Physical activity isn't just about fitness—it's a powerful tool for learning, inclusion, and creating positive school environments. This compelling episode takes listeners behind the scenes with the NSW Department of Education Sports Unit, revealing innovative approaches that benefit every student.
Anthony Moyes opens with a passionate explanation of how the Sports Unit supports students with disabilities through four key programs. Despite one in five students having some form of disability, many schools mistakenly believe they don't have eligible participants. Moyes shares how over 500 schools now participate in boccia and ten pin bowling competitions, benefiting thousands of students across NSW. His team travels extensively throughout the state, bringing participation opportunities directly to regional areas and creating pathways for students who might otherwise miss out.
The conversation shifts when Michael Kirwan explains the science-backed approach to meeting the mandated 150 minutes of weekly physical activity. Rather than viewing this as yet another curriculum requirement, Kirwan reveals how schools can seamlessly integrate movement throughout the day. The unit's hugely popular "10 at 10" energizer sessions and "Thinking While Moving" resources have transformed classrooms across the state, with research confirming that physical activity—especially early in the day—dramatically improves student engagement, behavior, and learning outcomes.
What stands out is the practical, barrier-reducing approach both specialists advocate. From comprehensive online resources to face-to-face professional learning, the Sports Unit has created systems that make quality physical activity accessible for every teacher, regardless of their sporting background. The upcoming Sport and Physical Activity School Health Check (version 3) promises to further strengthen this work, with special attention to high potential students while maintaining core inclusivity principles.
Don't miss the next episodes featuring James Boyer on the fascinating brain research behind physical activity and Peter Carty's inspiring story of inclusion through sport. Subscribe now to continue this journey through the transformative power of school sport and physical activity.
Link to NSW School Sports Unit:
https://education.nsw.gov.au/teaching-and-learning/curriculum/school-sport
Links and References:
To view our Professional Learning Offerings, visit:
https://www.nswppa.org.au/professional-learning
To view our latest offerings, visit: https://www.nswppa.org.au/catalogue
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Drew (00:00):
Welcome back to Professional Learning's the New
South Wales PPA EducationalLeadership Podcast.
It's great to have your company.
This podcast aligns to thevalues of the New South Wales
Primary Principals Association,that is, the values of principal
wellbeing, principals as leadlearners, as well as supporting
principals to lead schooloperations.
(00:23):
If you enjoy this podcast,don't forget to subscribe for
further updates.
Now let's get into today'slatest episode.
Welcome to our special four-partseries with the New South Wales
Department of Education SportsUnit.
We've created this as a specialyes, four-part series as there
(00:44):
is so much content andinformation to share.
We look forward to sharing thisfour-part series, which is
approximately 30 to 35 minutesdepending on the episode.
And if you're listening andthinking, how does the school
sport unit align withprofessional learning?
Well, it's a great question.
The short answer is there is alot.
(01:05):
There is so much evidence-basedresearch science around the
brain, alignment with yourschool excellence framework,
well-being, benefits of sportand retention, supporting
student with disabilities, aswell as practical and sound
advice based around currentpolicies, just to name a few.
So, with all that, we lookforward to sharing this
(01:27):
four-part series, as I said, ofapproximately 30 to 35-minute
podcast episodes.
References to all of thematerial shared will be in our
podcast notes to explore further.
In part two of this podcastseries with the Sports Unit,
we'll hear from Anthony Moyesand Michael Kirwan and the
impact of their work in NewSouth Wales public schools.
(01:49):
Let's start now.
Anthony Moyes, welcome to ourpodcast.
It's great for you to be withus today.
Thanks very much for having me.
And, anthony, can you tell ourlisteners what is your role in
the Sports?
Anthony (02:02):
Unit.
So I'm a Disability inclusionofficer with the sports unit.
So my role with my colleaguePeter Cardy is to be getting
students in public schools withdisability, getting them
involved in sport and physicalactivity.
Drew (02:18):
Yeah, and such an important role and, I'm sure,
many obstacles though,overseeing that.
So, for our primary listeners,who are educational leaders and
principals, could you give someadvice to support and navigate
us through that space that youlead?
Anthony (02:36):
Yeah, definitely so we know that there are many
students with disability inschools.
We know that the numbers aresomewhere around one in five,
maybe even one in four studentshave some form of disability in
school.
So it's a really importantprogram for us to be involved
with, and so we run four mainprograms throughout our year,
(02:57):
throughout our calendar, to tryand encourage schools,
principals, teachers, schools ingeneral, to get their students
with disability involved insport and physical activity.
And so those four main programsare what we call Come and Try
Athletics, which we run in Term1, which is a real participation
program.
(03:17):
We run multi-sport days inTerms 3 and 4, which are again
participation opportunities, andthey're what they sound like.
They are opportunities forstudents to try multiple sports
in a day.
And then we run two programsthat are actually both
participation but they're alsocompetition.
They offer an opportunity forstudents with disability to
(03:38):
represent their schools.
And those two sports are boccia, the sport of boccia, which is
a Paralympic sport, that we runin term two, and then in term
three we run a ten pin bowlingcompetition and, as I'm sure
you're aware, ten pin bowlingvery inclusive sport.
A lot of people with disabilityin the community are involved
(04:00):
in that sport.
So it was an easy competitionfor us to set up to again offer
an opportunity for students withdisability to represent their
schools.
Drew (04:08):
Yeah, those sound all fun and exciting programs to be to
be involved in.
What are the numbers lookinglike at this point in time?
Anthony (04:16):
Some of the numbers that I can mention from this
year, both with with Botcher andTempin Bowling, we hit over 500
schools involved in each ofthem, which was really
encouraging.
It was a bit of a goal of oursto try and get that many schools
involved.
We know there's a lot ofschools still left, though that
are not engaging with theprogram, so I'm hopeful that
(04:39):
there's some principalslistening to this who are
potentially thinking they couldget their schools involved.
But yeah, lots of um, lots ofnumbers out there, um, lots of
participation numbers.
Our multi-sport days where werun 30 or over 30.
This year we ran it was, yes, acouple of thousand students in
total.
We just went through the thenumbers recently.
(05:00):
It was over 2 000 studentsengaged with that, from kind of
probably infants, but more likeyear two, through to all the way
up to year 12.
So, yeah, quite a wide scopefor the number of schools and
students involved yeah, so againthat those sounds terrific.
Drew (05:17):
But all like in anything, always areas to expand and
improve and as you said at thestart, was one in five students
and then turning that into 500schools is terrific.
Yeah, what are the mainobstacles you're seeing from
your perspective?
Anthony (05:32):
well, sometimes we we find when we reach out to
schools or we have discussionswith with teachers around them
getting involved in one of ourcompetitions For instance let's
take Botcher as the exampleWe'll have a teacher or another
member of staff say, oh, wedon't have students who would be
(05:53):
eligible for that.
And so I think sometimesthere's a bit of a mindset that
if they're not a student in awheelchair or a person with an
obvious kind of physicalimpairment, they think, oh well,
we don't have students for thatcompetition.
But, as I mentioned, thenumbers are so large and we
accept any student withdisability for all of our
(06:14):
programs.
It's not like therepresentative pathway where
they need to have a sportingclassification.
If schools identify students ashaving an impairment, then we
are happy to include them in ourcompetitions.
So we challenge principals andteachers to get involved because
we just think that across thestate, really every school can
(06:35):
access our competitions and ourprograms, all our programs.
Drew (06:39):
So is that done at a local level, Like if you go back
to the example of pathways, forexample, athletics, carnivals,
cross-country swimming is it asimilar pathway or is it a
different pathway for theseevents?
Anthony (06:53):
Okay.
So we travel a lot.
Peter and I spend a lot of timein the work vehicle so we
really do go out to the state,to all the different regions.
So in Term 1 next year when wego to come and try athletics do
our come and try athleticsprogram we'll be travelling as
far north as the Tweed up toKingscliff, we'll be going out
(07:14):
to Dubbo, we go out to Tamworth,we're going down to Nowra next
year to run come and try as well.
So we are travelling and we'regetting out there, so that we're
going to the regions and thenit's up to schools to come to us
.
But we're facilitating it andtrying to reach out to as many
areas of the state as possibleWith our competitions where the
(07:39):
students with disability areable to represent their schools.
Again, we hold regionalcompetitions.
