We are a very ACTIVE School! We have been an active school since 2021 and we were granted our second active flag in June 25!

Our social media- Facebook and Instagram page are updated regularly- check them out to keep up to date with all of our active school activities. 

We got a new active school uniform this year so we can engage in our daily sporting/movement activities with comfort. 

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Our Active school Committee compromises of representatives from Junior Infants- 6th class. The active committee are very busy. Some of their jobs include organising whole school active initiatives, tidying the P.E. store, playground leaders, organising active homework, conducting surveys, updating the active notice board in the hall to name but a few. 

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Our current active school slogan was created by two pupils in 4th class. 




Physical Education Curriculum:

All of the classes in our school are taught the six strands of the PE curriculum each year (five strands- infants).

We all teach the same strands concurrently and we also focus on the same two fundamental movement skills while engaging with each strand. Most teachers use the P.S.S.I. lessons to guide their planning and teaching.

​P.E. Curriculum Plan- 
Strand/Fundamental Movement Skills Plan
Sept/Oct- Athletics- Running/Jumping
Nov/Dec- Dance- Hop/Skip/Side step
Jan/Feb-Gymnastics-Landing/Balancing
March/April- Games- Catch/Throw/Kicking 
May/June-Outdoor Activities -Running/Skipping

We are also very lucky to be in such close proximity to the pool. 1st class -6th class always engage in an eight week swimming programme. They will go swimming in the summer term. 
All classes engage with the PAWS Water Safety Programme every June.


All classes engage in 60 minutes of P.E. lessons per week. Some classes split this 60 minutes into two 30 minute slots per week.


Strand & Fundamental Movement Skill Focus:
As part of our Active Flag we decided to put a focus on the Strand “Athletics” this year. We started off the year with the Relays takeover initiative and the children revisited what makes a good runner. 
 
 We also choose 4 Fundamental Movement Skills to focus on this year.
October- February
1) Dodging
2) Balancing
March- June
1) Side Stepping 
2) Throwing

School Breaks:
We have 2 breaks each day (11:00-11:15 and 13:00- 13:25) and all children are encouraged to engage in physical activity and movement. During term 2 and 3 we have Playground leaders who play various playground games with the younger classes.

Movement Breaks:
Every class engages with various different movement breaks throughout the day. These breaks helps the children to focus when engaging with the curricula, improves memory and reduces stress .
Some movement breaks that are popular in our school include:

Go Noodle
Outdoor sensory path- infant yard
Indoor trampoline
Scooter Boards
Climbing Wall
Cosmic Kids- Yoga
Dance Party 
10 @ 10 exercise breaks
​Joe Wicks workout 
Walk on Wednesday initiative
Running around the school perimeter

Check out junior infants engaging in their Halloween themed movement break. 



We also engage with the curriculum in an active manner on a daily basis. Check out Senior Infants nature hunt in Munday's field and maths relays in 4th/5th as some prime examples.

​More examples will be added throughout the year!
















Check out Junior Infants performing their Seachtain na Gaeilge performance in an active manner. 







Partnerships:
Our Active School Notice Board- P.E. Hall

This keeps everyone in the school community (pupils, parents, staff, visitors) informed about upcoming  A.S. events and different ways in which our school keeps active. We also have a suggestion folder attached to our notice board where pupils and active school committee members are encouraged to suggest activities. We also recognise some of our Sporting heroes on our notice board.
 
Parents & Active Schools:
Parents/ guardians are informed about different initiatives/ activities that we are doing as part of  Active Schools in a variety of ways. Through the:
Active School Notice Board
Facebook & Instagram page
School email 
School Website- active school section and class pages
Principal's Termly Newsletter 
Our parents are very supportive of our active endeavours. Many of our them are involved in different sporting activities during the year. Some of our parents volunteer to help out during Active School Week. Some of our infant parents engage with Sugradh Le Cheile. Through our H.S.C.L., many of our parents will come into the school this year to partake in various physical activities such as Dance Fit classes and Walk & Talk activities. We  also have many parent volunteers who join us every Thursday morning for our Cycle Bus.

Local Sporting Partnerships:
We have a very well established partnership with our local G.A.A. club Aodh Ruadh which is located directly behind the school. We have G.A.A. coaches that work with us on a regular basis- Brian Roper, Sylvie Maguire and John Larkin (hurling).
Declan Sherlock from Ulster GAA visits the school on an annual basis and teaches the children fundamental movement skills and hurling.
Aidan Mc Guinness who works with Irish Water Safety Ireland visits the school on a regular basis to teach us about water safety.
We also have a very well established relationship with Ballyshannon Leisure Club and the children from 1st- 6th and our Rock Hub classes partake in swimming lessons every year. Ag Súgradh Le Cheile is run by our H.S.C.L. teacher, Anita.
We also have a partnership with Colaiste Cholmcille. Past pupils of the Holy Family who are now in transition year are visiting our school this year on a regular basis to pass on their hurling skills to  the younger children. Thanks to Eoin O' Neill for facilitating this. 
We work with Ray Gallagher from the Ballyshannon Rugby club who has taught the children how to play tag rugby. 



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Physical Activities 24/25:
September- Cross Country running in Donegal town Rugby club- 3rd- 6th class










Cycle Bus- September- October Midterm- Every Thursday pupils from J.I.- 6th class and a number of parents take part in our cycle bus. We meet at the Mall Park before school and we cycle to school together. We pick up children along the way and Scoil Naomh Chaitriona and Gaelscoil Éirne also join us. 






​Active School Relays Takeover- 27th September- J.I.- 6th class had so much fun partaking in various different relay races in the hall.  






