Students in Year 7 PDHPE have an equal balance of theory and practical lessons. There are a variety of topics covered, all giving our students the necessary tools and information to make positive decisions regarding their health.
THEORY
Unit 1 - Changes and Challenges
In this unit students will explore the challenges and changes that they are likely to experience and how these may make them feel. They will particularly focus on the challenges of starting high school, making new friends and feeling a sense of connection. They will participate in a number of cooperative and challenge team activities to promote a sense of belonging and develop their problem solving skills. Students will reflect on their personal abilities and how these can help them respond to and manage changes in a positive way. Students will learn about people and services available to support them at challenging times, both inside and outside of school. They will discuss the barriers that young people might face when seeking help and propose strategies to overcome these barriers.
Unit 2 - Getting Along (Relationships)
In this unit, students will gain an understanding of the qualities and skills that contribute to developing and maintaining positive, supportive friendships. In particular they will explore the importance of good communication in relationships and have opportunities to develop interpersonal skills that will help them to form strong friendships and communicate effectively. Students will learn to recognise behaviours that constitute bullying and harassment and understand the effects these behaviours can have on people. They will propose a range of appropriate strategies that can be used in response to bullying situations, develop skills to help them identify and seek help if needed and describe ways that they can show support to someone who is being bullied or harassed by their peers.
Unit 3 - Get active, Get fit for life
In this unit students will review the concept of health and how fitness plays an important role in maintaining their physical health and explore how regular participation in physical activity can benefit their physical, social, emotional, cognitive and spiritual health. They will examine the components of a balanced lifestyle. They will analyse their current lifestyle to determine how active they are and plan ways to increase the level of physical activity in their daily life. They will learn about the different components of fitness and consider which components of fitness are needed to enable them to enjoy and participate successfully in various physical activities. In practical lessons they will participate in numerous physical activities to develop the various fitness components and to learn how activities that elevate their heart rate can assist to maintain their health and develop their fitness.
Unit 4 - Me and My World (Growth and Development)
In this unit students will examine the physical, social and emotional changes during adolescence and appreciate the difference and diversity in these changes. They will also consider whether the physical changes that occur during puberty happen at the same time as the social and emotional changes and how this can impact their decision making. Students will explore the relationship between a sense of self, body image and views of what it means to be female or male. They will gain an understanding of sexual feelings and acknowledge how gender expectations can influence sexual choices. Students will develop the skills needed to learn how these changes can be managed to make sure they are healthy and happy and identify people places they can talk to or go for information if they are concerned about these changes or if they want to find out more.
Unit 5 - Out and About (Water/Road/Sun Safety)
In this unit students will explore the concept of ‘risk' and examine what can make a risk positive or negative. They will consider the types of risks that young people commonly take and consider the factors that influence risk taking, with a particular focus on how gender influences risk taking. Students will then look at environments relating to using the road and being in and around water and explore the risks present in these environments. They will use planning skills to devise strategies ways to reduce the risks present in these environments. Students will also learn how to manage emergency situations that may arise in road and water environments to enable them to provide basic first aid to assist other people.
PRACTICAL
Unit 1 - Team Building activities
Unit 2 - Athletics
Unit 3 - Fundamental Movement Skills - throwing, catching and kicking skills using large sized balls.
Unit 4 - Components of Fitness
Unit 5 - Gymnastics - travelling rolling and balancing
Unit 6 - Fundamental Movement Skills - catching, throwing and striking using small sized balls.