At Mitchelton State School, students participate in a range of physical activities through the regular physical education lessons taught by the physical education specialist teacher, organised school, district and regional sport. In addition, the Physical Education Program encompasses activities like the Gross Motor Program, classroom sport, and other daily activities. Games and activities are used as a tool to introduce and consolidate concepts in the different KLAs across the year levels. At Mitchelton State School, promoting the health of individuals and groups is encouraged through year level unit plans that allow students in assessment tasks and other activities to make better eating choices, to develop healthy eating plans and to critically analyse the nutritional value of the foods that they eat. In addition, students are encouraged to develop and refine personal and social skills to promote positive interactions with others, be resilient and manage their own lives. These skills are explicitly taught through units based on The Essentials through the ‘Personal Development’ strand of the HPE Key Learning Area. They are further consolidated through the school’s Virtues program and enhanced through role play activities that simulate real life situations. The Virtues program highlights 40 Virtues, with a virtue taught each week, through discussions, lessons and role play. The Daniel Morcombe Child Safety Units are focussed on in Health to ensure students learn how to recognise, react and report when they find themselves in unsafe situations.
HPE as a Key Learning Area is not considered an isolated entity neither to the individual nor to the school as a whole. An individual, healthy in mind and body, forms the basis for a community healthy, in mind and body. It is appreciated that the knowledge, understanding and thought in HPE is fundamental to the growth and well being of every individual within the school community. The knowledge, skills and concepts developed through the ‘Personal Development’ strand of the HPE syllabus forms the basis for social interaction, co-operative and collaborative learning in the other KLAs.