Australian International School believes that providing the best sporting lessons and physical education to kids is crucial when it comes to learning in Singapore.
We all know that regular sports and exercise in Singapore is important for maintaining physical health. For kids, that means anything from weekly gymnastics classes, football training or running around the local playground on a Sunday morning while you sip your takeaway latte. But as children in Singapore get older, school, family and social commitments tend to take over and sports and exercise can fall down the list of priorities. Well, it’s time to turn that list upside down because research, shared by Australian International School, shows that exercise is crucial for students to do well in school. This is why the international school has made PE and sports teams a central part of their curriculum, and why they’ve spent a lot of time and money on building amazing sporting facilities and PE teachers.
It Leads to Academic Success
You can’t argue with science. The results of studies on 9,700 high school students (aged 14 to 18), by both the University of South Carolina and Pennsylvania State University, show that students who are involved in sport managed to obtain above-average grades and have a higher probability of graduating from school.
Improves the Development of Motor Skills
In an academic world ruled by textbooks and grades, it’s easy to forget the importance of motor skills. Fine-tuning fine and gross motor skills not only improves a child’s ability to grip pencils and assemble puzzles, but refines things like balance, agility and coordination, which all call on the brain to get body and mind working in sync to problem solve and take action. Taking time to improve these motor skills at a young age puts the brain and body function in good stead for later in life.
Contributes to Social Development
There is no “I” in team. When kids get together to play rugby, swim as a relay team or support each other in a rock climb, they are honing their ability to work cohesively with others. This pays dues when it comes time to work on a school project or learn a dance routine for an end of year performance. Not to mention paving the way for working with other staff on a pitch, as a member of a board, or with clients when they enter the real world.
Contributes to Future Success
Many of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs, CEOs and business leaders have one thing in common: sport is fundamental to their daily life. Including exercise as part of a regular routine not only keeps the body fit but it underpins all the attributes that enable success, such as accomplishment, competitiveness, teamwork, respect, motivation and communication.
How AIS integrates sport into school life
AIS is leading the way to include sport within the school curriculum in Singapore, not just as a fitness-end in itself, but as a key driver for enhancing academic success. This prominent international school features a well-developed sports programme, as well as offering a wide variety of extra curricular sporting pursuits and tournaments. Here’s just some of what they’re up to:
Recently, AIS hosted the inaugural DeBrincat Cup, Singapore’s very first rugby tournament for under 12-year-olds. The tournament saw six different international schools compete, and was so successful that it’s now set to happen annually. On the track and field front, AIS is a keen participant in the Athletics Conference of Singapore International Schools with various teams representing the school across a number of disciplines. When it comes to gender representation, AIS is taking critical steps to encourage girls to continue pursuing sports, with initiatives like gender-split physical education classes from Year 6. As a consequence they’re having tremendous success in reversing the statistics on girls dropping out of physical education after Year 6.
Find out more
You’re invited to an AIS Open House session to discover how AIS is utilising sports for academic success. Simply book a tour online and you can visit classrooms, sports facilities and talk to the school’s education leaders.
Australian International School, 1 Lorong Chuan, Singapore 556818, p. 6517 0247