Physical Education
Physical Education Overview
Saratoga Union School District provides quality physical education to every child with a standards-based instructional program. Physical Education is taught to all students in grades TK/Kindergarten through 8th grade.
PE teaches students how their bodies move and how to perform a variety of physical activities. Students learn the health-related benefits of regular physical activity and the skills to adopt a physically active, healthy lifestyle. The discipline provides learning experiences that meet the developmental needs of students. A standards-based PE program also provides an excellent opportunity to ensure that students develop positive social skills, cooperate with others, and accept responsibility for their own actions.
PE contributes significantly to every student’s health and well-being, and it is an instructional priority for California schools. Every student, regardless of disability, ethnicity, gender, native language, race, religion, or sexual orientation, is entitled to a high-quality PE program. PE is an integral part of the overall education program for every student and provides one of the few opportunities students have to develop the skills, knowledge, and confidence necessary to lead a physically active lifestyle. A high-quality PE program promotes an active lifestyle, improved health, motor skill development, and better cognitive performance.
Daily PE for all students is recommended by numerous national associations, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Association for Sport and Physical Education, the National Association for State Boards of Education, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Heart Association, and is noted in the Healthy People 2020 document.
Students who become skilled and knowledgeable in PE are more likely to become healthy adults who are motivated to remain healthy and physically active throughout their lives.
PE is a part of the coordinated school health system program. It is the component that addresses each student’s fundamental need for planned, sequential instruction that promotes lifelong physical activity and attitudes and behaviors that reduce health risks.
Students in grades one through six, inclusive, must be provided with PE instruction with an "emphasis upon the physical activities for the pupils that may be conducive to health and vigor of body and mind, for a total period of time of not less than 200 minutes each 10 schooldays, exclusive of recesses and the lunch period" (EC Section 51210[g]).
EC Section 51220 states that, "The adopted course of study for grades 7 to 12, inclusive, shall offer courses in the following areas of study: (d) Physical education, with emphasis given to physical activities that are conducive to health and to vigor of body and mind, as required by Section 51222."
PE for grades TK-5 is taught by staff from Rhythm and Moves and is funded by the Saratoga Education Foundation via donations by district parents and community members. Thank you SEF donors!