St Mary MacKillop College PE Pathways Program: Empowering student athletes to achieve their full potential by promoting long-term athletic development.

What is PE Pathways?
The St Mary MacKillop PE Pathways Program has been designed to support students who aim to reach an elite level in their selected sport, with a focus on students’ long-term athletic development. The program is available for students in Years 10, 11 and 12, and will benefit all individual and team-based student athletes, as well as dancers. The course is individualised to each student in order to accommodate students’ training commitments and academic and sporting goals. A specialised curriculum has been developed to allow students to learn and experience new content that is not typically covered in Physical Education. The program focuses on improving students’ knowledge, skills and understanding of elite sporting performance, physical development, injury prevention and recovery.

How is PE Pathways structured?
In Year 10, students participate in PE Pathways in place of the standard Year 10 Physical Education course. Current MacKillop students apply to enter the Year 10 PE Pathways Program in Semester 2 of Year 9. In Year 11 and 12, the PE Pathways Program is aligned with the BSSS-accredited course, Sports Development. PE Pathways students can select this course as part of any Year 12 Certificate package. It is recommended that students who are new to the College express their interest in applying to join PE Pathways during their enrolment interview.

What makes PE Pathways different to other school sports programs?

1. PE Pathways caters to students from all sports (including dance).
2. Class work is individualised to suit the sporting and academic needs of each student.
3. Class content has been designed by staff who have coached and competed in elite-level sport and worked in high-performance strength and conditioning settings.
4. The course has been developed based on modern sports science research and practice.
5. The program is founded on principles of long-term athlete development. It teaches students to know their body, maximise their athletic potential and limit injury. This approach supports students to continue to perform in their chosen sport long after they finish Year 12.

Features of the PE Pathways Program include:

• Specialised student athlete curriculum unique to St Mary MacKillop College.
• Teachers with experience as elite athletes and coaches.
• PE Pathways can be studied as part of all senior academic packages (tertiary, accredited and vocational).
• Individualised strength and conditioning programming.
• Sports-specific skills training.
• Regular access to the St Mary MacKillop College strength and conditioning facility.
• PE Pathways uniform.
• Guest presentations from elite athletes and high-performance coaches.
• Access to release time for study and assessment preparation.
• Regular supervised training.

HOW TO APPLY FOR PE PATHWAYS

Who is eligible to apply for PE Pathways?
Students are enrolled in the PE Pathways Program on a case-by-case basis. It is preferable that students are competing at a representative level in their chosen sport. However, students participating in their chosen sport at a club level are also eligible for the program if the student can demonstrate that they are making progress towards competing at a representative level. Students are also required to submit a copy of their most recent Semester report. Each student’s Approaches to Learning document will be reviewed by PE Pathways staff to gauge the student’s level of application in their class work. Only students who demonstrate a high level of application across each of their subjects will be accepted into the program.

How do I apply for PE Pathways?

Apply for Year 10

Apply for Years 11 & 12

Please note that you will need to be logged in to your school Google Drive account to access the application form.

If you are not a current MacKillop student and you would like to apply for PE Pathways, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

More information

If you would like more information, please email the PE and Health Coordinator (St Peter's Campus), Ms Jennifer Fahey, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..