active schools week
This year we held our first annual Active Schools Week. We had loads of fun activities for the children throughout the week and it was a great success as the children were active and had fun throughout the week. All written homework was replaced with active homework instead. We had some fantastic people come in and help us out during the week with the vast majority of them giving us their time for free. Everyone's help is greatly appreciated as it would not have been possible without you.
Monday
We kicked off the week with Darren, Muriel and Kevin coming infrom Health and Fitness Ireland to give the children from Junior Infants up to Second Class a talk on healthy eating and the power of positive thinking. The classes then went out and completed a circuit based course. The children really enjoyed this. The Older classes played some volleyball and soccer. We also had David Lenane and Paul Darcy come in from the FAI and offer all classes some soccer coaching. Again this was a great success as the children had great fun.
Tuesday
On Tuesday we had Darren back with us to give the healthy eating talk and run the circuit training for the children at the senior end of the school. We also had the local scouts in from Ballymacarbary to show the children some of the fun activities that the scouts do. The younger classses played parachute games while the children from 2nd-6th played Tug of War with local Tug of War champion Frank. This was a very busy day but great enjoyment was had by all.
Wednesday
On Wednesday we had a more relaxed day. When we looked outside we were delighted to see the sun shining as we headed off for 5.5km walk with local trail walking expert Liam Flemming. Every child in the school headed off together and there was plenty of fun had by all. The younger children in the school were fantastic as this was no easy walk with Liam talking us up some very steep hills. We stopped half way and had some lunch together. When we arrived back Miss Kelly and Mr.Hyland's class headed off to swimming while everyone else took a well earned break.
Thursday
On Thursday we started the day with some Gymnastics with Karen from Kool School. Karen was great with kids and despite a hectic day she managed to fit in all the classes. The children loved receiving some gymnastics coaching from an expert. We also had some orienteering activities with the older children helping out the younger children to find animals around the school. The children from third to sixth went and completed a maze activity which we had set up in the GAA pitch. Another great had had by all.
Friday
Thankfully the weather staed dry for us again on our last day of Active Schools Week. We kicked off the day with some GAA coaching with local coach Ger Beary. Ger has been with us all year and has been a great asset to the school. The children have really loved having him coach them and the staff greatly appreciate the effort he puts into ensuring that the children have an enjoyable experience. We ran a GAA tournament which each team playing each other. This like all activities during the week was done for fun and not for winning. The children from third to sixth also played tag rugby which was really enjoyable to watch. We finished the week with our first annual teachers vs sixth class match. The match was competive and hard fought but everyone was smiling and laughing and having a great time.
The whole week was really enjoyable with a wonderful atmosphere around the school. The children were simply fantastic. It was so lovely to see them so happy everyday and looking forward to the activities that we would be doing. A final thank you to everyone that made this event possible. We really aprreciate everything that was done to make this week a success.
The whole week was really enjoyable with a wonderful atmosphere around the school. The children were simply fantastic. It was so lovely to see them so happy everyday and looking forward to the activities that we would be doing. A final thank you to everyone that made this event possible. We really aprreciate everything that was done to make this week a success.
running the world
As part of our efforts to get the children more active, we decided to get the school running for the 5 weeks leading up to the Easter holidays. Each day the children from 5th and 6th class marked out the running track which was 250m long and went the whole way around the school. The children from 4th - 6th class collected a student from the younger classes and ran around the track with them for small break. This was a great success as the older children were brilliant at encouraging the younger children to do their best each day. The younger children flew around the track and this really was a great bonding activity for the whole school. The older children then ran by themselves at another point during the day.
When we started we hoped that we would be able to run around the coast of Ireland before we finished up our running block. Not in our wildest dreams could we have imagined just how far we would get as a school. The total distance ran by all was 3471km. This was an average of over 100km per day. Well done everyone!!
A special thank you to 5th & 6th class who helped so much with the success of this. In the last two weeks of the run they were running between 4 and 5km each day which is amazing. Thanks a million for your efforts. I'm very proud of you all.
The first image shows the route around Ireland that we took. The second image shows how far we ran if we ran in a straight line from Newcastle. The last picture shows the distance that 5th and 6th class ran over the 5 weeks.
When we started we hoped that we would be able to run around the coast of Ireland before we finished up our running block. Not in our wildest dreams could we have imagined just how far we would get as a school. The total distance ran by all was 3471km. This was an average of over 100km per day. Well done everyone!!
A special thank you to 5th & 6th class who helped so much with the success of this. In the last two weeks of the run they were running between 4 and 5km each day which is amazing. Thanks a million for your efforts. I'm very proud of you all.
The first image shows the route around Ireland that we took. The second image shows how far we ran if we ran in a straight line from Newcastle. The last picture shows the distance that 5th and 6th class ran over the 5 weeks.
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Fai Soccer Girls' tournament
Our 4th - 6th class girls took part in the FAI soccer tournament held in Cahir last Monday. We had a great day out and the girls had some great success winning two games and drawing one game. The girls missed out on making the county finals by one goal. Well done to the girls on a great effort.
Fai soccer tournament
Our 4th - 6th Class boys took part in the FAI soccer tournament held in Cahir last Monday. We entered two teams into the competition. In what was a very competitive event our boys held their own losing out narrowly on a few occasions. Overall the team has progressed well and this was shown through the number of goals that both teams scored on the day. A big well done to the boys and hopefully they will continue with all the hard training they have been putting in this year.
oUR aCTIVE rUN AROUND IRELand
In recent weeks we have started a running initiative at break times with each class running around a track for five minutes. The senior children measured the track using a trundle wheel. Each lap that a child does is counted by the older children. These laps are then totaled up and the distance that each class has run is calculated. All of the classes totals are then added together and we then get our total for the day. The goal of our active running initiative is to run around Ireland through some of the major cities and towns. This is a total of 1,777 kilometers. We are hoping to complete our journey in time for the Easter holidays.
10@10
For the 10@10 everyone went outside for 10 minutes and got busy exercising. The exercises were led by the teachers and by some of the 5th and 6th class. An excellent time was had by all
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Halloween beactive
Some Scary monsters running around the school today
GAA
Our football team has made some great progress and we are constantly improving in each game we play. We were delighted to have four debutantes for the school over our two games and we will continue to work hard to improve further for future matches. Well done everyone!!
zumba
Here are some photos of 5th and 6th class doing Zumba. There are some serious dancers in this group. We'll see a few of them on Dancing With the Stars soon.
Active maths
Our Active breaks
As part of our attempts to get the Active Flag we have decided to change the way we structure our big breaks. To encourage everyone to be active during lunch we have put the children into eight groups and they will do two different activities for ten minutes each day. The children from 4th - 6th will be the senior leaders and they will teach the other children the new games they will be playing. 2nd & 3rd class will be junior leaders and will help the older children in any way they can so as to ensure everyone is having fun. This is a great way of getting everyone active and it also gets the children playing with different children during break time. We really hope that everyone enjoys our active breaks.