PE Curriculum

PE Curriculum

Social and Emotional Competencies

Social-Emotional (SE) competencies anchor the learning in the PE Curriculum. Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) is an umbrella term that refers to students’ “acquisition of skills to recognise and manage emotions, develop care and concern for others, make responsible decisions, establish positive relationships, and handle challenging situations effectively” (CASEL).The five SE competencies are; Self Awareness, Social Awareness, Self-Management, Relationship Management and Responsible Decision Making. (Ministry of Education [MOE, 2010]

Athletics

Athletics in Maha Bodhi School involves primarily running, jumping and throwing activities that promote both personal striving and comparison. Through Athletics, students challenge themselves to run faster and over longer distance, jump for height and distance, and throw objects of different shapes and weight for distance and accuracy.

Dance

 Physical Education

Dance develops in students an understanding of rhythmic movement. It also enables students to express and communicate feelings and ideas through exploration, creation and performance. Through a variety of learning experiences ranging from creative to other dance forms, the enjoyment and appreciation of the quality of movement can be achieved. As part of the school curriculum, students are given opportunities for involvement in and enjoyment of different dances which can promote harmony and respect for cultural differences.

Programme for Active Learning 

The Dance module engages our students through a variety of dance activities, for example, movement exploration, creative movement and dance performance.  PAL allows our students to explore and experience different dance forms and dance genres and provide opportunities for students to express their thoughts and feelings through various types of dance activities as they explore, create and improvise through dance making. Students are also able to share their ideas with others as these interactions enable them to develop their interpersonal and social skills, attitudes and values.

Games and Sports

Physical Education

Games and Sports in Maha Bodhi School seeks to expose students to various sports and provide the opportunities for students to participate in sporting activities through 3 main components:

Skills Development – Focuses on basic fundamentals of manipulative skills and are mainly taught in Primary 1 to 3. Combination skills like catching and throwing an object to a teammate are taught from Primary 4.

Game Play – Focuses on instructions and games-related concepts to facilitate the learning of a sports skill at the beginner level. In Primary 5 and 6, students learn basic information and skills about the sport which will enable them to participate in the sport and enjoy it at a recreational level.

Sports Development – Focuses on developing students’ skills through participation in CCAs and enrichment programmes at a more advanced level.

Mass Participation

Participation in Mass Sports activities allows students to apply gross motor skills and games skills learnt during PE lessons to compete against other classes in authentic games situations or performed as a level/ school. The activities are also designed to promote a sense of belonging to the class and the school. The strong support from the Parents Support Group (PSG) Committee ensures that the events can be carried out smoothly every year.

Lower Primary Games Day (P1-P2)

Gives opportunities to students to apply psychomotor skills in a fun, cooperative and competitive game environment and build class affiliation and school spirit.

Mass Games Day (P3-P5)

Provides opportunities for every student to put in practice what they have learnt during PE lessons in a competitive setting where the students complete in several stations and collect as many points as they can to contribute to the class’ total score. The activities also seek to build class affiliation.

Inter-Class Games (P6)

Allow students to apply what they have learnt during PE lessons and play games against other classes with the spirit of competition. Students will be able to cheer for their classmates as they strategise to overcome their opponents.

Programme for Active Learning

 The Sports and Games module engages students through a variety of sports and games activities, e.g. fundamental movement, movement exploration, creative movement and modified sports and games. This provides opportunities for students to explore, create and improvise activities in sports and games. The interactions among students enable them to develop their interpersonal and social skills, attitudes and values.

Gymnastics

Gymnastics in Maha Bodhi School emphasises on challenging students, working either alone or in pairs and groups, to manoeuvre their bodies safely on the floor and when negotiating a variety of apparatus. Working with others and experiencing a sense of cooperative success in managing different gymnastics problems facilitate the development of care, harmony, responsibility and resilience.

Outdoor Education

Physical Education

Outdoor Education, otherwise defined as experiential learning in, for or about the outdoors is part of the PE curriculum in Maha Bodhi School as part of our effort to ensure that our students develop into rugged, robust and resilient students who are ready for life in secondary school in the near future and life in the 21st century as a long term goal. Outdoor Education in Maha Bodhi School consists of two main components:

Adventure Education – Focuses on confidence-building, promoting resilience, ruggedness and robustness, overcoming adversity, enhancing personal and social development and on knowing the basics of surviving in the outdoors.

Experiential Education – Focuses on process skills, leadership skills, problem-solving skills, teamwork and understanding the natural environment.

Programme for Active Learning 

 The Outdoor Education module provides for direct experiences in the outdoors from which students can learn about the components of Outdoor Education (OE) through facilitation and reflection. It also allows students to discover the interconnections between the world and themselves; this includes understanding the consequences of their actions on the people / community around them and the natural environment. Students can thus be curious and explore the outdoors in a safe way.

Outdoor Camps 

 Primary 3 2D 1N Outdoor Adventure Camp [Interaction with the Environment]

The 2-day and 1-night camp seeks to introduce students to outdoor camping. The focus of the camp is on interacting with the environment. In collaboration with the Science Department, we organise our school camp with a trip to the zoo so that they will be able to learn more about animals and its interaction with nature. The team-building activities incorporated in the camp helps students learn to work with one another and learn to share, work and care for one another.

Primary 5 3D 2N Outdoor Adventure Camp [Introduction to High Elements]

The camp provides the opportunity for the students to learn to conquer their fears through the high elements stations. While it is a challenge-by-choice option where students only attempt the high elements if they are comfortable, students are highly encouraged to participate in the activities. Students will also have team-building activities and light trekking to build up their resilience and ruggedness. The camp facilitates social & emotional learning and provides confidence-building experiences in a fun and exciting outdoor environment. The values of Resilience and Excellence are emphasised in the camp.

Swimming

Swimming develops students’ confidence to manoeuvre their bodies with control while experiencing the sensation of water balance, buoyancy and propulsion, in order to facilitate floating and moving in, under, and on water. The SwimSafer Programme for our Primary 3 students aims to equip our students with water survival skills and develop his/her self-confidence. The areas covered under the swimming programme are:

a. Survival Skills. Covers drowning prevention techniques in addition to swimming ability. Pupils would be introduced to flotation survival techniques on how to stay alive in water.

b. Education and Awareness Component. Pupils are taught water safety knowledge, such as rules of behaviour at the pool or near open waters, and water survival knowledge, which include learning how to signal for distress and survive in water long enough before being rescued.

 The SwimSafer Programme has an instructor-pupil ratio of 1:10. The lower ratio is beneficial from a safety and educational perspective as it allows instructors to supervise pupils more closely and devote more attention towards individual pupils.

Physical Health and Fitness

Physical Health and Fitness stimulates students’ interest in physical activity as meaningful connections between health concepts and practical applications are made through experiential learning. Our students learn and understand good health practices in nutrition, exercise, safety and hygiene. Students also learn good practices in safety which includes areas such as road, fire and water safety. With these, students will then be equipped with the knowledge, skills and motivation to make informed personal decisions to stay active and healthy.