The new year is always a time when people resolve to do things differently and improving health and fitness are common goals for adults. But as some non-government schools in New South Wales have shown, these goals can also be for students as well.

The Daily Telegraph reports that Mosman Public School and St Mary’s Primary in North Sydney have started early-morning fitness programs to help the children perform better in class. The 'boot camp' style programs have been embraced by the students who participate, according to the article

At St Mary’s, three school assemblies a week are replaced with 15 minutes of compulsory fitness training with an obstacle course, aerobics class, skipping, hula hooping and tai chi.

At Mosman Public, 60 students in Years 3-6 have signed up to spend 30 minutes on Friday mornings doing high intensity interval training with teachers.

In a similar way to adult boot camp programs, the fitness program at Mosman Public has loud music and involves multiple exercises such as burpees and push ups. According to one of the teachers quoted in the article, the benefits to the students include improved focus and concentration in class.

Ms O'Neill said 'I find they are more relaxed in behaviour too, in the classrooms and playground, because they’ve got all of that disruptive energy out of their systems'.

Other schools may be inspired to introduce such exercise programs to take advantage of fresh new year's spirits.

Their duty of care to ensure student safety would require such programs that are held on school grounds to be supervised properly for attending students. Supportive parents may also be engaged to provide assistance if required.

Given that some of the typical boot-camp style exercises may be new and difficult from some students to master, some precautionary steps should be taken including:

• instructing and monitoring inexperienced students more carefully;
• not forcing students to participate in activities which are beyond their capability or confidence levels;
• having proper equipment and clothing; and
• having policies and procedures in place to recognise and manage injuries which may occur such as broken bones or concussion.

Non-government schools may be in the process of re-evaluating the programs they have in place to foster the social, academic, physical and emotional development of their students in the new year. The multiple issues affecting the mental health and well being of students such as bullying are well documented. Schools should be constantly trying to make changes to help students deal with such challenges. As we wrote in a recent article, improving social relations is one way of achieving better student mental health.

Giving students the chance to enjoy and engage with each other through early morning activities with loud music seems like a great way to get them away from social media and have fun with each other.

What are you school's resolutions for your students in 2015?