Physical education is all about developing a healthy, active approach to life. Whatever the activities involved – from Gaelic football to dance, volleyball to table-tennis and badminton to the 100 metre sprint – it’s designed to foster enjoyable participation in exercise and training.

Aside from the obvious benefits to health and general fitness levels, regular physical activity promotes mental and social well-being too. The PE department in St. Joseph’s aims toprovide pupils with the opportunity to enhance and develop motor skills, self-esteem, ability to form strategies and play by the rules, creative thinking, leadership abilities and other interpersonal skills, including teamwork and sense of fair play.

The goal of physical education is to instill a lifelong enthusiasm for sustaining a healthy lifestyle. In a society where obesity levels are rising fast and the temptation to slump into a sedentary lifestyle is increasingly hard to avoid, it provides the tools so that our pupils can combat these issues head on and strive to lead a healthy lifestyle.

RESOURCES

St. Joseph’s College has a wide range of facilities consisting of a modern sports hall, gymnasium, all weather pitch, 5 tennis courts, 4 handball walls, grass pitch and a wide range of modern fitness equipment.

Key Stage 3

At Key Stage 3 pupils have the opportunity to participate in active enjoyable and challenging learning experiences in PE. We aim to develop in young people:

• positive attitudes to and enjoyment of physical activity;-
• an awareness of the positive impact of physical activity upon health and well being;
• positive relationships! sportsmanship, fair play and respect for differing capabilities.

Key Stage 4

At Key Stage 4 the pupils will be able to:

• plan and participate in a regular, frequent and balanced programme of physical activity
• develop their interests and talents
• extend their knowledge, understanding and skills which contributes to and helps sustain a healthy and active lifestyle;
• evaluate their own performance and that of others
• recognise and manage risk and apply safe principles and procedures before, during and after physical activity
• experience and understand different roles within a range of physical activities
• know how to access sporting and recreational opportunities in the local and wider community.

At Key Stage 4 pupils also have the opportunity to achieve qualifications in either GCSE PE or BTec Sport.

Extra Curricular

A well developed, longstanding extra -curricular programme is experienced by all pupils through the Pe department. This strong extra-curricular tradition has resulted in many sporting successes throughout the years. Activities offered to our pupils include:

• Gaelic football • Camogie • Hurling • Netball • Handball • Soccer • Fitness • Athletics • Cross country