2011 in Review

Health and Physical Education continue to provide a wide range of challenging and fun learning experiences for students at Lynfield College, from both practical and theoretical perspectives, so it is important that we have dynamic and competent teachers to implement such a full and varied programme. Lynfield Health and PE Faculty definitely has knowledgeable and professional staff that deliver engaging learning experiences for students. It is always sad when we lose fantastic teachers, but we know that the new teachers that arrive will always be welcomed to the learning area with a lot of support.

In 2011 we said farewell to Mrs Findlay as she left on maternity leave. If you ever had the pleasure to cross paths with this enthusiastic and innovative teacher, you can count yourself as very lucky indeed. It was with sadness that we let her go; however, Lynfield College’s loss is definitely Betsy May’s gain.
In Term 2 the Faculty welcomed Miss Bennett. Miss Bennett has spent a number of years teaching in the United Kingdom and was happy to return home to New Zealand. She has taken on the leadership programme and the running of Education Outside of the Classroom.

After many years providing guidance and management to the Faculty, Ms Fleming stepped down from her role as Assistant HOD PE, and Mr Christie has stepped up to this role in 2011.

2011 was a very explorative and developmental time, and the challenges of the alignment of standards and the revised curriculum have led to many philosophical debates and conversations about what is important for Lynfield College students to learn in Health & Physical Education. As a result of constant brainstorming and interviews between students, staff and other stakeholders, a new junior programme was developed and implemented in 2011 for Year 9. The programme is innovative, exciting, and focuses on the students as individuals. The year 10 programme will be implemented in 2012.

The new Year 9 & 10 courses provide students with the opportunity to develop a basic understanding of the information they will need to know for Year 11. This provides a good platform of knowledge for those students who wish to continue on with NCEA Level 2 and 3 and to further their careers in the Health and PE fields. Health and PE continue to be a popular subject at Lynfield College, and Education Outside the Classroom in Year 12 and 13 PE are very popular, with the numbers of participants in the senior programme continuing to grow and flourish.
 
This Year the 11 PE Advanced Programme was introduced. The students who opted for this course have established a good platform of understanding in Physical Education that will assist them in senior PE in the future. These students were able to experience a range of fabulous opportunities, engaging themselves in recreational activities around the community. They represented Lynfield in the community excellently and gained some fantastic skills as a result.

The first PE scholarship was achieved in 2010 by Eroni Leilua. Eroni put in a lot of hard work and it was pleasing to see him attain such a prestigious award.
 
 Year 12 Physical Education Camp

Who knew what to expect on Year 12 PE camp? All we knew was it was a DOC camp, which meant no showers, no power and no Facebook! Not to mention a long-drop for a toilet. Talk about ripping us out of our comfort zone. But we soon forgot about the luxuries of home when we saw how beautiful Tawharanui was.  Waking up at 6:30 every morning to go for a run was a bit of a hardship, but the concluding swim made it all worthwhile.

We packed a lot into four days, with activities ranging from snorkelling, kayaking and windsurfing to bushwalks and teambuilding activities.

Camping and being totally self-sufficient was a new experience for many of us. While we did learn to cook, clean, live in a tent and look out for each other, we also learned how to be independent and fend for ourselves in the great outdoors.

Our assessment on camp centred around risk management and first aid. We had to learn what to do in certain situations to prevent harm from happening to us and others, as well as demonstrating how to treat injuries.

We couldn’t have asked for a better team of teachers. While they kept us in line, they had no trouble making sure they had just as much fun as we did.  It was truly a great experience and we all had an awesome time. So, thanks to everyone for making a camp to remember.   

Holly Stokes - 12MR