Autumn/Winter League G.A.A. September/ October
3rd- 6th class pupils partook in a league every Thursday after school for a month which then culminated in an A and B final. For the finals the rest of the classes and parents got to watch and cheer on the teams. Great sportsmanship and  teamwork was demonstrated throughout. 







On the 25th of October the whole school enjoyed a Halloween themed disco in the hall. There was a junior and senior disco and both adults and children had a spooktacular time. The whole school also enjoyed a Creepy Corridor dash which was organised by all of the pupils in Mr Foley's class. 



Our active school committee members from 2nd- 6th class were involved in creating our outdoor active school walkway. We measured the distance of our walkway and decided where to place the various base points. This will allow us to do lots of active learning outdoors. 







Active School Break Challenge- all of the classes enjoyed participating in the A.S.B. challenge from the 18th November- 13th December. Each class completed daily movement breaks. We found that we were more focused during our lessons after our movement breaks! 



One of our active committee members received her Happy Gram at assembly for doing a great job at reminding her teacher to complete the movement breaks each day and for motivating her peers during the active break challenge.






Nov./Dec. 24- All of the classes are very lucky to have past pupils of the Holy Family School who are now in transition year and Eoin O' Neill coming to the school to teach the children various hurling and ball handling skills. Check out what 1st and 2nd class got up to. 



 

 




For the last week of school  before the holidays the children received some Christmas inspired Active homework. We have really enjoyed getting weekly active homework this year.













The whole school enjoyed using the active walkway for a festive themed movement break called “Christmas Fitmas”. 




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15th January 2025
We had a very successful day in Buncrana at the Cumann na mBunscol Indoor Hurling County Finals. Our girls team made it to the semi finals and our boys team are coming home COUNTY CHAMPIONS! We are so proud of both teams. Our boys team will now compete in Ulster.



We celebrated the boys and girls hurling/camogie success at assembly on the 17th of January. 









Well done to our boys and girls who participated in the Cumann na mBunscol 5 a side Gaelic on the 23rd of January. 

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Our 3rd-6th class athletes really enjoyed their day of athletics in the Abbey Vocational School on the 26th of February. They partook in a variety of events from relays, to vertical jumps, to triple jumps, to javelin throws, to chest pushes and speed bounces to name but a few.  

​March 2025- 5th and 6th class pupils started their Cycle Right Training. 















March 25-Seachtain na Gaeilge & Lá Glás- The whole school did the An Dreolín Dance at assembly and Junior infants~ 2nd class enjoyed a Céilí Beag.☘️







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March 25 ~Junior and Senior infants enjoyed their hurling session with John. Lots of future hurlers for Ballyshannon. 








20th March 25- We are so proud of our hurlers who travelled to Magherafelt and reached the semi- final of the Cumann na mBunscol Indoor Hurling Ulster competition. We beat Antrim and Fermanagh in the group stages and were beaten by Tyrone in the semi final who went on to win the final. Well done boys and thanks to the camogie team for coming to support our boys.







Term 2- Junior infants - 6th are really enjoying their G.A.A. session with Brian Roper every Tuesday working on ball handling, gross motor and team work skills


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Swimming- 24th March- Both of our Rock hub classes and 1st- 6th class began their 8 weeks of swimming lessons. 



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On the 2nd of April our boys and girls G.A.A. teams had their first competitive match in the North Leitrim South Donegal League against St. Macartans. Our girls came out on top and our boys team drew. We also played two challenge matches against Glenties and Scoil Chaitriona. 




Pupils from 4th, 5th and 6th are enjoying being playground leaders for Junior Infants, Senior Infants and 1st class. They play a variety of playground games with the classes during break. 










April/ May 25- All of our classes are really enjoying Skipping Around Europe. The children's skipping skills are improving by the day!








30th April 25- Well done to our senior boys and girls who traveled to Convoy and won the A Final in the Cumann na mBunscol All County large school rounders blitz. 
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April- 25 Our Cycle bus is back until the end of the term. Thanks to our 3rd class pupil Liá who took this video of our cycle bus route on her Go Pro.  We had lots of celebrations for National Bike Week. Thanks to Ted who also came to service all of our bikes. 

Thanks to all of our parents and community volunteers and Guards who make our cycle bus possible every Thursday before school. Thanks to Denise for all of the photos. 6th class went on their first departure tour, a cycle and a swim in Creevy Pier. 

- May 25- 2nd class have been enjoying dance and fitness classes with Caroline every Thursday morning. 










Cuman Na mBunscol League- 13th May 25. Both our boys and girls teams took part in the South Donegal  C. Na B. League. We played 4 different schools and both our girls and boys team made it to the A Final. Unfortunately we were both beaten by  Barnesmore N.S.  in the final. Good luck to Barnesmore as they progress to the next round. We were very proud of the determination and sportsmanship displayed by both teams. 











Active Week 2025- 26th- 30th May 
Move it Monday- all of the classes enjoyed their dance class with Suzanne.











Thankful Tuesday- all of the classes enjoyed their yoga class with Zia. 














School League Finals- 28th May- after 4 weeks of our football league after school we had our finals during Active Week. All of the classes and some parents came to watch the finals in Mundays. Well done to our senior pupils who were great role models for our younger pupils participating. The classes also enjoyed solving riddles on our active walkway. 













Target Thursday- All of the classes enjoyed a basketball session with Tracy. 











Sport for All day- 30th May-
​Thanks to everyone who made our Sports day possible. 
Barbara- zumba dancing
Brian R.- tug of war & ball activities
Sylvester  M. and TY students- races/ obstacle courses
Ray G. - Rugby 
Conall G. - Disco 
John L.- hurling 
All of the children also enjoyed a trip to P. O' Neil's  for an ice-cream thanks to our Parents Association. 

Massive congratulations to both our boys and girls teams who won the North Leitrim South Donegal B Final in Bundoran on the 5th of June. ​