Active School Flag

Irelands Fittest School

Scoil Naomh Cholmcille have registered in a competition to become Ireland’s Fittest School and win €1000 worth of sports equipment. The team at School Fitness Ireland will post a fun new video every day at 12pm for pupils to view and get involved with. Click on the following link or type in School Fitness Ireland to find the videos. https://youtu.be/yz8lfiALyFk

Please email the school to let us know if you are participating in the competition as the more children involved the higher chance of winning. Please don’t worry if you do not receive a reply to this email as your child’s name will be noted automatically.

We will return to FMS when the competition has closed.

Physical Literacy gives pupils the tools they need to take part in physical activity and sport, both for healthy life-long enjoyment and for sporting success. Research shows that being physically active later in life depends on feeling confident in an activity setting; and that confidence, as an adult, most often comes from having learned fundamental movement and sports skills as a child. This is important because physical inactivity has been identified as the fourth leading risk factor for global mortality causing an estimated 6% of deaths globally (WHO, 2010).

Previous research has shown that children can master all Fundamental Movement Skills by the age of 8. However, this most recent research finding shows that a large proportion of Irish children have not mastered FMS by age 10. At this stage, children could become self-conscious in the company of their peers when participating in physical activities/sports that require these skills, and in turn are likely to disengage, leading to a decrease in physical activity (Moving well, being well, DCU, 2018)

Fundamental Movement Skills FMS are the basic building blocks of movement and are an essential part of everyday life and recreational activity. It is only when these skills are mastered that a child can go on to develop specialised movement skills, which will allow them to reach their potential in sports-specific endeavours.

18^th-22^nd May

Skipping is used in many playground games and is fundamental to good footwork used in a wide range of sporting activities such as basketball, rugby and dance. 

Kicking Striking with the foot or kicking is a manipulative skill synonymous with many sporting activities in Ireland.  Kicking a moving object, foot dribbling, trapping and punting are all components of striking with the foot.  This resource pack will initially address striking a stationary object as it is the easiest to become proficient in, and can be applied to many activities and modified games.  

11^th-15^th May

Running The ability to run is essential to perform a wide range of activities in both everyday life and sporting contexts.  Whether it is sprinting in a race or running for pleasure, chasing a football or trying to catch a butterfly, it is essential that everyone develops a proficient running technique. 

Side-stepping The side-step is essential in a great deal of sporting activities such as moving from side to side in tennis, squash and badminton, tracking an opponent's movement in rugby or basketball or taking part in a dance routine.

4^th -8^th of May

Hopping The skill of hopping is used in many practical activities including jumping and landing when catching a ball, performing a layup in basketball, playing hopscotch or dancing. 

Catching The ability to catch is vital in order to play a wide range of games such as gaelic football, basketball, rugby, hurling, baseball, rhythmic gymnastics and playground games.

27^th April- 3^rd of May: Walking and Balance

Walking technique is often taken for granted, however, it is an important precursor to other fundamental movement skills and should be given adequate attention. The link above brings you to a video and activities to help develop correct walking technique with fun games and tips. It also includes an assessment to determine if skill has been fully achieved.

Balancing is essential for all physical development and is a prerequisite for almost every movement skill. The link will bring you to a video outline the different stages of balancing and key teaching points. It also includes games to help your child master the balancing skill.

Also, I thought it would be a bit of fun if we put up videos on the school website of us doing the exercises/ dances for all our Tullydonnell friends to see. If you want to participate, you can send the video to Enable JavaScript to view protected content. Videos must be sent from the parent’s email and by sending the video you as a parent are giving consent to the video of your child/children going on the school website. I look forward to seeing everyone being active and creative. The crazier the better???? PS. Teachers are also invited to put up videos of their daily exercises!!

The timetable will stay the same so as to give routine and see progress but I will change some video links so we don’t get bored.

Click here to download active schools timetable.

Scoil Naomh Cholmcille are excited to be working towards our first ever Active Schools Flag in 2020.

Our Slogan: The PS4 is great, but get active before it’s too late!

PHYSICAL EDUCATION

SN Cholmcille is committed to providing high-quality Physical Education to all pupils.  All classes receive 60 minutes of formal PE lessons each week.  All classes are taught the strands of Games, Athletics, Gymnastics, Dance and Outdoor & Adventure each year.  Pupils in Senior infants partake in the PAWS programme.

Teachers use a variety of resources to guide them in delivering quality PE lessons.  PSSI Lesson Plans are widely used throughout the school. We have focused on the Outdoor and Adventure strand for the school year 2019/2020 in order to build on our resources in this area.  Teachers have completed CPD training in the Move Well, Move Often programme to teach the Fundamental Movement Skills to all pupils.  In September 2019, we introduced a standardised PE timetable, meaning that all classes will be taught the same strand at the same time during the school year.  This will allow for the sharing of resources and ideas among staff and ensure that an equal amount of time is given to each strand.

