As the French Ministry of Education puts it, “Through physical, sports and artistic expression, physical education aims to create well-rounded, educated citizens able to make informed choices and lead active, independent and community-focused lives.”
This is why sport in all its forms is an important part of life at FIS, both within and outside of the classroom.
Students take part in a number of sports activities at FIS, under the supervision of our physical education (PE) teachers.
Develop their motor skills
Understand how to get themselves ready and practise
Assume individual and shared responsibility
Look after their health over the long term
Access their cultural, sports and artistic heritage
At kindergarten level, self-expression and physical activities fall within the “Act and express yourself with your body” learning area.
Physical education (PE) responds to children’s need and desire to be active, while also helping them develop an understanding of hard work and perseverance. Students learn to better understand themselves and others and about health and safety through taking controlled risks. By helping them gain moral and social values such as respect for rules, themselves and others, PE teaches students responsibility and independence.
PE is introduced as a subject area in primary and continues through to the end of Terminale.
“Physical education (PE) aims to create citizens that are clear-headed, independent, physically and socially educated and able to get along with one another. It encourages children and adolescents to seek a sense of wellbeing and look after their health. (...) PE introduces students to the joy of taking part in sport.” French Ministry of Education’s special Official Gazette, 26 November 2015
Just as with other disciplines, PE aims to develop certain skills and competencies. And grades achieved in PE count towards students’ overall grades.
Students work on and develop these skills and competencies through physical, sporting and artistic activities detailed in the curricula developed by the French Ministry of Education and followed in the French stream. Students in the international stream also benefit from this structured and diverse programme.
We have developed a three-year physical education plan which sets out goals, sports and artistic activities and assessments for each year group, as well as how the PE team is organised.
Activities are grouped into five areas and scheduled so that students experience being active in many different forms. Students learn to:
Physical education also offers dedicated students additional training during their schooling, through many types of sports meetings and matches. Students can be introduced to or specialise in one or several physical activities and receive training in organisational, refereeing, managerial and communication tasks. French Ministry of Education’s special Official Gazette, number 2, 19 February 2009
Every year we organise sports events for the school community, including:
They also have the opportunity to participate in matches and tournaments in Asia or further afield (such as PROZAP and the International Youth Games), as part of our partnership with the AEFE sports league.
Around ten regional sports events are organised in the Asia Pacific each year. Previous events include:
We are incredibly proud to have students representing the school during these tournaments, demonstrating their willingness to push themselves, their team spirit, their sense of fair play and achieving commendable results. Our students’ major sporting achievements include:
The training programme was a great experience. You really immerse yourself in the tournament and get along with other delegates while learning all the inner workings of official youth competitions. Paul Jamet, Young Official, Swimming
I got a lot out of the youth sports official training. At tournaments, I took on organisational responsibilities, while beyond sports, I also learnt to take more initiative and to be more self-confident. Edan-Jia Ngo, Young Official, Rock Climbing
Each campus has all the indoor sports equipment required to practise the sports and artistic activities taught there. Facilities include:
Students are also encouraged to exercise outside, using tennis courts, dedicated athletics stadiums, sports fields for team sports and parks for orienteering.
We adjust sports activities according to the weather so that students can still exercise in heat or bad weather. We also pay particular attention to air pollution. In 2016, we implemented a pollution policy that is more stringent than that of the Hong Kong Education Bureau when it comes to physical and sports activities.
This means that PE classes may be adjusted or cancelled depending on their location and the level of pollution in Hong Kong at the time.