So for the botcha competitionin term two we'll have around 25
local regional finals and fromthat teams and schools that win
those days will be eligible tocome through to a state final in
(08:02):
Sydney.
Drew (08:03):
I'm just thinking of the logistics to this exercise.
Yeah, so such a great program,but I'm sure there'd be some
logistics behind that.
Anthony (08:14):
So we've got a large contact list of teachers in
schools who have put their namesforward to be the kind of
contact I suppose the championfor the students with disability
in their schools, and so, yeah,we've sent that information
email out in the last littlewhile and all those dates are
hopefully being considered backin schools.
(08:34):
And a couple of our events theBotcher and Tempin Bowling
competitions terrific cost wisethere.
Drew (08:42):
Is there any cost involved?
Anthony (08:44):
there is a minimal cost for for the participation days
that come and try athletics andmulti-sport.
It's a five dollarparticipation fee.
It certainly doesn't cover thecost of the program but it helps
to offset some of the costsinvolved mostly with venues.
They are expensive for us torun the program and so that that
helps there a little bit.
(09:05):
And then with the competitionsthere's a $50 team entry, a
little bit like first stateknockout competitions for
able-bodied competitions yeah,yeah, yeah.
Drew (09:17):
Terrific in terms of if we go into the professional
learning side of things.
Are there any professionallearning opportunities that
schools or school leaders couldbe involved in to support this
fantastic initiative?
Anthony (09:29):
Yeah, definitely.
There are a few different waysthat we provide professional
learning.
We get asked by schools or byzones or by principals to do
actual formal kind ofprofessional learning webinars
or sessions.
We usually do it via Teamsbecause it's easier to get more
(09:51):
people to those sessions.
So we're very happy to presentto any groups of people who are
wanting to find out about ourdifferent programs.
So that's one way that wesupport teachers and schools.
So that's one way that wesupport teachers and schools.
Any time that we hold events wefeel like that can be the most
valuable professional learningThings like multi-sport days,
(10:17):
where we have multiple sportscoming into a basketball stadium
and a group of students withdisability and their teachers
travel around and rotate aroundand go through six or seven
sports in the day.
Teachers are getting reallyvaluable insights into how they
can be modifying and adaptingsport to make it more accessible
for their students and we'revery hopeful that students sorry
(10:38):
, teachers take that back totheir schools so that they can
engage their students back atschool in those sports.
And there's that kind of littlelegacy piece every time we hold
events like multi-sport days.
Drew (10:53):
Yeah, that's terrific in terms of one of the best
practices and research shows.
Going to watch a classroom inpractice, watching a
practitioner in practice, andwhat I'm hearing is you're
encouraging that for educatorsto come and see that from a
professional learningperspective, which is terrific.
Anthony (11:11):
Yeah, for sure, and we get a lot of feedback from staff
in that regard and they often,I suppose, admit to being a
little bit surprised when theysee a student who they didn't
think they would engage in acertain sport.
And the student does so andthey realise, oh okay, there's
something here.
This is a sport that we can bedoing back at school.
(11:32):
It doesn't require a lot ofspace or a lot of equipment, but
we can be running this back atschool and engaging some of our
more challenging students, shallI say.
Drew (11:41):
Well, that's terrific, shall I say.
Well, that's a terrific.
I see that as a calling forpeople listening in to say these
Anthony and Peter go out to thefield, so to speak, offer these
fantastic programs On top ofthat, a professional learning
opportunity that colleaguescould come and see.
And I think that's the obstacle.
People want to do it right, andI'm sure you hear that and
principals want to do it right,but seeing'm sure you hear that,
(12:03):
and principals want to do itright.
But seeing that, just seeingwhat it actually what does right
look like so yeah, for surethat's terrific.
Any other tips and advice forcolleagues listening in?
Anthony (12:15):
I just I would encourage principals to make it
as easy as possible for theirstaff to engage with our
programs.
We've got some schools whereclearly the barriers to
involvement are minimised andthey just they get involved in
everything they can and we justthey're the first people to
register for things and we justknow that whatever processes
(12:37):
they have at school to enabletheir students to get to things
and whatever those processes,they must be great because the
staff are so quick to engage.
I hope that, yeah, I hopeprincipals are encouraged to
think about whether our programsare suitable for their kids.
We certainly think they are andhopefully they can remove any
(12:58):
barriers that might be in placeto getting their students with
disability involved.
Drew (13:02):
Yeah, yeah, Well said, Anthony.
And you go back to that startof our conversation where you
said colleagues, think aboutthis.
One in five students have adisability, so just think about
that and think of the wonderfulwork that the sports unit is
doing.
Anthony Moyes, thank you againfor your time.
No worries, thanks for havingme.
Our next guest in this podcastseries is Michael Kirwan, Sport
(13:27):
and Physical Activity Advisorfor the New South Wales School
Sports Unit.
Michael Kirwan, Sport andPhysical Activity Advisor for
the School Sports Unit.
Welcome to our podcast today.
Great to have you.
Anthony (13:40):
Yeah, thanks for having me.
Drew (13:42):
Yeah, it's exciting In terms of for our listeners.
Michael, can you tell us whatis your role in the sports unit?
Michael (13:50):
Yeah, so specifically my job is to help teachers or
principals and teachers to meet,exceed and deliver quality
sport and physical activity tomeet what's the recently
released sport and physicalactivity procedure.
So it just moved over from thesport and physical activity
policy.
(14:11):
Now the procedure sits withinstudent health and wellbeing, so
that's specifically for primaryschool.
So every student K to six needsto have 150 minutes of physical
activities.
That's moderate to vigorousphysical activity, we kind of
call it.
They should be huffing andpuffing for 150 minutes a week
(14:32):
and students in three to sixshould have one hour of weekly
sport.
So it's about meeting thatpolicy and doing it well, I
guess is my job is to supportschools to do that.
Drew (14:42):
Yeah, that's a challenge.
It's also lots of benefits tothat.
Michael (14:52):
How long has this program, this 150 minutes, been
around for?
Well, you're going to test mymemory there.
So it did move from 120 to 150.
I'm going to guess that wasaround 2014.
It moved so increased that 30minutes.
That was a response to auditorgeneral.
Uh, it comes from research thatour, our students, our kids in
(15:12):
australia, um, uh, they're,they're falling well short of
the recommended.
So our, our department ofhealth, also the world health
organization, they recommendkids are physically active for
60 minutes a day.
All the research to show thatonly about one in three kids in
Australia are physically activefor that much.
So that increase that happened,like I said, about 10 years ago
(15:35):
, was in the response to that,just that general lack of
activity from our kids.
Obviously that's more pressureon school.
So I had to do 30 minutes extraphysical activity school day
didn't increase any time, didn'thave any other decreases in any
other obligations.
So that is part of the.
Our challenge with primaryschools is to where do we find
(15:58):
that extra 30 minutes?
Um, we know our kids need it,um, and we'll probably get into
some of the reasons they need itlater, but part of our
professional learning and ourresources is to help schools to
meet that extra 30 minutes inwhat's already a very busy
school week and curriculum andalso preparation time for
(16:19):
teachers.
So we're trying to helpteachers with all those things.
Drew (16:23):
Yeah, well, let's go there.
Well, how do they I mean, itsounds in theory, like anything
in theory sounds terrific.
150 minutes, lots of and we'llgo into that further of the
benefits.
But what have you seen as let'scall it a gold standard in what
you've seen, that schools areable to successfully deliver the
(16:45):
150-minute requirement?
Michael (16:47):
Yeah, so okay.
So the gold standard I'll gointo what I kind of think of as
gold standard from a practicalpoint of view, but also the
research-informed gold standard.
And there are a lot of schoolsdoing a lot of schools are doing
this really really well.
So let's say you've got that 60minutes of school support which
high schools mix up when thatis, of schools are doing this
really really well.
So let's say you've got that 60minutes of school sport which
(17:08):
high schools mix up when that is.
But I'm pretty sure it's stillFriday sport for primary schools
everywhere in the state.
That looks different, whetherit's in the morning middle
session or in the afternoon,whether they're playing against
other schools or not, butgenerally Friday sport is still
a thing.
So that's that 60 minutes.
So obviously we do spend a lotof time and we have resources
(17:29):
for making that sport qualitysport.
But to actually meet theminutes it's the time outside of
that sport session, so that canbe your physically active PE
lesson, which we don't.
That's within a KLA.
