How do you capture everything about the sporting life of Eastridge Christian School in just a few sentences? How do you explain the breadth of opportunity that exists in PE lessons, Games Lessons, matches and activities? How do you convey the approach which aims to be totally child-centred, rather than results-orientated; that tries to give every child as many different experiences as possible and tries to instil an enjoyment of a variety of physical experiences that will last far beyond school life itself?

When a child leaves Eastridge Christian School, what does success look like in a physical/sporting sense?

• The child enjoys being active – in many different ways – and wants to continue being involved in those many different ways in the future.
• The child has a “can do” attitude towards sport and physical activities and has an appreciation that having a go (and sometimes not succeeding) is not a bad thing.
• The child has already started to work out the sort of activities that they enjoy most, developed through exposure to a wide range of different activities – team, individual, mainstream, unusual, creative, etc.
• The child has plenty of experience playing organised team sport and has already learnt many things in that setting: winning and losing, team-work, enhanced self-esteem, working towards a collective goal, social skills, etc.

Physical activity at Eastridge Christian School breaks down into:

Extra-curricular activities: football,netball, athletics,Pathfinder Club, V.O.P Bible Lessons, Sporting Activities and Marimba.

At Eastridge Christian School we believe in a holistic approach to education. We also endeavour to extend the children’s perception and appreciation of the world around them. Residential trips play a key role in the social, emotional and academic development of each individual within the school’s child-centred approach.

The journey from dependent child in Pre Prep to independent thinking young adult in Grade 12 a long one, with planned stepping stones along the way. Residential trips play an important role in that journey.

Trips start in Year 3 and are for just two days and one night; for some children this may be the first time away from their families. By the time the children reach Year 6 at Eastridge Christian School they go away for a week and the destination is further afield; this year it was Normandy.

Without a doubt the most effective learning is multi-sensory: doing, seeing and listening. Combine this with the opportunity to be away from home with one’s friends, developing some skills of independence and it is easy to see the enormous opportunity for growth and personal development that residential trips offer our children.