Our PE department employs a holistic approach to engage students in PE and it is rewarding students with success on many levels. Trident High School is using an innovative approach in physical education to try to get better results in student performance across the curriculum by changing the way it runs PE classes. The new approach has been led by Head of Physical Education, Jon Stanhope. He says that previously, too many students were sitting out PE lessons or not bringing their uniform. All too often, students were prevented from achieving good grades because, although they were athletic and good at sports, they were often not able to work in teams, could not self- manage, and forgot to wear the PE uniform. So the school developed a new strategy to align key skills and values with National Curriculum measures and focuses on these curriculum goals: 1. Identifying and using strengths in myself and others. 2. Having a positive attitude to succeed. 3. Being a good team player. 4. Managing personal fitness and training methods. The four themes of the strategy are: 1. Who am I? Who are we? 2. Attitude is everything. 3. We can work it out. 4. Up your gains. Mr Stanhope says it is important that students not only succeed in sport but are ‘literate sports people’, and understand the importance of being good team players, socially responsible, resilient, and good communicators. They will be assessed on these criteria, rather than just as athletes. Mr Stanhope says, “The focus is now on the PE student as a whole, rather than someone who gains grades due to being able to jump, throw, climb or hit the furthest or highest.” For the teaching team there have been significant changes. During class no student can sit out, and all are required to participate. A uniform is provided for any student who doesn’t have one; there are clear and consistent rules on the start and end of lessons, and the language used in class has changed to reflect the school core values of quality work, respect for others and Kia Manawa Nui (Have Courage). The Year 10 programme uses the student inquiry model where students carry out their own learning inquiry in each topic, and follow their inquiry in two different learning contexts in each term. The students choose their own contexts, led by different teachers. Principal Mr Gurney says, “The results in terms of student participation and creating a ‘Team Trident’ has been exceptional. All students now wear full Trident PE gear and no students ever sit out of lessons, and there’s been a dramatic decrease in the number of students who borrow gear. They are beginning to self-manage and show resilience.” Year 9 student Charleen Taylor says, “It is helping my performance in sport and teaching me how to become a team player.” Year 10 student Jacob Bridge says his fitness and technique has improved, and the programme has taught him communication skills and how to work together with other people. “It has helped with problem solving as a group, and it’s showing us how everyone can contribute to team goals.”. #bloggingtips #WixBlog

Sports at Trident are as diverse as our students and we have something for everyone! We spoke to Year 13 Bridget Hutchings about Full Bore Shooting and hear what her motivation for joining the team was. Our Full Bore Shooting star Bridget Hutching is setting her sights high - looking to compete in the Commonwealth Games of the future. This ambitious goal is also a realistic one for Bridget as the season has just started and she is already training for the World Championship held early in 2019. There she will compete both individually in the Open Grade and in the New Zealand under 21 Full Bore Shooting Team. The team she previously competed for – the under 21 Development Squad realised great success earlier this year where they “thrashed” the Australian under 25 Team. Her motivation for getting into the sport was modest – after seeing a picture of Trident’s Small Bore Shooting Team she thought the jacket “looked cool” and in order to get one of these jackets she joined the Small Bore Shooting elective and then the school team in Year 11. It wasn’t long before coach John Ball encouraged Bridget into Full Bore Shooting at the end of Year 12. Like coach John Ball, Mike and Di Collings, [selector for the NZ teams], saw great potential in Bridget and have been instrumental in aiding her rise to success. When Bridget was just 16 they put her name forward for a camp for young shooters to try out for the under 21 team and Bridget was ecstatic to gain a place on the team from there. Bridget will attend training camps in Wellington over the rest of this year as well as train weekly at the Te Puke Rifle Club where she will hone in on her technique and be ready for the World Championships. We wish Bridget all the best in her training and look forward to sharing more of her success!

Our Year 10 Great Barrier Island group has made themselves at home on Great Barrier Island for five weeks and are having the time of their life! We hear from Sasha and Oran about how they are getting on in week 4 of their trip. Leading up to the end of Great Barrier Island, we had to take on a task of four different themes each week to train and prepare ourselves for our four day expedition to wrap up our Five week stay on this awesome island. For the first week we arrived, our focus was Self Management. At the beginning of the week all three teams Tui, Kereru and Taiko listed their self management goals for their group to help guide them to achieve their final ambition. One of Tui’s focus was making sure everyone was on time to their duties. Kereru’s was being prompt for anything and Taiko was to keep their immune system up and running for their expeditions and activity days. For the second week 10RO had to focus on our team work and by doing this, once again each group listed their goals for the week, Tui’s goal was working together to complete challenges, Kereru’s was to include everyone's ideas because all ideas count and Taiko’s was to communicate more. In the third week we talked a bit about Mana, which is when your peers or teachers/instructors respect you, every time you do something good you gain mana. So our goal for the week was Manaakitanga. ( generosity, respect, hospitality etc) Tui showed Manaakitanga when everyone worked together to launch someone into the air during the high rope activity, and motivated the group to try all the high rope courses. Kereru showed Manaakitanga when it came to setting up for activities and leaving camp- they all chipped in without being asked and got to camp 3 hours before they needed to, then left on time the next morning. Taiko decided Manaakitanga to them was owning up to mistakes and looking after the team. Our Fourth and final week was all about Independence, for this week, the teachers and instructors stepped back and all the students had to do everything without being asked, we also took morning meetings, found out the weather and planned our expeditions all on our own. Tui Showed independence when the worked out everything they needed for expedition and where to go on the map. Kereru Showed independence when their instructor left them completely alone to find there way to camp on the other side of the island. We followed the path most of the way, but when camp came into view we took a short-cut and bush-bashed through thick trees and eventually found camp. Taiko decided independence was cooking meals during expedition without help or being asked.