Wellness Goals

Overview

This lesson (19 of 20) builds on earlier learning about nutrition, growth and healthy choices by focusing on goal setting for wellbeing. Students create a realistic personal wellness plan and justify how their actions will increase health and physical activity outcomes.

Learning intentions

Students will:

• explain why setting health goals supports wellbeing and healthy decision-making
• compare personal current habits (physical activity, sleep, and sedentary time) against recommended expectations
• design and monitor a short-term health goal using SMART-style planning (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-based)
• identify strategies to reduce barriers and manage setbacks (including digital and sedentary behaviours)

Success criteria

Students can:

• state at least one health goal and link it to how it helps wellbeing
• list 2–3 realistic actions that they can do each week to meet their goal
• describe how they will track progress (check-ins, simple measures, reflections)
• explain one strategy for staying safe and another for coping if they fall behind

Curriculum links

• AC9HP8M06: design and justify strategies to increase physical activity levels to achieve health and wellbeing outcomes (designing and monitoring a personal physical activity plan; comparing to 24-Hour Movement Guidelines)
• AC9HP8P10: plan and implement strategies, using health resources, to enhance their own and others’ health, safety, relationships and wellbeing (considering mood and mental wellbeing; planning healthy routines)
• AC9HP8P09: investigate how media and influential people impact attitudes, beliefs, decisions and behaviours related to wellbeing (identifying how social media or peer influence may affect choices)

Lesson structure (40 minutes)

1. 0–5 min · Starter: Goal hook. Teacher displays 3 short “real life” scenarios (e.g. “I feel tired at school”, “I skip sport because I’m on my phone”, “My friends want to game after school”). Students choose one and write a quick reason why goals matter for that person.

2. 5–12 min · Direct teach: What makes a good goal? Teacher models SMART-style goal setting and introduces a simple wellness-plan structure: Goal → Why it matters → Actions → Barriers → Tracking → Safety/Wellbeing check. Students highlight the most important parts on a teacher example.

3. 12–20 min · Current habits check (pre-plan). Teacher provides a brief “baseline” checklist (students estimate typical: daily activity time, sedentary time, sleep duration, and feelings like stress/energy). Students identify one area to improve most and circle a realistic target for next week.

4. 20–30 min · Create personal wellness plan (draft). Teacher circulates and uses prompts: “Is it measurable?”, “Can you do it even on a busy day?”, “What will you do instead of scrolling?”, “How will you make it easier?”. Students write their plan in their workbook or template:

• 1 wellbeing goal (linked to physical activity, sedentary reduction, or both)
• 2 actions for weekdays and 1 for weekends
• 1 barrier and 1 replacement strategy
• 1 tracking method (tick chart, step counts if available, time-based self-check, or mood/energy rating)

5. 30–36 min · Justify with a partner (peer coaching). Students pair up and use a feedback sentence starter: “Your goal is strong because…”, “A way to make it more measurable is…”, “One safety/comfort strategy you could include is…”. Teacher listens for misconceptions and corrects.

6. 36–40 min · Exit ticket (commit & monitor). Students submit a one-paragraph exit ticket: final version of their goal, first action they will do tomorrow, and how they will track progress.

Resources

• Student workbook or printed wellness plan template (Goal → Actions → Barriers → Tracking)
• Baseline habits checklist (paper or on device with no login required)
• Pen/pencil and highlighter
• Timer for structured partner feedback
• Example wellness plan (teacher model)
• Optional simple tracking sheet for next week (tick boxes)

Assessment

• Formative: teacher observation during drafting using short prompts (“measurable?”, “realistic?”, “replacement strategy?”)
• Formative: partner feedback quality (listening for actionable suggestions)
• Exit ticket: check that students include a justified goal, clear actions, and a tracking method

Differentiation

• Support: sentence starters for planning (“My goal is…”, “I will do…”, “If I can’t… I will…”); provide an example plan students can adapt
• Support: reduce choices—offer 2–3 action options (e.g. walk after lunch, active transport where possible, screen break rule)
• Extension: students justify their plan using comparison to recommended expectations and propose an adjustment if progress is slower than planned
• EAL/SEN: allow extra visuals (icons for sleep/activity/sedentary), and permit oral planning recorded by teacher/peer in brief notes

Extension (optional)

• Not included (lesson focuses on drafting a personal plan and monitoring approach).