We have a great curriculum teamthere to help with that.
So our focus is probably twoparts.
(17:50):
The big one is embeddingenergizers, which we call brain
breaks, or some people call thembrain breaks.
We call them energizers justbecause we think it's better
positive language and actuallydescribes more what that does
for the student's brain.
We can get quite sciencey a bitwhat happens in there and the
benefits of that.
So embedding energizers andlike I know my background as a
(18:15):
primary school teacher that wewould have lesson transitions,
we would have ways we'd haveroutines that were not
traditional learning lessons.
However, I didn't make themphysically active enough.
So if we can actually makethose transitions, those ad hoc
games, those times when you dofinish a lesson 15 minutes early
, they're the best times toembed physical activity.
(18:38):
I would say gold standard bestpractice would be getting those
energizers in early.
We've got some resources calledthe 10 at 10s are hit sessions.
Um, we trying to muscle in.
We say we're muscling on.
You know fruit break, um.
The evidence says that earlierthat the physical activity has
is it's going to be the is hasthe biggest impact on students
engagement and their learning um, as well as other factors.
(19:00):
Um.
So relationships with theirpeers, relationships with their
teacher, the earlier they havethe physical activity, the
benefit from that perspective.
Obviously all physical activityis good for you physically, but
to get the best learningbenefits is to have that early.
So best practice is to havethat scheduled.
10 minute energizer could befive minutes, 10 minutes a
(19:20):
couple.
Start the first session, startthe day with one break, one up,
finish before recess, afterrecess, um, and, like I said,
we've got the 10 of 10s whichare hit sessions that they can
just be shown on a smart board.
They go for 10 minutes.
There's a learning link.
We go through a range of sports.
(19:40):
We have some links toAustralian sporting, to
successful athletes.
We didn't know what we weredoing.
When we made them, we didn'tknow how successful we'd be.
The feedback's been really good.
So it's not like when I firstmade them or when we first made
them, I didn't go around telleveryone how good they are.
We kind of went around saying,well, we've made these and then,
(20:00):
fortunately, schools have toldus how good they are and how
much the kids have liked it andwe would like to make some more.
So we've got 30 at the moment.
Um, we'd like to make some morein future because, yeah,
they've been really popular andwe've had requests for more.
So, like I said, we did that asa suite of tools to help
(20:21):
teachers to embed physicalactivity throughout that school
day and it's been reallysuccessful for us.
So that's great.
So that's just one.
The 10 of 10.
But I find teachers have theirown games and transitions and
there's not a lot.
Once you get in the mindset ofhow can I make this game of
bingo, how can I make this otherad hoc game, how can I just put
(20:45):
a bit more physical activity inthat, maybe put some squats in
there, some bodyweight exercises, some sit-ups, some push-ups,
some star jumps Once you startthinking in that space, well,
what can I do to make what I domore physically active?
It's actually really easy andyou're going to see the benefit.
The evidence says you're goingto see the benefits from the
(21:07):
kids learning benefits, behaviorbenefits.
So that's what research saysand that's what the teachers say
as well.
Also, all the feedback we'vehad so far is that it actually
increases take-up time.
So when you do go from anenergiser to a more traditional
lesson, that the take-up timebetween the two lessons has
(21:27):
actually improved.
On embedding some physicalactivity there, did I answer
that?
I think.
I might have gone too far.
Yeah
Drew (21:36):
, no, that's terrific in terms of just understanding what
150 minutes could look like andyou've unpacked that as an
example of utilising the 10 at10 and principals listening who
may also, you may want toexplore that as well, for your
own physical benefit as well.
That sounds like a terrificopportunity to explore the
(21:58):
resource.
Incorporate that, becauseprincipals are busy busy people
as well, but getting a lot ofthere's often a stagnate at
their desk looking at emails andsitting, so funny you say that
drew, because we've one of ourresources which is the sport and
physical activityivity HealthCheck for Schools.
Michael (22:14):
We have a section in there for staff involvement and,
yeah, staff being involved,modelling physical activity, is
part of a school-wide approachto having quality sport and
physical education.
And I did miss one.
You know, outside of thattraditional sport session or PE
lessons is the having some partsof your formal English and
(22:34):
maths lessons being physicallyactive.
We've got a whole bunch ofactivities.
It's under the Thinking WhileMoving banner or brand, which
was a research trial that cameout of University of Newcastle
quite a while ago, and we've gota bunch of resources on how to
make English so English,particularly spelling lessons,
(22:56):
spelling and grammar lessonsphysically active.
We've got a huge mass resourcenow, a teaching resource with
activities for all the.
They're not strands anymore,they're focus areas.
That's the right term.
It's changed from strands tofocus areas across all the focus
areas, across all the stages.
I've got indoor games, outdoorgames, so they can be done as a
(23:18):
Tuesday.
That's our thinking.
While moving math lesson, makethe whole lesson physically
active.
That's one way of doing it.
Other way of doing it would bejust to pick one.
Really great for if you'redoing some revision on a topic
consolidating what's alreadybeen learned.
Really great for if you'redoing some revision on a topic
consolidating what's alreadybeen learnt and just on a
learning perspective, one of thebiggest impacts on physical
(23:40):
activity for your learning is onworking memory.
So the evidence says that ifyou are going to introduce a new
topic, it's a really good timeto get physically active just
before you introduce a new topic, because that's when your brain
is going to be most receptiveto learning new content.
Drew (23:54):
Backed in colleagues by evidence and research.
That's terrific in terms of thegold standard.
What I'm hearing is it's justsomething.
The 150 minutes could beincorporated in your day-to-day
practice, so to speak.
So, yes, there is certainphysical or activities planned
in a school week.
However, what I'm hearing isthis could just be part of the
(24:17):
everyday and then it doesn'tbecome another job, so to speak,
to ensure to meet thoserequirements.
Michael (24:24):
Yeah, definitely.
I think, once you have thatlens of that, two things is that
our kids aren't, unfortunately,that they're not getting the
physical activity outside ofschool that they used to do or
what the data says that theyused to get, so they're less
physically outside of school.
Our kids need it for healthbenefits, learning benefits,
wellbeing benefits.
So if you just have that lensthat we need to get our kids
(24:50):
moving and they're allowed to behuffing and puffing and
sweating in the classroom, it'sgood for for them, it's good for
their learning, um, it's not adistraction, um, and if you look
at just even transitioningaround the school, like, instead
of necessarily walking, can yoube doing some lunges, you know,
is there a chance to take thatextra part?
You know, go that little bitfurther, um, go around the
(25:10):
basketball court, you know,rather than across it.
Is there?
Is there chances to get ourkids more physically active
through the school day?
And, like you said, it's gonna.
It's better for all of us aswell, not just our kids.
And if you have that lens ofapproaching, you know, all
movement as a chance to bephysically active and getting a
little bit of huffing andpuffing and a little bit of
resistance, training on ourmuscles and exercising a few
(25:31):
things that we're not usingenough, then you're going to see
.
All the evidence says um, bothfrom academics and from people
in the classroom, that the morephysically active the kids are,
the better they are um.
The easier they are to teach,the happier they are yeah, yeah,
yeah, fantastic.
Drew (25:45):
So let's go to any success, so far that you can,
any stats or numbers that youcan share with us today.
Michael (25:56):
Stats and numbers so I can go through our most popular
resources that we have.
So, like I said, the 10 at 10s,the viewing on that.
They're getting hundreds ofschools across the state using
them every day.
I like to call that our sporteducation teaching resource.
They're getting hundreds ofschools across the state using
them every day.
(26:16):
I'd like to call out our sporteducation teaching resource.
So that's specifically a siteto support primary schools
deliver quality sport for thatsport session.
I know we're talking aboutphysical activity across the
school day, but what's been ourmost popular resource has been
the sport education site.
So that's got a series thatcovers all the sports in the
(26:36):
representative pathway, so thetraditional sports like cricket,
um australian football,football, um hockey, and it
shows how they can be deliveredat school, um in a way that
doesn't require teachers to havespecific qualifications, um,
they're all designed forteachers to deliver.
We're very passionate aboutteachers delivering sports
(26:59):
sessions as opposed to gettingpeople from outside the school
to come in.
So they're written for teachersto deliver.
They need minimal equipment,high participation.
It's all done for you.
The lessons each lesson is setfor you.
They're in five-week programsthat can be done.
