Mapleton State School prides itself on promoting an active and healthy lifestyle as part of our focus for the students’ health and well-being.
Our students are equally divided into three sporting house groups. They are:
In their house groups, the students compete throughout the year in various sporting events. These include:
The carnival is split into 2 days. The first day the students undertake distance events such as the 400m and 800m depending on age groups. After the runs, students who are between the ages of 8 – 12 years of age compete in the field events program. These include discus, shot putt, long jump and high jump.
The second day includes all the sprint events plus the school Ball Games Carnival that involves all students.
Cross Country Championships
The cross country is held within the school grounds with students competing in various distances depending on their age. Preps – year 1 run 800m, Year 2 and 3 run 1km, 9 and 10 years run 2km with 11 and 12 year olds running 3km.
Swimming Carnival
Our school carnival is normally held in the last week of Term 4 at the Palmwoods Aquatic Centre. It is for students from Grade 4 – 6.
Small Schools Carnivals
If students are successful at our school events, they will then have the opportunity to participate in the Small Schools Carnivals for each of the above sports. This allows us to form a Small Schools Team that will compete at the District Carnivals including- Small Schools Cross Country, Athletics and Swimming.
Due to the size of our school, we do not have the opportunity to participate in regular Friday sporting events against other schools from down along the coast. Therefore, years ago, the teachers established a “5 Nations” program. The schools involved include Mapleton, Montville, Conondale, Eudlo and Glenview.
This program allowed all the small schools from our area to get together each term and compete against each other in different sports. They have become very popular with the main emphasis being increasing the levels of sportsmanship and building relationships with students from other schools. We undertake one event each term. These include- Volleyball, Soccer, Oz Tag and Ball Games.
Throughout the year, we may also have specialist visits from the many sporting groups from around the Sunshine Coast. These include netball, rugby league, rugby union and Oz tag.
Our Specialist Physical Education teacher
Each week, students undertake a half hour specialist lesson. The students learn new physical skills as well as learning various health related components. When available, the school also welcomes the life Education Van to our school, which allows the students to be educated on the latest health issues that may affect them in the future. These can include developing a healthy diet and lifestyle, learning about the effects of drugs and alcohol, bullying and peer pressure. To support this program, at least three times a week our students will also undertake some form of physical activity in the morning to help them get prepared for the day. We promote “Healthy mind, Healthy Body.”
We are aware of the importance of leading an active lifestyle and take pride in the fact that we have a staff that reinforces this message to all our students.