Sport and physical education

As the French Ministry of Education puts it, “Through physical, sports and artistic expression, physical education aims to create well-rounded, educated citizens able to make informed choices and lead active, independent and community-focused lives.”

This is why sport in all its forms is an important part of life at FIS, both within and outside of the classroom.

Overall aims

Students take part in a number of sports activities at FIS, under the supervision of our physical education (PE) teachers.

PE has five main goals; namely, enabling students to:

Develop their motor skills

Understand how to get themselves ready and practise

Assume individual and shared responsibility

Look after their health over the long term

Access their cultural, sports and artistic heritage

Physical, sports and artistic activities as a teaching medium

At kindergarten level, self-expression and physical activities fall within the “Act and express yourself with your body” learning area.

Physical education (PE) responds to children’s need and desire to be active, while also helping them develop an understanding of hard work and perseverance. Students learn to better understand themselves and others and about health and safety through taking controlled risks. By helping them gain moral and social values such as respect for rules, themselves and others, PE teaches students responsibility and independence.

PE is introduced as a subject area in primary and continues through to the end of Terminale.

“Physical education (PE) aims to create citizens that are clear-headed, independent, physically and socially educated and able to get along with one another. It encourages children and adolescents to seek a sense of wellbeing and look after their health. (...) PE introduces students to the joy of taking part in sport.” French Ministry of Education’s special Official Gazette, 26 November 2015

Just as with other disciplines, PE aims to develop certain skills and competencies. And grades achieved in PE count towards students’ overall grades.

Students work on and develop these skills and competencies through physical, sporting and artistic activities detailed in the curricula developed by the French Ministry of Education and followed in the French stream. Students in the international stream also benefit from this structured and diverse programme.

We have developed a three-year physical education plan which sets out goals, sports and artistic activities and assessments for each year group, as well as how the PE team is organised.

 

Activities are grouped into five areas and scheduled so that students experience being active in many different forms. Students learn to:

  • deliver an optimal, measurable performance by a given deadline: athletic activities and swimming
  • tailor their movements to different environments: orienteering, lifesaving, rock climbing and camping in the great outdoors
  • express themselves in front of others through artistic or acrobatic performance: gymnastics, acrobatics and dance
  • compete and lead in contests, either as a team or individually: team sports, racket sports (tennis, badminton and table tennis) and combat sports (wrestling and fencing)
  • undertake physical exercise to develop their skills and keep fit and healthy: fitness and weight training, at upper secondary level only

Sport as a source of fulfilment and social and cultural enrichment

Physical education also offers dedicated students additional training during their schooling, through many types of sports meetings and matches. Students can be introduced to or specialise in one or several physical activities and receive training in organisational, refereeing, managerial and communication tasks. French Ministry of Education’s special Official Gazette, number 2, 19 February 2009
  • Sports events at FIS

Every year we organise sports events for the school community, including:

    • Sports Day, where students and teachers from each stream take part in various athletics and sports activities (including relay races, hurdles, sprints, javelin and discus throw) 
    • Swimathon, a charity event where students, parents and staff are invited to swim a few lengths to raise funds for charitable causes
    • Interhouse Competition, where our four houses, the Phoenixes, Serpents, Pandas and Dragons compete across a range of sports: football, badminton, table tennis, athletics and so on.
    • annual Sports Awards, an enjoyable evening where we reward and celebrate all secondary students who participated in sports training and tournaments as part of an extracurricular activity

 

  • Extracurricular sports activities: our PE teachers are responsible for monitoring and supporting students enrolled in extracurricular sports activities, whether they are training for pleasure or to prepare for tournaments where they will represent FIS.

 

  • Participating in sports meetings, matches and tournaments: selected students participate in championships and local tournaments organised by Hong Kong sports federations, such as HKSSF and the Hong Kong International Schools Sports Federation.

They also have the opportunity to participate in matches and tournaments in Asia or further afield (such as PROZAP and the International Youth Games), as part of our partnership with the AEFE sports league.

Around ten regional sports events are organised in the Asia Pacific each year. Previous events include:

    • Asia Pacific Athletics Games, organised in HK in 2018 and 2019
    • Asia Pacific Swimming Championships in Sydney in 2017, Shanghai in 2018 and Singapore in 2019
    • French School of Asia Football Tournament in Bangkok from 2015 onwards
    • the multisport Mekong Games in Ho Chi Minh City in 2019
    • rock climbing in Singapore, badminton in Jakarta, basketball in Shanghai, gymnastics and volleyball – the list goes on!

We are incredibly proud to have students representing the school during these tournaments, demonstrating their willingness to push themselves, their team spirit, their sense of fair play and achieving commendable results. Our students’ major sporting achievements include:

    • football: Asia champions in 2015 (A grade), 2016 (A & B grades) and 2018 (B grade); Hong Kong champions in 2015 (A grade) and 2018 (B grade)
    • swimming: Asia champions in 2014, 2015 and 2018
    • rugby: Asia champions in 2014 and 2015 (U11 & U12); Hong Kong champions in 2017 and 2019 (U12)

  • As part of our partnership with UNSS (National Educational Sport Union), dedicated students from lower secondary through to upper secondary have the opportunity to train as youth officials and take on key roles in organising sports tournaments and events. This project has involved:
    • offering training modules
    • integrating volunteers within organisational committees to support their training and encourage their involvement in the community
    • accrediting experience gained during various regional sports events
The training programme was a great experience. You really immerse yourself in the tournament and get along with other delegates while learning all the inner workings of official youth competitions. Paul Jamet, Young Official, Swimming
I got a lot out of the youth sports official training. At tournaments, I took on organisational responsibilities, while beyond sports, I also learnt to take more initiative and to be more self-confident. Edan-Jia Ngo, Young Official, Rock Climbing

Sports facilities

Each campus has all the indoor sports equipment required to practise the sports and artistic activities taught there. Facilities include:

  • 2 soft play rooms (JL, TKO)
  • 3 gymnasiums on 3 campuses (BPR, JL, TKO)
  • 2 swimming pools on 2 campuses (JL, TKO)
  • 1 multipurpose room (BPR)
  • 1 dance studio (TKO)
  • 1 newly fitted out fitness and weights area (JL)
  • 5-lane running track (TKO)

Students are also encouraged to exercise outside, using tennis courts, dedicated athletics stadiums, sports fields for team sports and parks for orienteering.

We adjust sports activities according to the weather so that students can still exercise in heat or bad weather. We also pay particular attention to air pollution. In 2016, we implemented a pollution policy that is more stringent than that of the Hong Kong Education Bureau when it comes to physical and sports activities. 

This means that PE classes may be adjusted or cancelled depending on their location and the level of pollution in Hong Kong at the time.