They work in a gala day verydistinct to what you would do in
(27:20):
a PE lesson, like separate towhat you would do in a PE lesson
.
That's our most popularresource and schools are using
it, both just following it as afive-week program and schools
also because activities can bechopped and changed.
Schools are also just embeddingthat.
So I know some schools have gotsome really good systems for
their weekly sport.
So they're just getting theactivities out of it to
(27:44):
supplement what they're doingand to improve what they're
doing.
So their skill developmentactivities they're about high
participation.
They're about highparticipation, lots of touches
of the ball, developing skills,teamwork, not sitting on the
sideline watching someone elsedo it, a way to modify it.
So we're looking at small-sidedgames, different skills and
(28:08):
drills that are fun to play aswell as developing skill and
they're also really easy.
Drew (28:18):
Like.
Michael (28:18):
I said, any teacher can deliver them.
You don't have to be a sports,an elite sports person, uh to to
be able to do it.
So that's from that's been ourmost popular resource.
So that's that's specificallyto support schools and I always
chuck in um if you are coaching,if you have teachers that you
like.
I know I got given a um.
I got given girl softball.
Didn't know a lot about girlsoftball, definitely didn't know
how to to train and prepare myteam, so that was for weekly
(28:40):
sport.
But I know a lot of teachersget given a knockout team
throughout the year.
You're going to get some reallyso, even though it's made
specifically for that weeklysport, that participation side,
you're going to get some reallygood activities on how to train
your kids, how to.
If you do, if you have got a aweekly sport team, a weekly pet
lsa team or a knockout team,you're going to get some really
good ideas on how to preparethem because, particularly you
(29:02):
want to do a bit of work withthem.
You don't have a lot of time.
You might have 40 minutes atlunchtime, half an hour after
school or before school, so it'sgoing to be a way to do a
really short, sharp andmeaningful session that you
don't need a lot of equipmentfor.
Drew (29:14):
That's going to help your team get ready for the next
knockout game, yeah, so I guessthat's what teachers or leaders
are looking for is making surethey do it and they do it right,
without injury or repercussionsas a result, and what I've
heard is this resource has.
It's an online resource thatyou could access and get
(29:36):
professional learning in termsof making sure you can deliver
the sport and making sure youcan maximise the participation
rate for the students, and alsomaking the ultimate is making
sure it's an enjoyableexperience for students.
Michael (29:51):
Just from that compliance point of view, so
that they're designed to bedelivered at school.
So, with the idea that you'renot going to have a full-size
hockey field to do hockey, italso means if it's delivered at
school, you don't need safetyequipment, you don't need to get
specific return permission fromparents, and if it's delivered
(30:11):
on site obviously depending onif it's the usual place that
you're delivering you don't needto do a specific risk
assessment as well.
It's just another lesson thatstudents do, and you know sport
is business as usual.
You don't do a risk assessmentto deliver a maths lesson.
These are designed that youdon't need a risk assessment to
deliver these sport sessions aswell.
(30:33):
Obviously, if you're taking themoff-site, that's different
because you've got travel andyou're in a venue that's not
familiar to you.
But generally, if you'redelivering these at school,
that's obviously one less thingto think about, and one less
barrier for that's the big oneis removing barriers for
teachers, and the great thingabout it is not only are we
reducing barriers, but all theevidence, the sporting bodies
(30:54):
are also going that way.
Modified sport, modifiedequipment, skills and drills
that have a game sense to themare also the best way to engage
kids and develop their skillsand their love for sport and
physical activity as well.
So it's really good that allthose things come together,
(31:14):
removing barriers, and it'sbetter for the kids as well.
Drew (31:15):
So it's it's really good that all those things come
together, um removing barriers,and it's better for the kids as
well.
Yeah, look, it sounds like aterrific uh resource.
Where can people listening in?
Where can they find theseresources?
Michael (31:22):
yes, they're all on the school sport unit, our website
or web application that we callit um.
So we've got the arms of theschool sport unit, which I know
you've covered in other sessions.
So if you go across the top,it's the last tab, the teacher
resource hub.
They're all in there.
Hopefully it's easy to find.
We've spent a lot of time,there's a lot in there and we've
spent a lot of time trying tomake it as easy as possible.
(31:44):
So, teacher resource hubteaching resources.
Drew (31:47):
Yeah, terrific, and in terms of if there's still people
aren't sure, is there furtherprofessional learning
opportunities through the sportsunit or is it mainly the
digital component at this point?
Michael (31:57):
So we've obviously got the resources there, but we
haven't covered that.
But we also have a range ofonline professional learnings.
You can access them through theteacher resource hub as well.
There's a PL tab.
There's the online learningsessions.
So we cover um quality sport,we cover um thinking while
moving, which we talked aboutbefore.
(32:18):
Um and um we got.
We got some.
Really, the concussion coursehas been really popular as well.
So we've got a bunch of onlineprofessional learnings and we
also do do face-to-face delivery.
Uh and and on the informationit's got, it shows what
face-to-face learning isavailable.
So school development day is, Iknow, but we did do a lot of
(32:40):
twilight sessions which I knoware discontinuing from there.
But we can obviously got thathour.
So we can still do that hourafter school if possible.
But obviously with the increasein staff development days, but
obviously with the increase instaff development days,
particularly at the beginning ofthe year, we can deliver
face-to-face.
It's actually really good, it'sfun for me, it's very rewarding
(33:03):
and it's also the feedback weget and just being there it is
good because you put into actionthat physical activity is good
for people, like not juststudents' well-being but
people's well-being.
So getting out there andgetting physically active with
teachers.
They do have a lot of fun andsometimes I get they don't want
(33:27):
to break up, but it's rare to beat professional learning or
deliver professional learningwith the teachers.
Like, can we do one more?
Can we show us this game?
Um, we're happy to stay a bitlonger.
So, yeah, we, we we've gotonline got.
So, you know, we got threeprongs, I guess we'll call it.
So we've got the resources,we've got the online
professional learning and we'vegot the face-to-face workshops
(33:48):
that we can deliver as well yeah, terrific, and and principal.
Drew (33:52):
Well-being in terms of is one of our big values, through
the association as well, whichcan translate into the work that
is being delivered through thesports, and I just chucked that
in.
Michael (34:02):
When we do deliver, uh, the, the workshops, the
practical workshops, when theworkshops where the principal is
involved are the most fun andthat really does encourage that
Again.
You know, with a health check,when the principal gets in there
they have a good time, it getseveryone on board.
Drew (34:20):
So, colleagues, if you're listening, that is a challenge
from the sports unit to beinvolved in those days.
Terrific.
Any highlights looking forwardto 2025 that you could, or tips
that you could share with ustoday?
Michael (34:34):
uh, yeah, I'll think of just so I briefly mentioned it
the.
We've got the, the, it'sversion three of this the sport
and physical activity schoolhealth check.
So that's the umself-assessment tool.
Uh, we've modeled off theschool excellence framework to
deliver that whole schoolapproach to sport and physical
activity.
So you introduced that idea ofa gold standard, so that's the
(34:56):
tool so that every school candeliver a gold standard in sport
and physical activity, both forsporting make sure that sport
we do is quality.
But it's just such a great tool, such a great wellbeing and
engagement tool for students touse.
So we've got that version threewhich has been aligned to the
(35:19):
latest version of the CEF.
It's also had some heavy importor it's been delivered with
that focus, the HPGE focusthat's coming out next year.
So that's the term two start ofdevelopment day.
So we've worked with the HPGEteam to just really, I guess,
highlight the links betweenquality sport and physical
(35:40):
activity and catering for highpotential and gifted students,
and that ties into.
The other highlight is that weare developing a training to be
delivered on that day.
So, while we've also got a bigfocus on inclusivity for all
sports and making sure thatsport is for everyone, it's a
(36:00):
mandatory part of the school dayand that should be adjusted so
that everyone can be engaged.
Part of that adjustment isadjusting it for high potential
students.
Obviously I think intuitivelymost people do see sport and
physical activity.
Obviously, we've got therepresentative sport pathway.
It is such a great way to putstudents that are gifted to
(36:24):
excel and be recognized atschool level and obviously reach
their potential.
So hopefully this tool willobviously highlight what's
already happening and bring upsome ways that we can make that
even better at that school levelto blend it in with that HPG
focus for next year.
