Welcome to SSNL!

 CONTACT INFORMATION

If you would like to register your PN event,  

order program supplies or to talk to PN Staff

please call 709 729-3684.  

Staff can also be reached via e-mail: jhs@sportnl.ca

Schools Registered

Epiphany Elementary, Cloud River Academy, Matthew Elementary, Stella Maris, Our Lady of Labrador, St. Mary's All Grade, Victoria Academy, H.L. Strong Academy,    St. Paul's Intermediate, Exploits Valley Intermediate, Gill Memorial Academy, Point Leamington Academy, G.C. Rowe Junior High, Humber Elementary, St. Gerard's Elementary, St. Thomas Aquinas, Sandstone Academy, John Watkins Academy, Fortune Bay Academy, St. Joseph's Elementary Harbour Breton, Conrad Fitzgerald, Anthony Padden Elementary, Holy Family School-Paradise, J.J. Curling Elementary,   J.C. Erhardt, Lourdes Elementary, Avoca Collegiate, Bonne Bay Academy, Valmont Academy, Lumsden Academy, Dunne Memorial Academy, Cape St. Francis Elementary, Lester Pearson Memorial Academy,  Memorial Academy (Botwood), Baie Verte Academy.

Welcome

Every School that contains grades 4-9 should have received a Participation Nation Poster and a Calendar in early September.  If you did not receive one please drop me an e-mail and I will gladly re-send those items.  I do have about 50 in stock here so if you would like an extra -that request can be accomodated on a first come first serve basis.

I had the pleasure of meeting many new PE Specialist and reuniting with some dear friends at  at the PESIC Conference.  I applaud all the work you do in educating our youth to the life long benefits of physical activity.   

If you have any questions/comments or want your students involved in the program. Call the office at 709 699-8067  or e-mail  jhs@sportnl.ca

NEW ELEMENTARY PROGRAM

We officially launched the Participation Nation for Elementary Schools in September.  The program consists of a Certificate and Label Achievements (Stickers) for each student to collect.  The  15 activities we have chosen for students to earn their sticker are Badminton, Basketball, Cup Stacking, Dodgeball, Floor Hockey, Northern Games, Omnikin Ball, , Skating, Skip Training, Snowshoeing, Soccer, Track and Field, Ultimate Frisbee, Volleyball and Cross Country Running.

Why no Pin Winners for Elementary Schools?

In keeping with the Canadian Sport for Life Philosophy we wanted to ensure that students were engaged in our program for 6 years. We felt that offering a Label Achievement System to Elementary and then graduating to a Pin Achievement in Junior High would help us achieve that.  As well, in order for us to offer this program under our current budget we did not want to have a  cost associated with the Elementary program.  The only cost for this program will be a Membership Fee. 

Membership fee Structure for 2009-2010

If you are a K-12 or 7-12 school and is paying SSNL High School Fees already...

and you have 75 or fewer students from grades 4-9  the program is free.

And you have 76 or more students from grades K-9 the annual program cost is $50.00

If your school is not paying SSNL High Schools Fees the cost is $75.00

Please note: The Participation Nation program relies on membership Fees and Event Fees (for Junior High) to balance our annual budget.  We spend our Fed/Prov Grant plus Revenue derived from Membership Fees in program delivery. 

 A Participation Nation Manual is being created-NEW

A manual is being produced to help with the facilitation and implementation of our program.  The manual will consist of a few games and activities associated with some of our Sticker and PIN Achievements as well as Program information. The Manual will be given free to Schools that pay the Membership fee.  We recognize that implementing our program in your school is voluntary on your part.  We want to ensure that we can support your volunteer efforts and hope the Manual will help recruit other teachers in your school to help out or lighten your planning load. We hope to have the Manual available in late September. 

Advisory Commitee

The Participation Nation program now has an Advisory Commitee in place to discuss the program implementation and it's future.  The Commitee will meet on June 5th, during School Sports NL Annual General meeting in St. John's.  Committee members are: Chairperson and SSNL Vice-President Junior High Sports; Rosemary Ryan: St. Thomas Aquinas,  Michael Penney, Michael Butler: Frank Roberts Junior High, Nancy Weir: Mount Pearl Intermediate, Christine Parsons: Exploits Valley Intermediate, Terry Dawe: William Collins Academy, Clint Gaudon: Baie Verte Collegiate. 

