We are a very ACTIVE School! We have been an active school since 2021 and our current flag is up for renewal in November of this year.
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.
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.
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.
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- January 1) Dodging 2) Balancing
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!
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.
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”.
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.