Drew (36:42):
Yeah, look, that sounds like exciting work and really
meaningful work as well, tosupport our students and through
the principals listening,there's a lot of opportunity, a
lot of professional learning.
I've hearing through the schoolsupport unit.
Michael kirwin, thank you againfor your time today no worries.
Michael (37:00):
Thanks for having me Drew
well.
That concludes part two of ourfour-part series.
So many good takeaways.
Thanks again to anthony moyes,the Disability Inclusion Officer
, and Michael Kirwan, sport andPhysical Activity Advisor.
Now stay tuned for our nextepisode.
James Boyer, the Sport andPhysical Activity Coordinator,
(37:23):
is also the Principal EducationOfficer for the New South Wales
School Sport Unit and he'sjoined with Peter Carty, who is
the athletics convener for theNew South Wales School Sport
Unit.
There's some really interestingresearch about the effect of
brain with physical exercisethat James really unpacks and
Peter shares such a powerfulstory of inclusion through sport
(37:46):
.
Don't forget to subscribethrough your podcast platform
and we look forward to yourcompany in our next episode.
Welcome back to Professional Learning's the New
South Wales PPA EducationalLeadership Podcast.
It's great to have your company.
This podcast aligns to thevalues of the New South Wales
Primary Principals Association,that is, the values of principal
wellbeing, principals as leadlearners, as well as supporting
principals to lead schooloperations.
(00:23):
If you enjoy this podcast,don't forget to subscribe for
further updates.
Now let's get into today'slatest episode.
Welcome to our special four-partseries with the New South Wales
Department of Education SportsUnit.
We've created this as a specialyes, four-part series as there
(00:44):
is so much content andinformation to share.
We look forward to sharing thisfour-part series, which is
approximately 30 to 35 minutesdepending on the episode.
And if you're listening andthinking, how does the school
sport unit align withprofessional learning?
Well, it's a great question.
The short answer is there is alot.
(01:05):
There is so much evidence-basedresearch science around the
brain, alignment with yourschool excellence framework,
well-being, benefits of sportand retention, supporting
student with disabilities, aswell as practical and sound
advice based around currentpolicies, just to name a few.
So, with all that, we lookforward to sharing this
(01:27):
four-part series, as I said, ofapproximately 30 to 35-minute
podcast episodes.
References to all of thematerial shared will be in our
podcast notes to explore further.
In part two of this podcastseries with the Sports Unit,
we'll hear from Anthony Moyesand Michael Kirwan and the
impact of their work in NewSouth Wales public schools.
(01:49):
Let's start now.
Anthony Moyes, welcome to ourpodcast.
It's great for you to be withus today.
Thanks very much for having me.
And, anthony, can you tell ourlisteners what is your role in
the Sports?
Anthony (02:02):
Unit.
So I'm a Disability inclusionofficer with the sports unit.
So my role with my colleaguePeter Cardy is to be getting
students in public schools withdisability, getting them
involved in sport and physicalactivity.
Drew (02:18):
Yeah, and such an important role and, I'm sure,
many obstacles though,overseeing that.
So, for our primary listeners,who are educational leaders and
principals, could you give someadvice to support and navigate
us through that space that youlead?
Anthony (02:36):
Yeah, definitely so we know that there are many
students with disability inschools.
We know that the numbers aresomewhere around one in five,
maybe even one in four studentshave some form of disability in
school.
So it's a really importantprogram for us to be involved
with, and so we run four mainprograms throughout our year,
(02:57):
throughout our calendar, to tryand encourage schools,
principals, teachers, schools ingeneral, to get their students
with disability involved insport and physical activity.
And so those four main programsare what we call Come and Try
Athletics, which we run in Term1, which is a real participation
program.
(03:17):
We run multi-sport days inTerms 3 and 4, which are again
participation opportunities, andthey're what they sound like.
They are opportunities forstudents to try multiple sports
in a day.
And then we run two programsthat are actually both
participation but they're alsocompetition.
They offer an opportunity forstudents with disability to
(03:38):
represent their schools.
And those two sports are boccia, the sport of boccia, which is
a Paralympic sport, that we runin term two, and then in term
three we run a ten pin bowlingcompetition and, as I'm sure
you're aware, ten pin bowlingvery inclusive sport.
A lot of people with disabilityin the community are involved
(04:00):
in that sport.
So it was an easy competitionfor us to set up to again offer
an opportunity for students withdisability to represent their
schools.
Drew (04:08):
Yeah, those sound all fun and exciting programs to be to
be involved in.
What are the numbers lookinglike at this point in time?
Anthony (04:16):
Some of the numbers that I can mention from this
year, both with with Botcher andTempin Bowling, we hit over 500
schools involved in each ofthem, which was really
encouraging.
It was a bit of a goal of oursto try and get that many schools
involved.
We know there's a lot ofschools still left, though that
are not engaging with theprogram, so I'm hopeful that
(04:39):
there's some principalslistening to this who are
potentially thinking they couldget their schools involved.
But yeah, lots of um, lots ofnumbers out there, um, lots of
participation numbers.
Our multi-sport days where werun 30 or over 30.
This year we ran it was, yes, acouple of thousand students in
total.
We just went through the thenumbers recently.
(05:00):
It was over 2 000 studentsengaged with that, from kind of
probably infants, but more likeyear two, through to all the way
up to year 12.
So, yeah, quite a wide scopefor the number of schools and
students involved yeah, so againthat those sounds terrific.
Drew (05:17):
But all like in anything, always areas to expand and
improve and as you said at thestart, was one in five students
and then turning that into 500schools is terrific.
Yeah, what are the mainobstacles you're seeing from
your perspective?
Anthony (05:32):
well, sometimes we we find when we reach out to
schools or we have discussionswith with teachers around them
getting involved in one of ourcompetitions For instance let's
take Botcher as the exampleWe'll have a teacher or another
member of staff say, oh, wedon't have students who would be
(05:53):
eligible for that.
And so I think sometimesthere's a bit of a mindset that
if they're not a student in awheelchair or a person with an
obvious kind of physicalimpairment, they think, oh well,
we don't have students for thatcompetition.
But, as I mentioned, thenumbers are so large and we
accept any student withdisability for all of our
(06:14):
programs.
It's not like therepresentative pathway where
they need to have a sportingclassification.
If schools identify students ashaving an impairment, then we
are happy to include them in ourcompetitions.
So we challenge principals andteachers to get involved because
we just think that across thestate, really every school can
(06:35):
access our competitions and ourprograms, all our programs.
Drew (06:39):
So is that done at a local level, Like if you go back
to the example of pathways, forexample, athletics, carnivals,
cross-country swimming is it asimilar pathway or is it a
different pathway for theseevents?
Anthony (06:53):
Okay.
So we travel a lot.
Peter and I spend a lot of timein the work vehicle so we
really do go out to the state,to all the different regions.
So in Term 1 next year when wego to come and try athletics do
our come and try athleticsprogram we'll be travelling as
far north as the Tweed up toKingscliff, we'll be going out
(07:14):
to Dubbo, we go out to Tamworth,we're going down to Nowra next
year to run come and try as well.
So we are travelling and we'regetting out there, so that we're
going to the regions and thenit's up to schools to come to us
.
But we're facilitating it andtrying to reach out to as many
areas of the state as possibleWith our competitions where the
(07:39):
students with disability areable to represent their schools.
Again, we hold regionalcompetitions.
So for the botcha competitionin term two we'll have around 25
local regional finals and fromthat teams and schools that win
those days will be eligible tocome through to a state final in
(08:02):
Sydney.
Drew (08:03):
I'm just thinking of the logistics to this exercise.
Yeah, so such a great program,but I'm sure there'd be some
logistics behind that.
Anthony (08:14):
So we've got a large contact list of teachers in
schools who have put their namesforward to be the kind of
contact I suppose the championfor the students with disability
in their schools, and so, yeah,we've sent that information
email out in the last littlewhile and all those dates are
hopefully being considered backin schools.
(08:34):
And a couple of our events theBotcher and Tempin Bowling
competitions terrific cost wisethere.
Drew (08:42):
Is there any cost involved?
Anthony (08:44):
there is a minimal cost for for the participation days
that come and try athletics andmulti-sport.
It's a five dollarparticipation fee.
It certainly doesn't cover thecost of the program but it helps
to offset some of the costsinvolved mostly with venues.
They are expensive for us torun the program and so that that
helps there a little bit.
