Healthy Bodies and Healthy Minds at LoretoCollege

At LoretoCollege in Marryatville, Year 6-12 English Coordinator Aurora Reid has taken on the Premier’s be active Challenge with her year 8 English and home group. Aurora describes how, with a little creativity, the Challenge can be approached from more than one learning area.

“We are currently studying two novels, Z for Zachariah by Robert O’Brien and Lake at the End of the World by Caroline MacDonald. In both texts the central characters find themselves living in isolated communities as the result of cataclysmic changes to the Earth’s environment. Both authors explore the way the young characters survive these conditions.

The class was asked to explore how the authors enabled the characters to adapt to change and keep themselves emotionally and physically healthy. Each girl was then asked to examine how they do this for themselves. They listed the ways the characters achieved this and then posed questions for the PE department that included:

  • What is the best way to exercise for each fitness level?
  • What is a balanced diet?
  • Does being healthy affect you at school?
  • What are the long term effects of not being healthy as a teenager?
  • How do current trends for the 'perfect body' impact upon us today and in the future?

I then introduced the class to the Premier’s be active Challenge. The students have set short term and long term goals. These range from getting out and doing the exercise to competing in the City to Bay. We spend time looking at a range of questions, filling in the log book and discussing ideas for being active. Next term we will start going to the college’s Weights Room at lunch times.

The Premier’s be active Challenge has been a great way into my English program. As this class is also my home-class, it has helped to develop relationships with the group. We are all on a level playing field when we are discussing our activities and goals. The students are keen to know if I have met my challenge of 10, 000 steps per day and are eager to share what they have been doing.

Best of all is the fact that they can make the connection between “healthy body and healthy mind”. As one student said today, “being fit means that we are able to work better at school because we are energised.”

Aurora Reid

6-12 English Coordinator

LoretoCollege