School Sport Unit

The Race Around Australia will race in Term 3 in 2022.  

It is recommended schools complete their registration as soon as possible so participation grants can be allocated to schools and any starter kit collateral be sent. Schools can edit their registration at any time up the start of the race.

View all PSC key dates.  

RAA Coordinators 

RAA Coordinators complete the main administration tasks such as: 

• complete the school's PSC registration in the PSC Tracker  
• promote RAA across the school
• add / invite RAA Teachers to the RAA site so they can manage their team 
• support teachers throughout the challenge - pass on relevant information 
• finalise RAA data and opt school/classes in for certificate printing (Team Managers can also do this).

Teachers

Teachers complete the main administration tasks for their class team such as: 

Pre-challenge 

• promote the challenge to the class/team  
• create their teacher account in the RAA website 

• confirm their class/team in the RAA website and upload a team/class avatar (team name and student names will be brought across from the PSC Tracker - these can be edited as required). 

During challenge 

• encourage activity - get students ‘more active, more often’ by providing a range of fun physical activity opportunities for students (see our RAA resources for examples) 
• get familiar with the RAA guidelines and share with students 
• enter distances (RAA kms) for students in the RAA website

• engage with the RAA website - map layers, milestones (curriculum resources), achievements 
• download and print the RAA mid-challenge certificates to give to your students/staff 
  • RAA Encouragement certificate (PDF 299KB) 
  • RAA Achievement certificate (PDF 299KB) 
  • RAA Staff Achievement certificate (PDF 216KB).  

Post challenge 

• finalise distances/RAA KMs raced for each individual 
• confirm information for end-of-challenge (EoC) certificates - correct participant names - classes can opt in or out of receiving end of challenge certificates. 

Schools and corporate office teams have two PSC challenge options - the 10 week Challenge (10wC) and Race Around Australia (RAA). 

Schools wishing to take part in RAA require their school principal and/or PSC Facilitators to confirm their school/team's participation in the NSW Premier's Sporting Challenge in the PSC Tracker*. Within this registration process RAA is chosen as a challenge option (for students/and or staff), and a student list is upload (for participation grant purposes).

• RAA Coordinators - Schools can have multiple RAA Coordinators who can all oversee the administrative role for the whole school, or for allocated stage groups.Registered PSC Facilitators and Principals can update Facilitator's details (RAA Coordinators) in the PSC Tracker*. If they are unable to do this, or you wish to to be added/removed from our PSC Facilitator database please email psc@det.nsw.edu.au.
• Student name upload - Class teams and student names who are participating in either RAA or 10wC are uploaded into the PSC Tracker using a CSV file or by  manual entry (recommended only for small schools). Student names will be sent across to the RAA website so teachers will not need to manually enter them in the RAA website. There are NO STUDENT ACCOUNTS in 2022. 
• Opting classes in for RAA - During the PSC registration process schools choose which challenge options each class will take part in. Class names/data will be sent across to the RAA website so teams will be created automatically in the RAA website. Teachers will not need to manually create classes.
• RAA staff  (Activ8 your Workplace) participants - these participants compete in a separate challenge to the RAA Schools challenge. As staff participants create their own accounts, names are not added to the PSC Tracker during registration. (However, if schools have staff competing in the 10wC staff challenge as well, those names will need to be uploaded during registration.)

Detailed PSC registration instructions

Full registration details are explained on the 'Registration' webpage, and includes a list of important pre-registration details that are needed from schools - after consulting with staff and students.

Team groups come from data entered into the PSC Tracker when your Principal or PSC Facilitator added students names and teams.

• Most schools will have their students organised by classes so all classes will show on the school map and you can see how they are each achieving against each other. 
• Some schools will have their students in stage groups, so will show the different stage teams on the school map. 
• Some smaller schools may only have one team so their class map and school map will look the same.  

If you wish to change how your teams are organised please contact the PSC team to discuss your options. 

Once a school/organisation is registered in the PSC Tracker to participate in RAA, their school information will be sent to the Race Around Australia website. 

RAA coordinators will:

• Receive an email from 'welcome@racearoundaustralia.com.au' asking them to verify their email address and create a password (please check your ‘Junk’ folder).
• Once verified, when RAA coordinators log into the RAA website they will have access to their school’s dashboard and see all registered school teams and the students within them.
• Check class and student lists to ensure all have imported from the PSC Tracker correctly. Contact the PSC team if there are any errors.  

• Choose a school 'avatar' by selecting an animal icon from the list provided or upload the school emblem. This avatar will display on the map. 
• View and download a list of class names and class codes for each class registered in RAA (as per registration in the PSC Tracker) - save this as an excel file. 
• Share the 'Class codes' with each of the teachers overseeing a class taking part in RAA so they can 'join' to manage their class.   
• RAA coordinators can 'Join a class' for any classes they are overseeing.

NEED HELP: if you do not receive this email or have trouble accessing or viewing your school please contact the PSC team - psc@det.nsw.edu.au. 

Teachers need to:  

• Go to the Race Around Australia website and click on the ‘Schools challenge’ section. 
• Create a RAA account by clicking the ‘Register an account’ link where they will be sent an email from 'welcome@racearoundaustralia.com.au' asking them to verify their account (please check your ‘Junk’ folder).
• Once verified, teachers will be redirected to the RAA website where they will be asked to ‘Join a class’ using the class code provided by the RAA coordinator. (NOTE: teachers do not need to create a class as these have been imported from the PSC Tracker) 
• Once they have joined a class they will be taken to their class dashboard.
• Add a class avatar - this will show on the school map and helps to distinguish the class on the map
• Check their class participant list and edit their team as necessary.