(09:05):
And then with the competitionsthere's a $50 team entry, a
little bit like first stateknockout competitions for
able-bodied competitions yeah,yeah, yeah.
Drew (09:17):
Terrific in terms of if we go into the professional
learning side of things.
Are there any professionallearning opportunities that
schools or school leaders couldbe involved in to support this
fantastic initiative?
Anthony (09:29):
Yeah, definitely.
There are a few different waysthat we provide professional
learning.
We get asked by schools or byzones or by principals to do
actual formal kind ofprofessional learning webinars
or sessions.
We usually do it via Teamsbecause it's easier to get more
(09:51):
people to those sessions.
So we're very happy to presentto any groups of people who are
wanting to find out about ourdifferent programs.
So that's one way that wesupport teachers and schools.
So that's one way that wesupport teachers and schools.
Any time that we hold events wefeel like that can be the most
valuable professional learningThings like multi-sport days,
(10:17):
where we have multiple sportscoming into a basketball stadium
and a group of students withdisability and their teachers
travel around and rotate aroundand go through six or seven
sports in the day.
Teachers are getting reallyvaluable insights into how they
can be modifying and adaptingsport to make it more accessible
for their students and we'revery hopeful that students sorry
(10:38):
, teachers take that back totheir schools so that they can
engage their students back atschool in those sports.
And there's that kind of littlelegacy piece every time we hold
events like multi-sport days.
Drew (10:53):
Yeah, that's terrific in terms of one of the best
practices and research shows.
Going to watch a classroom inpractice, watching a
practitioner in practice, andwhat I'm hearing is you're
encouraging that for educatorsto come and see that from a
professional learningperspective, which is terrific.
Anthony (11:11):
Yeah, for sure, and we get a lot of feedback from staff
in that regard and they often,I suppose, admit to being a
little bit surprised when theysee a student who they didn't
think they would engage in acertain sport.
And the student does so andthey realise, oh okay, there's
something here.
This is a sport that we can bedoing back at school.
(11:32):
It doesn't require a lot ofspace or a lot of equipment, but
we can be running this back atschool and engaging some of our
more challenging students, shallI say.
Drew (11:41):
Well, that's terrific, shall I say.
Well, that's a terrific.
I see that as a calling forpeople listening in to say these
Anthony and Peter go out to thefield, so to speak, offer these
fantastic programs On top ofthat, a professional learning
opportunity that colleaguescould come and see.
And I think that's the obstacle.
People want to do it right, andI'm sure you hear that and
principals want to do it right,but seeing'm sure you hear that,
(12:03):
and principals want to do itright.
But seeing that, just seeingwhat it actually what does right
look like so yeah, for surethat's terrific.
Any other tips and advice forcolleagues listening in?
Anthony (12:15):
I just I would encourage principals to make it
as easy as possible for theirstaff to engage with our
programs.
We've got some schools whereclearly the barriers to
involvement are minimised andthey just they get involved in
everything they can and we justthey're the first people to
register for things and we justknow that whatever processes
(12:37):
they have at school to enabletheir students to get to things
and whatever those processes,they must be great because the
staff are so quick to engage.
I hope that, yeah, I hopeprincipals are encouraged to
think about whether our programsare suitable for their kids.
We certainly think they are andhopefully they can remove any
(12:58):
barriers that might be in placeto getting their students with
disability involved.
Drew (13:02):
Yeah, yeah, Well said, Anthony.
And you go back to that startof our conversation where you
said colleagues, think aboutthis.
One in five students have adisability, so just think about
that and think of the wonderfulwork that the sports unit is
doing.
Anthony Moyes, thank you againfor your time.
No worries, thanks for havingme.
Our next guest in this podcastseries is Michael Kirwan, Sport
(13:27):
and Physical Activity Advisorfor the New South Wales School
Sports Unit.
Michael Kirwan, Sport andPhysical Activity Advisor for
the School Sports Unit.
Welcome to our podcast today.
Great to have you.
Anthony (13:40):
Yeah, thanks for having me.
Drew (13:42):
Yeah, it's exciting In terms of for our listeners.
Michael, can you tell us whatis your role in the sports unit?
Michael (13:50):
Yeah, so specifically my job is to help teachers or
principals and teachers to meet,exceed and deliver quality
sport and physical activity tomeet what's the recently
released sport and physicalactivity procedure.
So it just moved over from thesport and physical activity
policy.
(14:11):
Now the procedure sits withinstudent health and wellbeing, so
that's specifically for primaryschool.
So every student K to six needsto have 150 minutes of physical
activities.
That's moderate to vigorousphysical activity, we kind of
call it.
They should be huffing andpuffing for 150 minutes a week
(14:32):
and students in three to sixshould have one hour of weekly
sport.
So it's about meeting thatpolicy and doing it well, I
guess is my job is to supportschools to do that.
Drew (14:42):
Yeah, that's a challenge.
It's also lots of benefits tothat.
Michael (14:52):
How long has this program, this 150 minutes, been
around for?
Well, you're going to test mymemory there.
So it did move from 120 to 150.
I'm going to guess that wasaround 2014.
It moved so increased that 30minutes.
That was a response to auditorgeneral.
Uh, it comes from research thatour, our students, our kids in
(15:12):
australia, um, uh, they're,they're falling well short of
the recommended.
So our, our department ofhealth, also the world health
organization, they recommendkids are physically active for
60 minutes a day.
All the research to show thatonly about one in three kids in
Australia are physically activefor that much.
So that increase that happened,like I said, about 10 years ago
(15:35):
, was in the response to that,just that general lack of
activity from our kids.
Obviously that's more pressureon school.
So I had to do 30 minutes extraphysical activity school day
didn't increase any time, didn'thave any other decreases in any
other obligations.
So that is part of the.
Our challenge with primaryschools is to where do we find
(15:58):
that extra 30 minutes?
Um, we know our kids need it,um, and we'll probably get into
some of the reasons they need itlater, but part of our
professional learning and ourresources is to help schools to
meet that extra 30 minutes inwhat's already a very busy
school week and curriculum andalso preparation time for
(16:19):
teachers.
So we're trying to helpteachers with all those things.
Drew (16:23):
Yeah, well, let's go there.
Well, how do they I mean, itsounds in theory, like anything
in theory sounds terrific.
150 minutes, lots of and we'llgo into that further of the
benefits.
But what have you seen as let'scall it a gold standard in what
you've seen, that schools areable to successfully deliver the
(16:45):
150-minute requirement?
Michael (16:47):
Yeah, so okay.
So the gold standard I'll gointo what I kind of think of as
gold standard from a practicalpoint of view, but also the
research-informed gold standard.
And there are a lot of schoolsdoing a lot of schools are doing
this really really well.
So let's say you've got that 60minutes of school support which
high schools mix up when thatis, of schools are doing this
really really well.
So let's say you've got that 60minutes of school sport which
(17:08):
high schools mix up when that is.
But I'm pretty sure it's stillFriday sport for primary schools
everywhere in the state.
That looks different, whetherit's in the morning middle
session or in the afternoon,whether they're playing against
other schools or not, butgenerally Friday sport is still
a thing.
So that's that 60 minutes.
So obviously we do spend a lotof time and we have resources
(17:29):
for making that sport qualitysport.
But to actually meet theminutes it's the time outside of
that sport session, so that canbe your physically active PE
lesson, which we don't.
That's within a KLA.
We have a great curriculum teamthere to help with that.
So our focus is probably twoparts.
(17:50):
The big one is embeddingenergizers, which we call brain
breaks, or some people call thembrain breaks.
We call them energizers justbecause we think it's better
positive language and actuallydescribes more what that does
for the student's brain.
We can get quite sciencey a bitwhat happens in there and the
benefits of that.
So embedding energizers andlike I know my background as a
(18:15):
primary school teacher that wewould have lesson transitions,
we would have ways we'd haveroutines that were not
traditional learning lessons.
However, I didn't make themphysically active enough.
So if we can actually makethose transitions, those ad hoc
games, those times when you dofinish a lesson 15 minutes early
, they're the best times toembed physical activity.
(18:38):
I would say gold standard bestpractice would be getting those
energizers in early.
We've got some resources calledthe 10 at 10s are hit sessions.
Um, we trying to muscle in.
We say we're muscling on.
You know fruit break, um.
The evidence says that earlierthat the physical activity has
is it's going to be the is hasthe biggest impact on students
engagement and their learning um, as well as other factors.
