Health, PE, and relationships

The focus of health, physical education and relationships education is the wellbeing of students, others, and the wider community.

Definition

Health, PE and relationships education covers a broad range of topics including mental health and wellbeing, sexuality education, food and nutrition, physiology, physical activity and sport, and outdoor education.

Relevance

The focus of health, PE and relationships education is supporting the wellbeing of the students. Students learn that wellbeing comes from a combination of the physical, mental, emotional, social, and spiritual aspects of life.

State of the evidence

There is evidence that teaching students how to maintain and improve their physical and mental wellbeing can lead to enhanced health outcomes. Studying health, PE and relationships can also lead to public health improvements as students learn how to bring about sustainable health-enhancing change for individuals, communities, and society.

In practice

As part of a broad health, PE and relationships curriculum, students will:

develop knowledge and skills that enable them to promote positive wellbeing for themselves, others, and the wider community
engage in a range of movement experiences to develop knowledge and skills that promote improved physical health outcomes
develop meaningful ways of coping with adversity
learn to think critically and to problem-solve

Guiding questions

How can we design valuable learning opportunities focused on wellbeing?
How can we ensure our health, PE and relationships programmes are holistic and encompass a focus on physical, mental and emotional wellbeing?
How can we ensure that we consult widely and authentically with our school community on our health curriculum?