COVID-19 Alert Level 3 Guidelines for Physical educators

How to use this document:
1. This document has been prepared for a New Zealand context, based on public health guidelines and our NZ Government Alert Levels. If using this for a different country, please adapt accordingly, and follow your own guidelines.
2. Senior leaders, HOD’s, HPE leaders and teachers can engage with these guidelines and ideas.
3. Please note, there are different Ministry of Health Guidelines for Early Childhood Centres (ECC). The nature of an Early Childhood Centre is very different, and therefore all ‘toys’, ‘equipment’, and spacing rules need to be considered and adhered to. As children in ECC’s are moving most of the time, we believe there is no need to treat the ‘physical activity context’ any differently to the guidelines on general play or handling of toys] etc. Therefore, the suggestions in this document are not designed for ECC specifically. Some suggestions could be used/modified if they meet the public health measures and Centre guidelines. These can be found here: https://education.govt.nz/covid-19/alert-level-3-faqs-for-schools-and-early-learning-centres#public-health-measures
4. This document provides ideas for physical education or physical activity contexts to support physical distancing when equipment or sports gear cannot be shared between children, and they must be 2m apart.
5. These suggestions have been based upon the most up to date information released by NZ Government.
More on public health guidelines and Sport New Zealand’s advice for play, physical activity and sport can be found here:
https://sportnz.org.nz/assets/Uploads/Play-Active-Recreation-and-Sport-at-Alert-Levels-4-4.pdf
More on the role of the school, and guidelines from the Ministry of Education for schools can be found here:
https://www.education.govt.nz/covid-19/
More on the general guidelines of Levels and what this means can be found here:
https://covid19.govt.nz/
6. We have based our comments on the types of movement we may typically see on school grounds. Physical Education classes, breaks and lunchtimes, play, fitness, sport and incidental movement (between classes, on and off school grounds).
7. These guidelines should not supersede your school policy. For example, many schools have been informed that the role of the school in Alert Level 3 is to act as a ‘home’. This means teaching staff are supervising students to complete their independent online work in a safe space, whilst their caregivers or parents attend work. Therefore, teachers on site will not be planning, or facilitating lessons for students on school grounds.
Please follow the instructions of your school leaders on this matter. If this is indeed the case, you may wish to use the ideas within this document to support break times from online learning, and for quality physical activity experiences throughout the day.

L3-Guidelines-School-based-PE (1).pdf