The PDHPE staff at St Clair High School are committed to developing quality teaching and learning experiences that provide enriching and engaging lessons for all students. A strong focus on active participation and enjoyment, skill development, inclusivity and achieving quality outcomes is undertaken.
The PDHPE staff strives for procedural consistency and operates as a collaborative, robust and professional team in alignment with the positive and productive teaching and learning ethos of St Clair High School.
The aim of PDHPE is to enable students to make informed decisions about health, physical activity, lifestyle and life planning. Learning experiences in PDHPE at St Clair High School assist students in examining their values and gain skills in communication, decision making, interaction, movement, planning and problem solving, empowering them to adopt healthy lifestyle practices. Students have the opportunity to learn by "doing" through direct participation in practical activities relating to personal fitness, aquatics, dance, athletics, gymnastics and games.
The unique role that physical activity plays as a preventative health measure for later life cannot be underestimated. At St Clair High School, when teaching physical education lessons PDHPE teachers use a variety of approaches. An effective teaching strategy is a game sense approach. Based on the assumption that certain principles are common across a range of games, students learn about the principles that will enable them to perform in a game with more understanding. The game sense approach categorises team games into four areas: invasion games e.g. soccer, touch, netball; target games e.g. golf, archery, bowls; court and net games e.g. volleyball, tennis, badminton; striking and fielding games e.g. cricket, softball. The game sense approach is essentially a student centred approach. It allows students to develop their own skills and understanding, while being actively involved in a modified/lead up game. By playing the game, students realise the reason for particular skills and rules that are necessary to play the game successfully. Skill development then occurs after the students have been exposed to the game. The process continues with additional modifications to the game so that new aspects of tactical understanding can be explored.
Health units cover a range of vital adolescent health issues. Sexual health, mental health, body image and gender, personal safety, road safety and child protection issues are topical and relevant areas of study which are explored in depth and have significant educational value for young people.
Teaching dance in PDHPE also creates opportunities for student centred learning and uses a range of strategies which helps students move competently and confidently in a range of contexts. At St Clair High School, students participate in a variety of planned and improvised dance activities, they explore the features and elements of composition and either individually or in small groups, they plan, perform and modify dance sequences.
Students at St Clair High School have the opportunity to choose elective courses. Physical Activity and Sport Studies aims to enhance students' capacity to participate effectively in physical activity and sport leading to improved quality of life for themselves and others. Areas of study include: body systems, fitness, fundamentals of movement, nutrition, safe participation in physical activity, leisure/lifestyle and recreation for specific groups, Australia's sporting identity, industry and vocational opportunities in physical activity and sport, current issues in sport, coaching and event management and technology in sport.
Outdoor Education: Bushcraft aims to enhance students' capacity to participate effectively in a range of outdoor education activities and recreational pursuits. Areas of study include: camping skills and camping equipment, food selection/menu planning/outdoor cooking, safety and first aid, planning an expedition/risk assessment procedures, flora and fauna, Aboriginal education and navigational skills.
These elective courses are very popular with students at St Clair High School and not only cater to students who have a passion for this subject area, they provide an extensive and quality platform for the PDHPE Preliminary and HSC Course. Sport, Lifestyle and Recreation Studies is another popular course for senior students wanting a more practical emphasis within this subject area.
Sport is an integral part of the St Clair community and it is further nurtured at St Clair High School. Students have the opportunity to participate in a range of sporting experiences including swimming, cross country and athletics, gala days and CHS knockout sporting competitions. St Clair High School has experienced wonderful success in many areas with students representing the school, zone, region and state in a range of sports