September 3rd, 2015

On February 23, 2015 the Ministry of Education released its revised curriculum for Health and Physical Education, Grades 1-8. Parents/guardians are encouraged to review this document on the Ministry of Education website.

The revised Health and Physical Education curriculum supports Ontario’s goal of achieving excellence, ensuring equity, promoting well-being and enhancing public confidence in the educational system, and promotes all students to be safe and healthy. The release of this curriculum has received attention mostly related to the Human Development and Sexual Health topic within the Healthy Living strand. This topic constitutes approximately 10% of the overall curriculum and will be taught with sensitivity and respect for individual differences.

The Waterloo Region District School Board recognizes that we live in a complex and ever-changing world that creates new challenges for our children. We are committed to working with parents/guardians, and the community as a whole, to ensure a safe, caring and inclusive learning environment that supports our overall goal of optimizing learning and well-being for all students to achieve excellence.  In the 2015-16 school year, teachers will be receiving training and resources to support the delivery of the revised curriculum.

The Ministry strongly believes that parents/guardians and educators play critical and complementary roles in supporting student safety and well-being. Recognizing this, the Ministry has begun developing a series of resources for parents, which provide information on the Health and Physical Education curriculum and ideas for supporting learning at home.

 

The following additional resources for parents/guardians can be accessed on the ministry website under the heading, “Resource Documents Specific to this Subject.”

All of these resources for parents/guardians are available in English and French, as well as Arabic, Chinese (Traditional), Chinese (Simplified), Farsi, Polish, Punjabi and Urdu. Translated resources can be found under the heading, “Parent Resources in Additional Languages”.

If you have concerns regarding any of the topics being addressed within the Health & Physical Education curriculum, you are asked to contact your child’s teacher to ask any questions you may have.  If, after conferring with the teacher, you still have questions, please contact the school principal. It is through the conversations between parents/guardians and the school that accommodations can be made using Administrative Procedure 1230  – Faith and Religious Accommodation to address any issues that a family may have with a specific topic.

Categories: Broadcast-Elementary · Learning