You are not fit until you are Maragon fit

Maragon Private Schools Ruimsig have decided to take a different approach to health and fitness to ensure pupils benefit from physical education.

This year, two programmes were implemented into the physical education syllabus, namely the Wellness for Life programme in the high school and the Epic programme in the primary school.

The Epic programme, adapted from an Australian programme, essentially encourages pupils to try different sports and discover their natural strengths and weaknesses in certain sport codes. Every term, a new set of sports are offered. This term, pupils can choose to try their hand at rugby, hockey, netball or chess. Next term they will pick a different sport to try for the term.

This system allows the pupils to learn the rules and play of different sports. This insight allows a pupil to decide whether they want to pursue the sport. The Epic programme is held within class time, during the period used for physical education.

Similarly, the Wellness for Life programme is held during physical education classes but rather than experiencing different sports, the high school pupils undergo different exercises that condition their finer motor skills. The exercises, which include running, jumping and skipping, are chosen to make the pupils better athletes and all-round healthy individuals.

After much research, it was Maragon Ruimsig’s sports director, Ymke Schutte, who planned and implemented these programmes, when the school realised the lack of participation during physical education lessons. So far the school has seen 92 per cent of the children achieving better results from when they joined the programme.

“Children today do not go outside and climb a tree like we used to. The programmes focus on the pupils well-being and also to improve the school’s sport. It is our way to contribute towards combating obesity and to increase participation in sports,” said Maragon Ruimsig’s sports coordinator, Kelvin Bekker.

“The pupils in the primary school are having a lot of fun. It is social for them and they get to try a sport they may have been too scared to try before. Since it is during school, it does not clash with any other extra-murals. We share the results of the Wellness for Life programme with the pupils and that serves as a great motivator and something they can be proud of,” Bekker added.

Details: Maragon Private Schools Ruimsig, ruimsig@maragon.co.za; 011 958 0707.

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