The Benefits Of Sport
How does engaging in sport assist students with academic success?
Participating in sport can develop confidence through learning new skills and achieving success. Sport develops self-esteem, helps students to learn to cope with pressure and develops resilience.
It also builds skills that can be applied in other facets of life. For example it can improve communication skills, develop habits of good preparation and practice, teach students to be confident, calm and focused under pressure and to expect and deal with the unexpected. It will improve time management skills also.
Sport also improves the ability to relax physically and lessen the complications of mental pressure.
What are some ways to engage the 'less than inclined' student in sport?
A wide range of sport choices is important (Wesley offers 19 different sports), as is graded competition that encourages participation by students with a range of natural abilities
Good coaching, facilities and equipment are important, alongside a school culture that focuses on participation and enjoyment, alongside success.
What are some of the general benefits of student participation in sport?
There are physical fitness and social benefits.
Physical benefits include increased cardiovascular fitness, healthy growth of bones, muscles, ligaments and tendons, improved coordination and balance and reduced risk of obesity.
Social benefits include improving self-confidence through learning new skills, developing independence, enhancing communication skills and building new friendships. Sport is also important in teaching students to work within rules, to cope with winning and losing and to work as part of a team.
Sport offers the opportunity to experience feelings of success, community, identity and camaraderie.
How do students balance their love of sport with other academic responsibilities?
Sport improves time management and teaches students to manage multiple tasks.
Sport departments balance a student's commitment to sport during times of high academic pressure and when they are participating in other extra curricula activities such as music and drama.
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Extra Curricula Experiences
What does your school offer in the way of extra curricula experiences for students?
Wesley's extra curricula activities fall into four categories: drama and musical theatre, music performance in ensembles including choirs, orchestras, bands and small ensembles, clubs (debating, chess, scuba diving, adventure hikers, etc), and sport (covered separately above). In each of the categories there are a wide range of different types of group or activity to cater for the wide range of interests of students.
Why is it important to have these available?
Wesley's educational programs are designed to cover much more than the purely academic side of studentship. Students' physical, emotional, social and mental development - the 'whole student' - is catered for.
What are the benefits to the students?
The development of the whole person - and the exercise of the wide range of talents and intelligences that young people possess.
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Who Knows Best?
Both educators and parents have a wealth of experience and knowledge. What are some areas where teachers should be responsible for student performance and well being?
The education of a child is the joint responsibility of parents and school in a partnership. Despite the claims of home schooling, the practical reality is that parents can rarely provide the full range of opportunities that schools can offer, including the social interactions, wide range of facilities, and expertise in subject areas. Schools play a major role in academic skills, in identifying and encouraging students' wide range of abilities as they grow, and in supporting parents in the areas for which they are largely responsible.
In what areas should responsibility lie with parents?
Parents play the major role in terms of love, moral development, spiritual development and emotional development. They support the school in the development of academic skills, social interactions and development, and the identification and promotion of a child's abilities and interests.
How is this balance and relationship best maintained and respected in your school?
Through regular formal and informal contact with parents and by closely monitoring the development of each student through our pastoral care systems. Most importantly by establishing a relationship between student and teacher that facilitates trust and open communication.
Dr Helen Drennen, Principal
