The PDHPE & CAFS Podcast with Kelly Bell

Kelly Bell
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Welcome to The PDHPE & CAFS Podcast  your weekly, fast‑action guide to thriving as a teacher of PDHPE, Community & Family Studies and Health & Movement Science in NSW. Host Kelly Bell has lived the challenges you face in teaching, after more than two decades in the classroom she rose to become NSW's trusted voice in PDHPE, CAFS and HMS, serving as HSC Supervisor of Marking and mentoring educators statewide. Each episode delivers time‑saving lesson frameworks, evidence‑based wellbeing strategies, assessment hacks and expert interviews so you can lift student outcomes, master the new syllabus and reclaim your afternoons, weekends and holidays. Whether you're brand‑new or a seasoned pro, tune in for practical, ready‑to‑use ideas that boost marks, reduce burnout and reignite your passion for teaching. 🔔 Free resources and show notes at thelearnnet.com.

  1. 1d ago

    #194 The CAFS Advice That's Costing Your Students Marks

    Your CAFS students are getting advice from everywhere right now. AI. Ex-students. Study notes passed around online. Some of it sounds right. A lot of it is wrong. And it's costing them marks. In this episode, I'm calling out the incorrect advice I keep hearing about Community and Family Studies, and what you need to teach instead. After 22 years teaching CAFS, 16 years HSC marking and five years as Supervisor of Marking, I know what markers actually reward. You'll learn: ✅ Why AI and ex-student notes can't tell your students what a marker is looking for ✅ Why acronyms won't earn marks and what to do instead ✅ Why generic examples hold Community and Family Studies students back ✅ When to link to wellbeing (the advice kids are getting is wrong) ✅ Why Year 11 is where Band 5 and 6 skills are built If you've ever had a student say "but someone told me…", this one's for you. You don't have to figure CAFS out on your own. Join us inside The CAFS Collective for resources written by someone who's marked the HSC: thelearnnet.com/collective 🎧 Listen now and let's get your students the marks they deserve. Got a question for Kell? Leave a voice message at thelearnnet.com/heykell and you might hear it on the show.

    #194 The CAFS Advice That's Costing Your Students Marks

  2. Oct 27

    #193 What a 24-Hour Backyard Ultra Can Teach Your Health and Movement Science Students

    What does it actually take to run 160 kilometres in 24 hours? This week on The PDHPE and CAFS Podcast, Kelly Bell is joined by her brother Ben Brown, fresh from his first backyard ultra. That’s 6.7 kilometres, every hour, on the hour, until you can’t. A year ago, Ben wasn’t a runner. In September, he ran 100 miles. Then he stopped. Not because his body gave out. Because his brain decided he was done. In this episode, we unpack: ✅ Why Ben believes 80% of a backyard ultra is mental ✅ How ultra training differs from marathon training ✅ Gut training and why 60 to 90 grams of carbs an hour matters If you teach Health and Movement Science, this is psychology, nutrition and training brought to life. These are real examples your students will remember. 🎧 Listen now and let’s make it happen. Join The Health and Movement Science Membership 👉 thelearnnet.com/hms

    #193 What a 24-Hour Backyard Ultra Can Teach Your Health and Movement Science Students

  3. Oct 20

    #192 What I'd Do Differently Teaching CAFS, 22 Years On

    In 2004 I walked into my first Year 12 CAFS class with a syllabus and the purple textbook. That was it. I took that textbook home every night just to stay one step ahead of my students. I laminated every Glossary of Key Words term in pink fluro and stuck them across the back wall. I thought visible meant learned. It didn't. 22 years, thousands of HSC responses and five years as Supervisor of Marking later, I can see the mistakes I made clearly. Some of them cost my students marks. All of them taught me something. In this episode, I'm sharing the lessons I learnt the hard way so you don't have to. You'll learn: ✅ The common mistakes I made as a CAFS teacher and what I'd do instead ✅ How to build strong connections from Year 11 into Year 12 so students aren't starting from scratch ✅ The CAFS skills students need explicitly taught, not assumed ✅ How to make learning meaningful, purposeful and higher order, not just copying notes ✅ Why the Glossary of Key Words needs to be taught and modelled, not just displayed Whether you're in your first year of CAFS or your fifteenth, this one's for you. Take what works. Leave what doesn't. And know you're not doing this alone. 🎧 Listen now and let's make it happen. Ready for high quality resources, ongoing support and valuable feedback? Join The CAFS Collective 👉 thelearnnet.com/collective

    #192 What I'd Do Differently Teaching CAFS, 22 Years On

  4. Oct 14

    #191 Are We Taking the Fun Out of School PE & Sport?

    Are we taking the fun out of PE and sport for Australian kids? This week on The PDHPE and CAFS Podcast, I'm joined by Olympic gold medallist Libby Trickett and Georgie Trickett, an everyday athlete, health professional and passionate advocate for inclusive sport. Together, they're the team behind Sportish and ambassadors for the Australian Sports Commission's Play Well Strategy, which is all about helping more Australians find their place in sport. We're diving into a conversation that I think every teacher, parent, coach, school leader and politician needs to hear. Have we become so focused on winning, competition and performance that we've forgotten the real purpose of PE and sport in the first place? Helping kids discover the joy of movement, build confidence, feel a sense of belonging and develop a lifelong love of being active. From primary school PE to secondary PE, we explore the challenges facing young people and the important role schools play in building positive relationships with movement. In this episode, we unpack: Why fun, inclusion and participation need to be at the heart of PE & sport.How we can create opportunities for every student, not just those who make the A team.Why fundamental movement skills and physical literacy are so important.What's contributing to teenagers dropping out of sport and how we can keep them engaged.How the Australian Sports Commission's Play Well Strategy is helping make sport more accessible.Why physical education deserves greater recognition and priority in Australian schools.Whether you're a primary teacher, PE teacher, school leader, parent, coach or politician, this episode will challenge you to rethink what success in PE and sport really looks like. PE and sport should be about so much more than competition and results. They're about giving every young person the opportunity to move, participate, build confidence, experience belonging and discover what their bodies are capable of. And if we truly value these experiences, we need to start giving physical education and sport the time, resources and priority they deserve in Australian schools. This is a conversation Australia needs to have. Hit play, challenge your thinking and share this episode with a teacher, parent, coach, school leader or decision-maker who can help make a difference. It's time to rethink how we value PE and sport, put participation and enjoyment back at the centre, and make movement a priority for every young Australian.