Note: multiple teachers can join / manage a class and a teacher can manage multiple teams. For example:

- two teachers job share a class / team

- a Year 7 class is doing RAA in their PDHPE, maths and science classes and have all associated teachers managing the team

- a PDHPE teacher teaches two Year 8 classes and manages both teams. 

NEED HELP: if you do not receive this email or have trouble creating an account, joining your class or viewing your  class please contact the PSC team - psc@det.nsw.edu.au. 

Transferring students between classes

Teachers can transfer students to other classes if they know the class code of the 'new class' the student needs to be transferred to. If you do not know the class code see your RAA coordinator.

• Click on the student's name in the class list.
• Click the 'Transfer' button.
• Enter the class code for the new class (to transfer to), and click the blue 'Transfer' button.

A student can be transferred at any time during the race - this will also transfer their RAA kms to the new class.

Alternatively a student (without active RAA kms) can be deleted and a new student name added to a class. 

RAA launch videos 

The aim of the Premier’s Sporting Challenge is to promote the benefits of physical activity and to get more students and staff more active, more often. To build excitement and to emphasise the importance of being active, start the Race Around Australia (RAA) with a launch party!

The NSW School Sport Unit has created a highly engaging launch videos to motivate, educate and inspire students to work together on RAA. 

• Whole school approach – present the launch video in the school hall for all students to view or in each classroom commencing at the same time. Please note, for the primary launch each student will need to be at arms length apart in order to participate safely in the practical activities.
• Whole day launch – present the launch video to students and follow this up with activities during the day that will contribute to their physical activity minutes. The NSW School Sport Unit website has a variety of activities you can do including Fast Starts and games you can incorporate in the classroom and/or outdoors. You can also utilise the Sport Australia Play for Life Activity Cards to create your own sports gala day or afternoon of activities. Student ambassadors could help lead the activities for younger students.

RAA kms - How is activity tracked? 

This can be done in three main ways. 

• Distance activities - 1 km of running or walking is 1 RAA km.  
• Timed activities - a general rule is that 5 minutes of moderate / vigorous activity (something that makes you huff and puff) is 1 RAA km. See our conversion chartfor a broad view on converting activities to RAA KM's. 
• Prescribed activities - there is a number of 'RAA workouts' that can be found in our resources page that have a set RAA km value. 

Although we are 'racing around Australia’, it is important to emphasise that it is a team challenge. Students benefit from working together as a team to achieve a goal (travelling further around the coast of Australia) and by living the ethos of ‘more active more often’. 

Teachers are responsible for adding all student activity (distances).

• RAA kms can be added individually or in bulk, as a class or larger group. 
• RAA kms can be added at a teachers discretion / availability

- after each activity session

- at the end of the day (total of the days activity) 

- at the end of a few days (total of the activity)

• activity can be backdated if it is not added on the day it was performed.

NOTE: there is a maximum of 10 RAA kms per student per entry.  

Consider whether the logging of activity can be delegated to a PSC Student Ambassador / student leader within your class.

• RAA website guide: adding and deleting distances (PDF 1.11MB)

RAA website map layers  

Schools can choose to view different challenge map layers. The layers are designed to accommodate schools of different sizes and levels of participation in RAA. It may be difficult to know which schools are of similar size, so schools may choose to challenge a 'similar' school. 

• School map - the default map layer and shows teams within a school racing alongside each other. 
• Directorate map - shows schools within the same School Operational Directorate racing alongside each other.  
• Top 50 map - shows the Top 50 schools across the whole DoE racing alongside each other. 
• Class map - shows individuals in a class racing alongside each other. 
• RAA website guide: map layers (PDF 304KB)

RAA milestone curriculum links

RAA links the curriculum areas of PDHPE, Science, History and Geography in an innovative way. When a teacher creates their team, they select the appropriate student stage. This ensures that the education content students ‘unlock’ along the way, is stage appropriate. 

As students race (enter KMs), they will unlock milestones. The milestones creatively link NSW syllabus content to towns, landmarks and cultural experiences.  

• RAA website guide: milestones (PDF 380KB)

For example, when a class reaches Port Macquarie, famous for its Ironman Triathlon, students learn about different components of fitness and how to accurately measure their heart rate during exercise (PDHPE curriculum). When the class reaches Grafton, the focus is on the Jacaranda Festival and how the flowers get their colour (Science curriculum). 

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Perspectives 

Students ‘unlock’ an acknowledgement of country each time they pass through a new Aboriginal country. There are 92 countries along the journey and students can read about the geographical borders of each country. Students can also ‘unlock’ Aboriginal Dreamtime stories along their journey which can be used to link to creative arts and literacy activities. 

How can you teach your curriculum through RAA? 

The Primary schools Race Around Australia promotional video* shows a range of examples of how some RAA teachers have embedded RAA learning experiences into their school day.  

At the conclusion of the race, Teachers and RAA Coordinators must ensure all RAA KM's and team information (names) has been entered and is correct. 

• Finalising RAA participant data (PDF 557KB)

End-of-challenge RAA certificates

The data entered in the RAA website will appear exactly as is on the end-of-challenge (EoC) printed RAA certificates if these are opted in for at the conclusion of the race. These EoC certificates are individualised with:

• School, team and student name
• School, team and student total RAA KMs achieved.

Watch out for support materials which will be uploaded during Term 3 to help Teachers and RAA Coordinators to: 

• Edit KM data  
• Edit participant names  
• Edit Team names 
• Opt in for printing.