Health and PE

Participation in physical activity is important for all students. However, traditional team sports at school aren’t for everyone. In this article, we speak to teacher Travis McKenzie, who has offered students the opportunity find their passion in physical activity through his program, Swords Club.

Australia is falling behind when it comes to children’s physical activity, with new challenges for schools brought to the fore through the COVID-19 pandemic. In this article, we outline 5 further readings which explore children and young people’s physical activity in Australia.

Findings from a cross-sectional survey looking into young Australian women’s experiences of menstruation and dysmenorrhea indicate the need for better menstrual health education in Australian schools. Find out more about the survey responses in relation to menstrual health in Australian Health and Physical Education in today’s infographic.

Research shows that pragmatic and evidence-based consent education in schools can have both immediate and lasting effects in reducing gender-based violence. In this article, we outline 5 further readings which explore consent education in Australia.

In the second part of our Q&A, author-educator Vanessa Hamilton discusses what consent education is (and some of the misconceptions), examples of what it looks like for students in primary and secondary, best practice for schools, and some of the challenges faced by teachers and leaders.

Age-appropriate consent education will be mandatory in all Australian schools from 2023. Kit and Arlo Find a Way: Teaching consent to 8-12 year olds is a fictional chapter book created for use in primary classrooms. In the first instalment of a two-part Q&A with author-educators Ingrid Laguna and Vanessa Hamilton, we find out more about the resource and research about the impact of consent education in schools.

As a primary school teacher, are you aware of how many students in your class are finishing their lunch each day? How many are taking food back home? New Australian research has found that most primary school students have just 10 minutes to eat their lunch during the school day. Find out more in today’s article.

We know that participating in sport and physical activity benefits health and wellbeing. New research has found it also has a small positive effect on students’ academic performance, particularly in mathematics and science.

With Term 1 just around the corner in Australia, it’s a great time to start brainstorming events and themes to tie in to your lesson planning for the new school year. We’ve rounded up some of the key dates in each term to help get you started.

Back in 2018, we brought you the story of a new intervention program for disengaged male students at Cherrybrook Technology High School in New South Wales. Nearly four years later, in today’s article, we hear how the program has evolved over the years and the impact it’s had on student learning and wellbeing.