Sport Policy

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Rationale

The aim of offering broad participation in sports at High is to nurture the personal development of our students. Participation in sport is an educational activity. We want all boys to be involved in team sports for the lifelong physical, psychological, social and personal benefits that such participation can bring. It is particularly important to encourage boys at High to engage in organised sport because of the initial low levels of measured physical fitness and motor skills.

High is unique among public schools in its membership of the AAGPS. Members have mutual obligations to supply facilities, fixtures, officials and depth in team numbers in multiple sports. In order to fulfill our commitments we need maximised participation by individuals.

The standard of competition in many GPS sports continues to improve. Physical and mental preparation for competition is both more intense and of longer duration. Adequate preparation and regular training are required to maintain and enhance our competitiveness.

Player satisfaction in sports is important. Commitment to the sports program by students and parents needs to be maintained and strengthened.

Parents are paying co-payments for their sons to participate in sports, and they would like to see good preparation, organisation and participation, particularly on Saturdays. They also want competent, qualified coaches running sports training to enhance player satisfaction.

Incoming Students - Sport Selection

Incoming students can select a sport via the following link:

sbhs.co/nss

By choosing to participate in GPS sport, you will be gaining new skills while creating lasting friendships and memories for life.

Objectives

  1. To raise the general fitness level of our students.
  2. To provide an enjoyable and successful sports experience for as many boys as possible.
  3. To meet our GPS obligations well – by having all teams ready to play their fixtures.
  4. To build support for competitive sport among our students and their parents.

Strategies

  1. Supply a coach for every team.
  2. Improve the level of expertise of our coaches.
  3. Increase the frequency and intensity of our coaching/training sessions.
  4. Improve the attendance of students at Saturday sports fixtures and at training sessions.

Actions

  1. Recruit and/or train qualified coaches for every team or crew involving students in Years 7-12.  
     
  2. Where necessary recruit a Coordinator or Lead Coach to develop skills in the Year 7-12 cohort of competitors.  
     
  3. Engage all students in sport on Wednesdays or Thursdays as part of the school curriculum. Exemptions on medical grounds can be applied for in through the Parent Portal. [See action 15]
     
  4. Encourage all students to participate in GPS sports.  Once a student has committed to a GPS sport, full participation in that sport is expected and monitored with consequences for non-attendance without an acceptable reason. Full participation means attendance at all scheduled training sessions, trial matches and competition fixtures. These expectations and consequences are communicated online to students before sport selections.  
     
  5. Aim for maximum attendance at all Saturday fixtures by recording and monitoring attendance and following up absentees. [See action 15]  
     
  6. Aim for maximum attendance at the minimum number of scheduled/school training sessions for the Year and team level by recording and monitoring attendance at the training sessions and following up absentees. [See action 12].  
     
  7. Insist on full participation. In order to meet full participation requirements, students must attend at least the specifiied number of scheduled/school training sessions each week.
    1. For GPS 1st and 2nd grade students: three scheduled training sessions per week.
    2. For Opens teams 3rd – 10th grade: two training sessions per week
    3. For Junior teams through Year 10: A and  B teams: three training sessions per week
    4. For Junior teams through Year 10: C – J teams: two training sessions per week
       

  8. Training Sessions

    1. One training session is held on Monday afternoon 3.30 pm - 5.00pm. 
    2. A certified strength and conditioning/speed and agility is considered to be a training session.
    3. A sport training session is usually scheduled for the Senior school (Years 10-12) on Wednesday afternoons from for the senior school 1:15pm-2:45pm (Years 10-12) and for the Junior School Thursday afternoon for the Junior School (Years 7-9) on Thursday afternoons from 1:15pm-2:45pm.
    4. A standard training session is scheduled for Wednesday afternoons at 3.30 pm-5pm for Juniors (Years 7-9) and Thursday afternoons at 3.30 pm-5pm for Seniors (Years 10-12).
    5. Coaches decide on the intensity of coaching sessions, but all sessions must conclude by 5pm.
    6. Exemptions from some training sessions for elite athletes may be negotiated with the Principal and Head Teacher Sport through the proper documentation process. [See action 15]
    7. Exemptions for students for scheduled out-of-school hours training is automatic during relevant examination weeks.
    8. Parents are asked not to schedule after school activities for their sons that conflict with standard, scheduled training sessions – Monday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoons, as well as Friday mornings for 1st/2nds
       

  9. Variations to standard training days

    The bulk of training for sports should occur on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoons. Some sports are constrained by availability of specialised facilities (eg basketball courts, tennis courts, cricket nets or pitches, swimming pools, rowing sheds or rifle ranges). By arrangement with members of teams, after avoiding clashes with other activities, and on obtaining written permission from the Principal and Head Teacher Sport, training sessions may be scheduled at other times.
     
  10. Improve cardiovascular fitness: By regularly testing students in a 1.6km run as part of the PDHPE program; by recording and monitoring times run by students; by setting individual targets for improvement; and by setting cohort goals against state standards.  
     
  11. Lift player satisfaction: By setting and measuring individual improvement goals in fitness benchmarks or game-specific skills and by giving feedback to participants on their progress; by setting and measuring teamwork targets (eg attack and defence statistics); and by setting and measuring whole sport targets (eg improve competition standing by one position or reduce negative point differentials by 25% across all fixtures). Successful achievement of targets and goals is celebrated.  
     
