The Heart of HPE

In this opening episode, we dive into what Health and Physical Education really is.  HPE supports the development of healthy, confident, and capable children by focusing on movement, wellbeing, and positive choices. We’ll explore how HPE connects to play, routines, and relationships in the early years, and how classroom teachers can lead meaningful HPE experiences every day. Whether you're brand new to teaching HPE or rethinking your approach, this episode will help you see the heart of HPE in a whole new way. 

Music by amado zapana from Pixabay

Transcript

Hello and welcome to the podcast.  I’m Nat, and I’m so glad you’ve joined me, especially if you’re a teacher in the early childhood or primary school space who’s just starting to explore the world of Health and Physical Education, or HPE for short.

Now, I know what some of you might be thinking.
HPE? Is that just sport? Is that PE day with running races, handball, and maybe a soccer game? And how does it even fit into the early years, where we’re focused on play, routines, and getting to know how children learn?

Great questions and that’s exactly what we’re going to unpack together.

Let’s start with this:
HPE is not just sport.
It’s a rich, educative area of the curriculum that brings together health education, physical education, and personal development. In other words, it’s about helping children grow in body, mind, and heart.

It’s about building strong, capable movers.
It’s about supporting emotional wellbeing and resilience.
It’s about empowering children to make healthy, informed choices, now and into the future.

In fact, the Australian Curriculum: HPE is a mandatory learning area. And in the Early Years Learning Framework, you’ll find its fingerprints everywhere, especially in the outcomes around wellbeing, identity, and confident learners.

So why is it so important to start early?

Because habits, beliefs, and confidence around health and movement start forming right now in your classroom, on the playground, in transitions between activities. And your role as a teacher is absolutely central to that development.

But here’s the thing…

Many teachers didn’t have a great HPE experience as students themselves. Maybe it was all sport and no health. Maybe it felt exclusive or intimidating or boring. Or maybe it was just overlooked completely.

And that’s okay to acknowledge.
 What matters now is recognising that your perceptions of HPE will shape how you teach it and whether your students see it as something for everyone.

 HPE is for every child, every day, not just Fridays on the oval or an outside activity if they have been good. Its not reactive teaching of health either, when situations occur on the playground or in the community.

It is a structured program of education which integrates both health and physical education.

It’s also for every teacher, not just the PE specialist. You as the classroom teacher, know your students and are in the best position to know what their learning needs are and how to support them.

So, how can you begin?

Let me offer a few simple steps:

• Start with the everyday: Encourage movement in the classroom eg. stand-up songs, obstacle courses, action games. Movement supports learning.
• Create safe spaces: Talk openly about feelings, food, friendships, and fairness. That’s health education too.
• Be intentional: Plan for HPE just like you would for English or Maths lessons. Don’t let it be an afterthought. 
• Look at the whole child: HPE isn’t just about skill and drills and theory, it’s about developing a child’s sense of self, ability to manage emotions, work with others, and feel joy in movement.

As we go on this journey together, we’ll explore how to teach HPE in ways that feel achievable, inclusive, and meaningful especially in those early years when so much learning is happening through play, repetition, and connection.

You are probably already doing HPE, you might just not have called it that yet.

So, my invitation to you this week is simple:

Reflect on your own experiences with health and movement. What did you enjoy as a child? What might have held you back? And how can you bring positive, empowering HPE experiences to your learners?

Thanks so much for tuning in. Keep moving, keep wondering, and most of all, keep seeing the potential in every child.