    #191 Are We Taking the Fun Out of School PE & Sport?

  5. Sep 22

    #190 What Every CAFS Teacher Should Hear Before Teaching Adoption

    This week on The PDHPE and CAFS Podcast, Kelly Bell sits down with NSW educator Sarah Tompson, who was born in Papua New Guinea and adopted by an Australian family at three weeks old. Sarah shares the story behind her adoption, what it was like growing up between two cultures in Western Sydney and why, even now, she does not fit neatly in a box. We unpack sense of identity, belonging, nature versus nurture and the term "social parent" in the CAFS syllabus (and why neither of us loves it). Sarah also shares how her story shapes the way she teaches, from ditching the family tree task to building rapport with students in care. If you teach Parenting and Caring, or you have a student in your Community and Family Studies classroom whose family looks different, this episode will change how you teach it. Because the textbook gives them the content. Real stories give them understanding. Listen now

    #190 What Every CAFS Teacher Should Hear Before Teaching Adoption

  6. Sep 15

    #189 Who Is Actually Teaching PE in NSW Primary Schools?

    Victoria has had PE specialists in primary schools since the 1990s. NSW still runs a generalist model. So who is actually teaching K-6 PDHPE to our kids? This week on The PDHPE and CAFS Podcast, Victorian-trained PE specialist Rhett McDonald shares what he found when he moved to NSW and why it prompted him to email me after our last primary PE episode. We unpack: Why sport is not PE and what our kids lose when we confuse the twoWhy generalist teachers can't be experts in everything and what that means for K-6 PDHPEThe wellbeing programs schools pay thousands for that are already sitting inside the K-6 PDHPE syllabusIf you're a NSW primary teacher winging Wednesday PE, this one is for you. Listen now. Ready to teach K-6 PDHPE with confidence? Join the K-6 Primary PDHPE Membership: thelearnnet.com/pdhpe

    #189 Who Is Actually Teaching PE in NSW Primary Schools?

  7. Sep 8

    #188 Ageing Population and the Burden of Disease in Health and Movement Science

    The ageing population content in Health and Movement Science has been reworked and most of us are teaching it with little more than the syllabus to work from. That makes it hard to give Health and Movement Science students anything concrete enough to build a strong response around. This week on The PDHPE & CAFS Podcast, Kelly Bell sits down with exercise physiologist Rob Lyon to talk through the burden of disease in Australia and what a genuine intervention looks like once you are working with a real older adult rather than a hypothetical one. Here is what is in it for you: Lifespan versus health span and why the gap between them is where the burden of disease actually landsWhy around 40 to 45 percent of older Australians are taking more than five medicationsInterventions specific enough for students to write about, linking back to ageing populationShared responsibility, including the personal accountability in health Rob spent three years working in cardiology in Arizona before founding Lyon Health, where he uses exercise as prescriptive medicine to help clients improve their health, performance and longevity. Connect with Rob: lyonhealth.com.au, Instagram @lyon__health

    #188 Ageing Population and the Burden of Disease in Health and Movement Science

  8. Sep 1

    #187 Teaching Optimal Arousal in Health and Movement Science

    Your Year 12 Health and Movement Science students can define arousal, anxiety and mental rehearsal. Put a scenario question in front of them and the application marks disappear. Part Two of our conversation with world champion tumbler Sami Palmer gives you applied material for Training for improved performance. Kelly Bell and Sami work through what psychological strategies actually looked like in competition, so you walk away with stimulus you can build a lesson around instead of another set of definitions. Here is what is in it for you. - Two World Cups, two weeks apart. Same athlete, same skills, two different performances. - Mental rehearsal with its limits attached. - A pre-performance routine your students can pull apart. - The physiological link, where slowing the breathing changes what the body has available Useful for Year 11 too. The Body and Mind in Motion is where the relationship between psychology and performance is first introduced and this gives you a case study students actually remember. You do not need Part One to use this episode, though it is worth your drive home. Listen now, then take one moment from Sami's competition into Monday's lesson as your scenario stimulus.

    #187 Teaching Optimal Arousal in Health and Movement Science
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About

Welcome to The PDHPE & CAFS Podcast  your weekly, fast‑action guide to thriving as a teacher of PDHPE, Community & Family Studies and Health & Movement Science in NSW. Host Kelly Bell has lived the challenges you face in teaching, after more than two decades in the classroom she rose to become NSW's trusted voice in PDHPE, CAFS and HMS, serving as HSC Supervisor of Marking and mentoring educators statewide. Each episode delivers time‑saving lesson frameworks, evidence‑based wellbeing strategies, assessment hacks and expert interviews so you can lift student outcomes, master the new syllabus and reclaim your afternoons, weekends and holidays. Whether you're brand‑new or a seasoned pro, tune in for practical, ready‑to‑use ideas that boost marks, reduce burnout and reignite your passion for teaching. 🔔 Free resources and show notes at thelearnnet.com.

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