  12. Expose students to unfamiliar sports by holding ‘Try’ Days and a Year 7 Rotation Program.  
     
  13. Promote the benefits of sport and publicise and discuss the Sports Policy with staff, students and parents.  
     
  14. Make students accountable. Students are voluntary members of sports teams but once they have committed to a sport, they must abide by its requirements or withdraw.
    1. Once a student has committed to a GPS sport (ie a sport played by members of GPS schools) he is accountable for his full participation in that sport. A student is deemed to have made a commitment to a sport if his name is on the roll once the selection trials for that sport have been completed. 
    2. Once a student has committed to Athletics, they are committed to attend all Athletic sessions until the GPS Athletics competition or until they have been deemed no longer part of the competition squad as selected by the MIC of Athletics. Students may train up to one summer sport session per week (Tuesday morning) after Week 7 while they are in athletics season. All training outside of this must be conditioning only (as determined by the Head Teacher Sport). 
    3. Students are encouraged to keep personal training logs to record attendance and monitor their own development.
    4. Department of Education - 'School Attendance Policy', 2005: 4.6.2 – Specific sports rolls must be marked at the beginning and conclusion of each sports session.
    5. Students not meeting full participation requirements will have penalties imposed on them.
       
  15. Lodging and Absences/Exemption
    1. When students are unable to attend a GPS fixture/training session notice must be given at least 1 hour before by lodging an Absence From through the Parent Portal. 
    2. When notification of the absence cannot be made within this time, parents/carers will have 48hrs to respond to the absence, by lodging an Absence Form through the Parent Portal.
    3. Students are not allowed to lodge an Absence/exemption form. They can only be lodged by a parent/carer by following the steps below:
    4. Note that all absences during school hours 9:05am – 3:15pm (including Wednesday/Thursday Timetabled Sport 1pm - 3pm), are to be communicated to the main school office administration through emailing: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it (not to be confused with the This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it email)
    5. Coaches are expected to mark the roll in Clipboard for their team/crew at every training session, trial match and GPS fixture
         
  16. Penalties for absenteeism/misbehaviour  
    1. Penalties for non-attendance at sport or scheduled training sessions, without an acceptable reason:
      • First time – Sports detention and warning. This will show up as a ‘Detention' session on Clipboard and must be attended in lieu of any training.
      • Second time – Sports detention + loss of 50% of Award Scheme points.
      • Third time – Student removed from GPS roll. All Awards Scheme points forfeited and further consequences will be set by the Head Teacher of Sport.
    2. MICs in each sport are responsible for recording penalties applied to students and for making judgements on the Award Scheme points to be lost. Details must be communicated to the Deputy Principal or delegate in charge of Award Scheme administration.
       
  17. Communicate our Sports Selection Policies fully and clearly
    1. Maximum team numbers for particular sports are recommended to the Principal by the Head Teacher of Sport in consultation with MICs.
    2. Published, transparent and consistent policies for all teams are published in each sport eg training sessions attended, skill standards reached, comparative measures recorded
    3. Trials are held where nominations exceed the spaces available in the sport
    4. At the change of season, trials must be held promptly to identify unsuccessful students, thus allowing them time to change sports and allowing coaches adequate time to prepare their teams.  
       
  18. Organise our activities to help students achieve balance in their lives Many students are engaged in a variety of school activities.
    Our policy is to facilitate the activities of these all-rounders. Times have been allocated for co-curricular activities. They have priority and MICs and sports coaches must respect them.

    eg
    Tuesday afternoons – cadet parades. 
    Tuesday and Thursday (mornings) - Year 8 Languages.
    Monday to Friday (mornings) - Music ensembles
    Monday & Wednesday (mornings) - Extension 2 Mathematics

    MICs are at liberty to negotiate with their teams to find suitable morning timeslots but must not:
    1. Pressure any individual student into withdrawing from an activity to attend a morning training session
    2. Imply that he is standing in the way of what all the others in the team want to do
    3. Indicate directly or indirectly that attendance at such a session will be a part of any selection policy for a team.
    Coaches who make arrangements for morning training times must inform the Principal of the arrangements – who is involved, when they will happen and where such training sessions will occur.
     
  19. MICs must first obtain approval from both Head Teacher Sport and Principal to make arrangements for training times outside of the scheduled times outlined in the sport policy.
     
  20. Expand our sports offerings. Our first priority is to meet our commitments to honour our AAGPS membership. We also want to offer educative, healthy and active sporting activities. From time to time, additional sports will be offered to a limited number of boys on a cost recovery basis.
     
  21. The role of Clipboard
    1. Organise our activities so that training sessions/fixtures are visible and the expectations per session are stated and cleared.
    2. Students can access Clipboard through logging onto their Student Portal and clicking on the ‘My Extracurricular’ Tab.
    3. Parents/carers can access Clipboard through logging onto their Parent Portal and clicking on the ‘Student Extracurricular Calendar’ Tab.
    4. Every session is hyperlinked and contains locations, bus information, session notes and times so that students can be well informed when their sessions are and how they are organised.
  22. Behaviour Expectations
    1. Students play their part in being able to support their team, school and community by aligning themselves with the school values of ‘Dedication’, ‘Integrity’, ‘Respect’ and ‘Compassion’.
    2. Students show Dedication in sport by being active and participating in their sport/training to the best of their abilities.
    3. Students show Integrity in sport by placing a high value on effort and being accountable for their attendance, attitude and necessary sport protocols.
    4. Students show Respect in sport by caring for their teammates, equipment, opponents and coaches.
    5. Students show Compassion in sport by acknowledging and excepting their mistakes and recognising the efforts of others.
    6. Students following these expectations are celebrated at SBHS through their sportsmanship and valour. Students who do not follow these expectations will be reminded of their value through a sport detention and/or further consequences.