Jr Jack Attack program ‘bowls’ over Geeveston

by admin on August 30, 2016

Students in the Huon Valley Region of southern Tasmania are thrilled to be learning a new sport that they can enjoy all year round. Sacred Heart Catholic School in Geeveston were thrilled with their Sporting Schools Bowls Australia program that has allowed students to engage in a fantastic new all-weather sport.
“As we enter into the colder and darker months of the year, we are thrilled to have an indoor activity the whole school can enjoy and benefit from. It can even be set-up and run by our Year 6 sport leaders which is great,” Kari Thomas, HPE Teacher said.
“It was an overwhelming success!  I was really impressed at how well the activity slotted into the Health & Physical Education curriculum, not to mention how engaging it was from Kinder to Year 6 – males and females,” she said. 
Kari believes the program was an effective way to engage her students, particularly those who were less motivated than others or those with special needs.
“My sporty kid’s loved the activity and skill development while my usually less-motivated students have never been so engaged,”
“I saw a number of special needs students achieve success; improving their self-esteem. I was also impressed how fun maths was made – the kids had no idea how much math they were doing trying to keep score,” she said.
Following the coach-delivered program, Kari used the Jr Jack Attack kit provided by Bowls Australia to deliver the program to her Kinder, Prep and Year 5/6 classes. The resources were easily modified to suit each group which has allowed even more students to get involved beyond the program.
“I am not sure which group had the most fun! I would highly recommend this to any school,” Kari said.
“Bowls Australia was delighted to learn of the positive impact our Jr Jack Attack program had at Sacred Heart School in Geeveston,” Tony Sherwill from Bowls Australia said.
“The feedback we received from Kari perfectly encapsulates our notion of providing a fun and all-inclusive program, focusing on increased participation and student engagement,” he said.
 
Sporting Schools is a $100 million Australian Government initiative to get more children playing more sport, before, during and after school. Want to run a Bowls program at your school? Check out all the details on the Bowls Australia page.