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Educating the Whole Child Print E-mail
June 30, 2009 - Tweed Daily News. "The aim is to produce well adjusted, well balanced children," said Principal Paul McDermott. Under the program, tai chi/yoga lessons will be conducted each week for all classes from Kindergarten to Year Six. St Joseph's Catholic Primary School in NSW's South Murwillumbah will introduce tai chi, yoga and elements of martial arts in a program to educate "the whole child".

The new Well Being Program will be introduced over the next few months, thanks to a $50,000 federal government grant, through the Healthy Active Schools program, to run a 12 month program focusing on "ensuring a healthy mind, body and soul," the Tweed Daily News reported.

Under the program, tai chi/yoga lessons will be conducted each week for all classes from Kindergarten to Year Six, primary classes will participate in the "mad sports" during term three, detailed physical activity programs will be developed for all classes and there will be health and fitness assessments of all students in order to monitor attitudes and abilities in physical activity.

"The aim is to produce well adjusted, well balanced children," said Principal Paul McDermott.

The program aims at teaching getting along, organisation skills, confidence, persistence and emotional resilience.

With studies showing that 30-40 percent of students across NSW under achieve, the St Joseph's Well Being Program targets going beyond just teaching reading, writing and arithmetic.

"We are talking about the whole child," said one of the school's teachers, Barb Quinn. "If a student is feeling bad about themselves they are not going to achieve."
 
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