Timetable

PHYSICAL ACTIVITY

Playground Leaders: Children from 4^th to 6^th class become Playground leaders for one lunch break each week. They create, monitor and play games with the children in the Junior yard to ensure they are having an active and fun break time.

Run Around Ireland challenge: a variety of this running challenge will take place in the Spring term each year.  Each class chooses an Irish landmark to ‘run’ to e.g. The Cliffs of Moher are 286KM away.  We use our Active Walkway to clock up the kilometers; 1 laps of our walkway is 1km.  We collect a lollipop/match stick every time we complete a lap to keep track! Each class’ progress is recorded on a large map on our Active Schools display board.

Active Breaks:  All classes take part in active breaks throughout the school day.  This includes Go-Noodle, Just Dance, Cosmic Kids and a variety of classroom movement ideas.  On a wet day, if pupils cannot go outside at break time, extra time will be given to movement breaks in the classroom.

A Mile A Day: Senior classes start of every morning running a mile in the Autumn of each year. This goes from 4^th up to 6^th class.

Whole School Dance Off: On the last day of each term and midterm all children and teachers learn a dance based on the holiday for eg. Halloween= Ghostbusters. The entire school gather in the PE hall and dance together so that out holidays get off to an active start.

Active Homework: The Active Schools Committee created a month of Active Homework for every pupil to complete in the month of February. Pupils were encouraged to complete an activity each day with their family or friends. Every completed Active homework sheet was entered into a draw for the chance to win a homework pass!

Do Your Talking While Your Walking: Children are encourage to walk around the new Walkway during break times when having chats with their friends or when thinking up of ideas for projects.

PARTNERSHIPS:

Active Flag Committee – Our Active Flag Committee was formed in early October 2019. It includes children from 1^st class up to 6^th class. Pupils are given various roles and tasks to carry out throughout the school year such as making announcements at assembly, giving messages to the classrooms on various initiatives, updating the Active Schools Flag display board, picking the Active Schools Slogan and giving out prizes to active pupils.  Our committee play a very important role in organising and delivering our Active Flag initiatives.

Achievement Wall –This display contains a picture of each child and displays their achievements outside of school in the many and varied activities they get up to as well as achievements, both sporting and otherwise made in school.

HSE Health Promotion – We have a very close partnership with the Health Promotion Department and are in regular contact with our Health Promotion Officer.  We are very proud to have received the Health Promoting School flag in 2019 and are committed to improving the overall health and well-being of our pupils.

Ardee Rugby Club- coaches from Ardee RFC visit the school for a block of time each year to teach rugby skills to one of our classes. This year Mr. Hayden’s 2^nd and 3^rd class participated in the training.

St. Annes/ Fionnbarrs GAA club: Coaches from the local club and county visit the school for blocks of 4 weeks at a time. All classes are given access to the coach at different times. The GAA coaches aims to support and recognise Primary Schools that provide pupils with 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous Gaelic Games activity per week in a manner that ensures the children will experience fun, friendship, fairness and ultimately improve their fitness.

Bike Green: After being in touch with the Louth Sports Partnership about initiatives to help children with Autism get active, they put us in touch with Bike Green. As a result, the children in our ASD unit are being taught how to cycle, being active and most importantly having fun.

Dynamites Basketball: Pupils from 5^th and 6^th class participate in basketball tournaments hosted by this club. They have also encouraged children to learn the rules of basketball so that that they can referee and play basketball at the school during breaks.

ACTIVE WEEK:

Active week is a week of fun activities held from the 27^th of March to the 3^rd of April.

Teachers Vs Pupils: We are kicking off the week with a day of Teacher Vs Pupils challenges. Children

1. Junior & Senior Infants- penalty shoot-out.
2. 1^st class- Egg and spoon race
3. 2^nd class-Sack races
4. 3^rd class- Tug ‘o’ War
5. 4^th class- Gaelic Football
6. 5^th class- Basketball
7. 6^th class- Tag Rugby

Opening of the Walkway: Linking up Green School and the Transport flag children and their parents are encouraged to walk/cycle/ run to school every morning this week. On Monday morning everyone is invited to walk around our new Walkway.  Throughout this day classes will participate in activities in order to familiarise themselves with the walkway for eg. Walkway Mindfulness, Walkway Quiz, Walkway Maths, Active Walkway.

What Club Are You In? : We have invited instructors in from some of the clubs that the pupils are in to give demonstrations to every class.  This gives the children an opportunity to test out a new activity that they may otherwise never have been exposed to.

Lunch time League: Children from 1^st to 6^th class will make up teams that will participate in lunchtime basketball league. 5^th class pupils will referee and manage the teams. The winning team will receive a trophy and homework pass each.

Dance Off: All classes will learn the Just Dance dance to Dance Monkey and as a whole school perform it on the last day of term.

Playground leaders: Games will be put on every day this week in the Junior/ASD yard to ensure that children are being active and having fun.

Pupils and staff wear tracksuits during Active Week and Active Homework is given throughout the week.