If you have comments or suggestion for the Program please feel free to call Trisha at the office at 709 729-3684 or e-mail jhs@sportnl.ca.

X-Country Walk and Run Certificates.

At the Office we have Cross Country Walk and Run certificates for your school. The cost of these certificates are free , a school rep has to call and let us know how many certificates they will need and we will mail them out.  These cool certificates are a great way to award all your schools participants for a school walk. These walks could have been done as a school fundraisers, Terry Fox  or part of Healthy Commotion day.

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How Does My School Participate?

Participation Nation schools can participate on several different levels. We encourage all schools to do their best to participate in at least 2 multi-school events each year, whenever possible, in order to give your students an opportunity to experience the special atmosphere that comes with meeting and participating with other school’s students.

In-House – an event organized within your own school.

Friendlies – an event where any 2 schools come together for a number of friendly matches.

Festival of Sport Extravaganza – an event where 3 or more schools in the same region come together to play a number of friendly matches.

Jamboree Style – an event where any number of participating schools are playing 2 or more sports or activities at the same event.

     At Particpation Nation events you can also modify the rules fo the game. Without emphasis being placed on scores or winning you can modify the rules of the gam and even adapt again when you start playing to maintain a high success rate and a fun time for everyone. If you find there are a lot of stoppages in the game or a particular part is holding participants back then simply modify it.

Which Students Can Participate?

     The Particpation Nation is a strictly non-competitive program that is designed to provide a fun and active evironment for students in grades 4-9. There is no emphasis placed on winning in this program and all formats must be of a round-robin nature or without any team or individual advancement.
     When choosing students to participate in the Participation Nation you should first only choose students who do not participate or normally participate in competitive "picked" school or community teams. This program looks to provide an environment for those students who do not normally get to experience the sporting atmosphere provided by competitive sports. You will find that with the more elite athletes removed our program's students are not only more comfortable, but also perform their skills with a higher success rate.
     We understand, however, that schools with low enrollment numbers will have to use all or some of the more elite athletes in order to play games, but whereever possible we ask that you limit this or at least balance the teams and run of play as much as possible. We also have many sports & activities that cater to very small numbers (click on "Sports" on the main menu to see a list).
     We also encourage you to hold mixed events and at the mixed events with several schools participating you can mix students from each school to form teams to further blur the lines of competition. You' ll also find from our list of sports that there are many activies that you can play in which physical strength or size does not play a negaitve factor in a participant having a high success rate in performing skills so you will have little problems mixing grades or sexes.

Who Coaches or Runs This Program in My School?

     There are several ways to provide leadership of our program in your school. For many of our members the Physical Education teachers run the program, but we understand with existing workload that it is not always possible for PE teachers to provide the program in their school to the extent that they wish.
     The great thing about our program is that you do not require coaching per se or even practices unless you are familiarizing your group with rules of the game. With no emphasis on winning you only need a teacher or supervisor to facilitate and encourage the group. Often schools will use their students in leadership courses to help run the program or perhaps there is a parent in your community that enjoys our program's philosophy. You can also look to your active schools representative and wellness coordinator to help. 
     Either way this program caters to your school's schedule and availability. If your best times to run Participation Nation events are in October, March, and May then that is when you will run the program as there is no set schedule. 

What Are The Rewards Of This Program?

     Besides the obvious reasons of having students active who normally would not be and having them experience an environment where they feel better about themselves, we have many other rewards as well.
     Upon registration of the program (see downloads for a registration form) your school will receive some signage for their gym, and a Participation Nation shirt for your PE teacher and other representatives. You should already have your info kit, calendar, and poster as well.
     Prior to each event you host you will contact the office and order your stickers/pins and certificates/pennants. If another school is hosting and has invited you simply pass along your attending numbers to them and your rewards will be at the event. Every student receives a pin depicting the sport in which they just participated and a pennant at their first event upon which to place and collect the pins. We also will send various prizes to do random draws at your event that include Participation Nation t-shirts, sports memorbilia, sports apparel, and sports equipment. You may also win equipment for you school that can be used for your own students when you return.