(19:00):
Um.
So relationships with theirpeers, relationships with their
teacher, the earlier they havethe physical activity, the
benefit from that perspective.
Obviously all physical activityis good for you physically, but
to get the best learningbenefits is to have that early.
So best practice is to havethat scheduled.
10 minute energizer could befive minutes, 10 minutes a
(19:20):
couple.
Start the first session, startthe day with one break, one up,
finish before recess, afterrecess, um, and, like I said,
we've got the 10 of 10s whichare hit sessions that they can
just be shown on a smart board.
They go for 10 minutes.
There's a learning link.
We go through a range of sports.
(19:40):
We have some links toAustralian sporting, to
successful athletes.
We didn't know what we weredoing.
When we made them, we didn'tknow how successful we'd be.
The feedback's been really good.
So it's not like when I firstmade them or when we first made
them, I didn't go around telleveryone how good they are.
We kind of went around saying,well, we've made these and then,
(20:00):
fortunately, schools have toldus how good they are and how
much the kids have liked it andwe would like to make some more.
So we've got 30 at the moment.
Um, we'd like to make some morein future because, yeah,
they've been really popular andwe've had requests for more.
So, like I said, we did that asa suite of tools to help
(20:21):
teachers to embed physicalactivity throughout that school
day and it's been reallysuccessful for us.
So that's great.
So that's just one.
The 10 of 10.
But I find teachers have theirown games and transitions and
there's not a lot.
Once you get in the mindset ofhow can I make this game of
bingo, how can I make this otherad hoc game, how can I just put
(20:45):
a bit more physical activity inthat, maybe put some squats in
there, some bodyweight exercises, some sit-ups, some push-ups,
some star jumps Once you startthinking in that space, well,
what can I do to make what I domore physically active?
It's actually really easy andyou're going to see the benefit.
The evidence says you're goingto see the benefits from the
(21:07):
kids learning benefits, behaviorbenefits.
So that's what research saysand that's what the teachers say
as well.
Also, all the feedback we'vehad so far is that it actually
increases take-up time.
So when you do go from anenergiser to a more traditional
lesson, that the take-up timebetween the two lessons has
(21:27):
actually improved.
On embedding some physicalactivity there, did I answer
that?
I think.
I might have gone too far.
Yeah
Drew (21:36):
, no, that's terrific in terms of just understanding what
150 minutes could look like andyou've unpacked that as an
example of utilising the 10 at10 and principals listening who
may also, you may want toexplore that as well, for your
own physical benefit as well.
That sounds like a terrificopportunity to explore the
(21:58):
resource.
Incorporate that, becauseprincipals are busy busy people
as well, but getting a lot ofthere's often a stagnate at
their desk looking at emails andsitting, so funny you say that
drew, because we've one of ourresources which is the sport and
physical activityivity HealthCheck for Schools.
Michael (22:14):
We have a section in there for staff involvement and,
yeah, staff being involved,modelling physical activity, is
part of a school-wide approachto having quality sport and
physical education.
And I did miss one.
You know, outside of thattraditional sport session or PE
lessons is the having some partsof your formal English and
(22:34):
maths lessons being physicallyactive.
We've got a whole bunch ofactivities.
It's under the Thinking WhileMoving banner or brand, which
was a research trial that cameout of University of Newcastle
quite a while ago, and we've gota bunch of resources on how to
make English so English,particularly spelling lessons,
(22:56):
spelling and grammar lessonsphysically active.
We've got a huge mass resourcenow, a teaching resource with
activities for all the.
They're not strands anymore,they're focus areas.
That's the right term.
It's changed from strands tofocus areas across all the focus
areas, across all the stages.
I've got indoor games, outdoorgames, so they can be done as a
(23:18):
Tuesday.
That's our thinking.
While moving math lesson, makethe whole lesson physically
active.
That's one way of doing it.
Other way of doing it would bejust to pick one.
Really great for if you'redoing some revision on a topic
consolidating what's alreadybeen learned.
Really great for if you'redoing some revision on a topic
consolidating what's alreadybeen learnt and just on a
learning perspective, one of thebiggest impacts on physical
(23:40):
activity for your learning is onworking memory.
So the evidence says that ifyou are going to introduce a new
topic, it's a really good timeto get physically active just
before you introduce a new topic, because that's when your brain
is going to be most receptiveto learning new content.
Drew (23:54):
Backed in colleagues by evidence and research.
That's terrific in terms of thegold standard.
What I'm hearing is it's justsomething.
The 150 minutes could beincorporated in your day-to-day
practice, so to speak.
So, yes, there is certainphysical or activities planned
in a school week.
However, what I'm hearing isthis could just be part of the
(24:17):
everyday and then it doesn'tbecome another job, so to speak,
to ensure to meet thoserequirements.
Michael (24:24):
Yeah, definitely.
I think, once you have thatlens of that, two things is that
our kids aren't, unfortunately,that they're not getting the
physical activity outside ofschool that they used to do or
what the data says that theyused to get, so they're less
physically outside of school.
Our kids need it for healthbenefits, learning benefits,
wellbeing benefits.
So if you just have that lensthat we need to get our kids
(24:50):
moving and they're allowed to behuffing and puffing and
sweating in the classroom, it'sgood for for them, it's good for
their learning, um, it's not adistraction, um, and if you look
at just even transitioningaround the school, like, instead
of necessarily walking, can yoube doing some lunges, you know,
is there a chance to take thatextra part?
You know, go that little bitfurther, um, go around the
(25:10):
basketball court, you know,rather than across it.
Is there?
Is there chances to get ourkids more physically active
through the school day?
And, like you said, it's gonna.
It's better for all of us aswell, not just our kids.
And if you have that lens ofapproaching, you know, all
movement as a chance to bephysically active and getting a
little bit of huffing andpuffing and a little bit of
resistance, training on ourmuscles and exercising a few
(25:31):
things that we're not usingenough, then you're going to see
.
All the evidence says um, bothfrom academics and from people
in the classroom, that the morephysically active the kids are,
the better they are um.
The easier they are to teach,the happier they are yeah, yeah,
yeah, fantastic.
Drew (25:45):
So let's go to any success, so far that you can,
any stats or numbers that youcan share with us today.
Michael (25:56):
Stats and numbers so I can go through our most popular
resources that we have.
So, like I said, the 10 at 10s,the viewing on that.
They're getting hundreds ofschools across the state using
them every day.
I like to call that our sporteducation teaching resource.
They're getting hundreds ofschools across the state using
them every day.
(26:16):
I'd like to call out our sporteducation teaching resource.
So that's specifically a siteto support primary schools
deliver quality sport for thatsport session.
I know we're talking aboutphysical activity across the
school day, but what's been ourmost popular resource has been
the sport education site.
So that's got a series thatcovers all the sports in the
(26:36):
representative pathway, so thetraditional sports like cricket,
um australian football,football, um hockey, and it
shows how they can be deliveredat school, um in a way that
doesn't require teachers to havespecific qualifications, um,
they're all designed forteachers to deliver.
We're very passionate aboutteachers delivering sports
(26:59):
sessions as opposed to gettingpeople from outside the school
to come in.
So they're written for teachersto deliver.
They need minimal equipment,high participation.
It's all done for you.
The lessons each lesson is setfor you.
They're in five-week programsthat can be done.
They work in a gala day verydistinct to what you would do in
(27:20):
a PE lesson, like separate towhat you would do in a PE lesson
.
That's our most popularresource and schools are using
it, both just following it as afive-week program and schools
also because activities can bechopped and changed.
Schools are also just embeddingthat.
So I know some schools have gotsome really good systems for
their weekly sport.
So they're just getting theactivities out of it to
(27:44):
supplement what they're doingand to improve what they're
doing.
So their skill developmentactivities they're about high
participation.
They're about highparticipation, lots of touches
of the ball, developing skills,teamwork, not sitting on the
sideline watching someone elsedo it, a way to modify it.
So we're looking at small-sidedgames, different skills and
(28:08):
drills that are fun to play aswell as developing skill and
they're also really easy.
Drew (28:18):
Like.
Michael (28:18):
I said, any teacher can deliver them.
You don't have to be a sports,an elite sports person, uh to to
be able to do it.
So that's from that's been ourmost popular resource.
So that's that's specificallyto support schools and I always
chuck in um if you are coaching,if you have teachers that you
like.
