Health & Physical Education
Health and Physical Education from Year 9 – 13 focuses on the well-being of our students, others and society through learning in health-related and movement contexts. Students are encouraged to accept new challenges and reflect on their own well-being as well as take responsibility for enhancing the well-being of others. We offer to learn through practice and theory as well as outside of the school environment.
The College delivers three lessons in Health and Physical Education per week for Years 9 and 10. In Junior school Physical Education we offer a range of units that target students’ physical and interpersonal skills. In Health our units focus on Hauora, Sexuality, Nutrition and Health Issues in Society.
All Year 11 students take Core Physical Education two periods per week. Throughout the year, students will take part in one achievement standard where they will participate in a range of physical activities.
At a senior level, we offer two pathways in Physical Education at NCEA. Students may opt for NCEA Level 1 and then move on to NCEA Levels 2 and 3 or take up our Sports Leadership course gaining some credits through MIT at Levels 2 and 3. Both can lead to great career opportunities such as Personal Training, Teaching, Coaching, Physiotherapy, Sports Coordinating/ Directing, and Armed Forces.
Attitude Programme for Year 7/8
A presenter comes into our school from the Attitude Programme to do a presentation to our students about pubertal change, which is followed by an in-class workshop to reinforce the messages from the presentation. Learning about pubertal change is part of your child’s learning and comes under Health and PE in the curriculum. The content of the presentation and workshop includes major physical changes during puberty, emotional changes, and healthy head messages.
You can find out more about the Attitude Programme here http://www.attitude.org.nz/
We feel that this learning is important for our students at this time of their lives when there are a lot of changes occurring for them. The presenters from Attitude are young and vibrant, and present content in an engaging, age-appropriate manner. Their presentation is aligned with the special Catholic character of Marcellin College.
Parents are advised of this programme and can opt for their son or daughter to be put in other classes for these lessons.
Sexuality in Health Lessons for Year 9/10
The Sexuality Education programme has been designed following a four-day training course undertaken by all PE and Health staff and run by the Catholic Schools Office. The units have been designed for our students in a Catholic teacher environment and they are in complete accord with the teachings of the Catholic Church.
The students study the following topics:
- Values of society and Jesus
- Sexuality in the media
- Changes and development
- Human dignity
- Choices and consequences
- Love and lust
- Intimacy, fertility awareness
Parents are advised of this programme and can opt for their son or daughter to be put in other classes for these lessons.
Mates & Dates for Year 11-13
Our school participates in the ACC school-based healthy relationships programme called Mates & Dates.
Attendance in the programme and taking part in the evaluation are not compulsory, and any student can attend the programme lessons without having to take part in the evaluation. Parents are advised of this programme and can opt for their son or daughter to be put in other classes for these lessons.
ACC has worked with the Ministry of Education to ensure the programme aligns with the curriculum and has worked with an expert advisory group to develop the content. The programme has been fully evaluated by an independent research company.
The programme taught each year will be appropriate for that age group and will be taught by specialist sexual violence prevention programme facilitators over five 50-minute sessions. Mates & Dates will teach students how to have healthy relationships built on respect, negotiation and consent. It will teach them how to identify inappropriate behaviour and how to get help if they, or someone they know, are in an unhealthy relationship including how to safely intervene in situations that could lead to harm.
About the Evaluation: In order to provide continuous improvement to the delivery of the programme, your son or daughter will be asked to provide feedback on the delivery of the programme and what they thought about the course. At the end of the last session, your son or daughter will be given a short survey to complete taking approximately five minutes. The information they supply in the survey will not identify your child and it will only be used to improve the facilitation and delivery of the programme.
DARE to make a Choice programme
DARE to make a Choice programme is a joint venture between the New Zealand Police Youth Education Service and the DARE Foundation of New Zealand. The programme aims to help young people make responsible choices about their use of drugs and to give them the skills to carry out these choices.
The module will be taught by the student’s teacher and the local Police Education Officer, working together in the classroom. The Police Education Officer has had special training to work with the teacher in this way.
