity can reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety, enhance thinking, learning, and judgement skills. In short, physical activity can improve overall well-being.
The pandemic has prevented us from leading a normal active lifestyle, but people have found creative ways to stay active while indoors. Physical education teachers around the world have also come up with creative ideas to keep their students engaged and active in PHE.
In physical and health education (PHE), teachers aim to equip their students with the knowledge, skills, attributes, and experiences that can motivate them to lead a healthy and balanced lifestyle. Students will develop their conceptual understanding of physical activity and sport in PHE through different contexts. Planned learning engagements provide students with opportunities to construct, experiment, apply, collaborate, and reflect on their learning.
MYP students started the school year by inquiring into fitness concepts. In MYP 1-2, students dive deeper into the skeletal and muscular systems, and then look at simple training programs to develop the health-related components of fitness. MYP 3-5 students inquire into personal training and will learn how to design a personal training program or for other individuals.
To further support our students’ learning experiences, the PHE department will also organize different inter-house fitness and skill challenges throughout the academic year. Our first fitness challenge will take place from October 4-8. Participants will have to complete as many reps as they can in the push-up, sit-up, and burpee challenge. In the low plank, they’ll try to hold the plank for as long as they can. Students, teachers, and parents that are interested in taking part in the challenge will have to upload video evidence of their performance in order to score points for their house team. More information will be shared with the community in the coming week.
Physical activity is one of the key determinants of life. It has many health benefits that can improve personal well-being. Therefore, I encourage everyone to stay physically active, but in a safe and responsible manner.
Fernando Beukes
Head of PHE
Works Cited Page
World Health Organization. “Physical activity.” Factsheet. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/physical-activity. 2020.