I know I got given a um.
I got given girl softball.
Didn't know a lot about girlsoftball, definitely didn't know
how to to train and prepare myteam, so that was for weekly
(28:40):
sport.
But I know a lot of teachersget given a knockout team
throughout the year.
You're going to get some reallyso, even though it's made
specifically for that weeklysport, that participation side,
you're going to get some reallygood activities on how to train
your kids, how to.
If you do, if you have got a aweekly sport team, a weekly pet
lsa team or a knockout team,you're going to get some really
good ideas on how to preparethem because, particularly you
(29:02):
want to do a bit of work withthem.
You don't have a lot of time.
You might have 40 minutes atlunchtime, half an hour after
school or before school, so it'sgoing to be a way to do a
really short, sharp andmeaningful session that you
don't need a lot of equipmentfor.
Drew (29:14):
That's going to help your team get ready for the next
knockout game, yeah, so I guessthat's what teachers or leaders
are looking for is making surethey do it and they do it right,
without injury or repercussionsas a result, and what I've
heard is this resource has.
It's an online resource thatyou could access and get
(29:36):
professional learning in termsof making sure you can deliver
the sport and making sure youcan maximise the participation
rate for the students, and alsomaking the ultimate is making
sure it's an enjoyableexperience for students.
Michael (29:51):
Just from that compliance point of view, so
that they're designed to bedelivered at school.
So, with the idea that you'renot going to have a full-size
hockey field to do hockey, italso means if it's delivered at
school, you don't need safetyequipment, you don't need to get
specific return permission fromparents, and if it's delivered
(30:11):
on site obviously depending onif it's the usual place that
you're delivering you don't needto do a specific risk
assessment as well.
It's just another lesson thatstudents do, and you know sport
is business as usual.
You don't do a risk assessmentto deliver a maths lesson.
These are designed that youdon't need a risk assessment to
deliver these sport sessions aswell.
(30:33):
Obviously, if you're taking themoff-site, that's different
because you've got travel andyou're in a venue that's not
familiar to you.
But generally, if you'redelivering these at school,
that's obviously one less thingto think about, and one less
barrier for that's the big oneis removing barriers for
teachers, and the great thingabout it is not only are we
reducing barriers, but all theevidence, the sporting bodies
(30:54):
are also going that way.
Modified sport, modifiedequipment, skills and drills
that have a game sense to themare also the best way to engage
kids and develop their skillsand their love for sport and
physical activity as well.
So it's really good that allthose things come together,
(31:14):
removing barriers, and it'sbetter for the kids as well.
Drew (31:15):
So it's it's really good that all those things come
together, um removing barriers,and it's better for the kids as
well.
Yeah, look, it sounds like aterrific uh resource.
Where can people listening in?
Where can they find theseresources?
Michael (31:22):
yes, they're all on the school sport unit, our website
or web application that we callit um.
So we've got the arms of theschool sport unit, which I know
you've covered in other sessions.
So if you go across the top,it's the last tab, the teacher
resource hub.
They're all in there.
Hopefully it's easy to find.
We've spent a lot of time,there's a lot in there and we've
spent a lot of time trying tomake it as easy as possible.
(31:44):
So, teacher resource hubteaching resources.
Drew (31:47):
Yeah, terrific, and in terms of if there's still people
aren't sure, is there furtherprofessional learning
opportunities through the sportsunit or is it mainly the
digital component at this point?
Michael (31:57):
So we've obviously got the resources there, but we
haven't covered that.
But we also have a range ofonline professional learnings.
You can access them through theteacher resource hub as well.
There's a PL tab.
There's the online learningsessions.
So we cover um quality sport,we cover um thinking while
moving, which we talked aboutbefore.
(32:18):
Um and um we got.
We got some.
Really, the concussion coursehas been really popular as well.
So we've got a bunch of onlineprofessional learnings and we
also do do face-to-face delivery.
Uh and and on the informationit's got, it shows what
face-to-face learning isavailable.
So school development day is, Iknow, but we did do a lot of
(32:40):
twilight sessions which I knoware discontinuing from there.
But we can obviously got thathour.
So we can still do that hourafter school if possible.
But obviously with the increasein staff development days, but
obviously with the increase instaff development days,
particularly at the beginning ofthe year, we can deliver
face-to-face.
It's actually really good, it'sfun for me, it's very rewarding
(33:03):
and it's also the feedback weget and just being there it is
good because you put into actionthat physical activity is good
for people, like not juststudents' well-being but
people's well-being.
So getting out there andgetting physically active with
teachers.
They do have a lot of fun andsometimes I get they don't want
(33:27):
to break up, but it's rare to beat professional learning or
deliver professional learningwith the teachers.
Like, can we do one more?
Can we show us this game?
Um, we're happy to stay a bitlonger.
So, yeah, we, we we've gotonline got.
So, you know, we got threeprongs, I guess we'll call it.
So we've got the resources,we've got the online
professional learning and we'vegot the face-to-face workshops
(33:48):
that we can deliver as well yeah, terrific, and and principal.
Drew (33:52):
Well-being in terms of is one of our big values, through
the association as well, whichcan translate into the work that
is being delivered through thesports, and I just chucked that
in.
Michael (34:02):
When we do deliver, uh, the, the workshops, the
practical workshops, when theworkshops where the principal is
involved are the most fun andthat really does encourage that
Again.
You know, with a health check,when the principal gets in there
they have a good time, it getseveryone on board.
Drew (34:20):
So, colleagues, if you're listening, that is a challenge
from the sports unit to beinvolved in those days.
Terrific.
Any highlights looking forwardto 2025 that you could, or tips
that you could share with ustoday?
Michael (34:34):
uh, yeah, I'll think of just so I briefly mentioned it
the.
We've got the, the, it'sversion three of this the sport
and physical activity schoolhealth check.
So that's the umself-assessment tool.
Uh, we've modeled off theschool excellence framework to
deliver that whole schoolapproach to sport and physical
activity.
So you introduced that idea ofa gold standard, so that's the
(34:56):
tool so that every school candeliver a gold standard in sport
and physical activity, both forsporting make sure that sport
we do is quality.
But it's just such a great tool, such a great wellbeing and
engagement tool for students touse.
So we've got that version threewhich has been aligned to the
(35:19):
latest version of the CEF.
It's also had some heavy importor it's been delivered with
that focus, the HPGE focusthat's coming out next year.
So that's the term two start ofdevelopment day.
So we've worked with the HPGEteam to just really, I guess,
highlight the links betweenquality sport and physical
(35:40):
activity and catering for highpotential and gifted students,
and that ties into.
The other highlight is that weare developing a training to be
delivered on that day.
So, while we've also got a bigfocus on inclusivity for all
sports and making sure thatsport is for everyone, it's a
(36:00):
mandatory part of the school dayand that should be adjusted so
that everyone can be engaged.
Part of that adjustment isadjusting it for high potential
students.
Obviously I think intuitivelymost people do see sport and
physical activity.
Obviously, we've got therepresentative sport pathway.
It is such a great way to putstudents that are gifted to
(36:24):
excel and be recognized atschool level and obviously reach
their potential.
So hopefully this tool willobviously highlight what's
already happening and bring upsome ways that we can make that
even better at that school levelto blend it in with that HPG
focus for next year.
Drew (36:42):
Yeah, look, that sounds like exciting work and really
meaningful work as well, tosupport our students and through
the principals listening,there's a lot of opportunity, a
lot of professional learning.
I've hearing through the schoolsupport unit.
Michael kirwin, thank you againfor your time today no worries.
Michael (37:00):
Thanks for having me Drew
well.
That concludes part two of ourfour-part series.
So many good takeaways.
Thanks again to anthony moyes,the Disability Inclusion Officer
, and Michael Kirwan, sport andPhysical Activity Advisor.
Now stay tuned for our nextepisode.
James Boyer, the Sport andPhysical Activity Coordinator,
(37:23):
is also the Principal EducationOfficer for the New South Wales
School Sport Unit and he'sjoined with Peter Carty, who is
the athletics convener for theNew South Wales School Sport
Unit.
There's some really interestingresearch about the effect of
brain with physical exercisethat James really unpacks and
Peter shares such a powerfulstory of inclusion through sport
(37:46):
.
Don't forget to subscribethrough your podcast platform
and we look forward to yourcompany in our next episode.
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