Every Thursday as part of our children’s homework, each child completes an active activity! This is a great way of allowing children to have some fun, while improving their physical health! It is also an effective method of giving them a short ‘brain break’ from their studies.
This year we have Active Line Leaders from every class group. An older child and a younger child choose one exercise to do in front of the whole school when they line up for coming back in after our small break and our lunch break. Leaders select an exercise and then demonstrate how to do it. The whole school then does ten of the given exercise before returning to class!
Today the boys and girls got involved in a Valentine’s Day themed relay! They got to practice their maths while doing some exercise at the same time!
In December, teachers completed a ‘Mini Me Yoga’ Foundation course with Natalie Boyle. Today the children in Mrs Mc Guirk’s room got the opportunity to engage with yoga in a fun and active, but meaningful way. This is another step towards helping increase the overall mental health and well-being of both pupils and teachers as part of our Health Promoting Schools Campaign and Active Flag Campaign.
Here are some of the many benefits of teaching yoga to kids:
Yoga helps kids to:
The children enjoyed their session today and I can definitely see the children reaping the many rewards listed above!
Active Schools Week took place this year in our school between Monday 27th and Friday 31st of May 2019. We engaged in many fun active events at school and at home. All children were encouraged to wear comfortable sports gear and footwear for this whole week. Have a peek below at some of the events we got involved in.
Annually, we are very fortunate as a school to get skilled coaches (from Monaghan GAA) into our school to teach all our pupils varying levels of Gaelic skills through the use of fun activities, focusing on the required techniques.
As part of our Active Flag Campaign we had a dance instructor visit our school and teach dance to our pupils, every Wednesday for ten weeks. All the children got active in completing various dance moves. Please have a browse at our photos to see our pupils in action. Rosita also got involved in some dancing as part of our Active Flag Campaign. Thank you Rosita for teaching us some fantastic moves!
As part of our Active Flag Campaign we had a very special sports person visit our school on Wednesday the 7th March ‘18. Brian Gregan, Olympic Athlete visited, as part of the Sports for Schools Initiative. All of the children got active in completing various circuits and they also learned lots about what’s involved in becoming a famous athlete. Our school also received money towards PE equipment, which we were delighted about. We have ordered some new supplies and we will definitely be putting them to good use outdoors! Please have a browse at our photos to see some of the fun activities the pupils got involved in.
This year we have active leaders from fifth and sixth class as we feel they are the most responsible members for carrying out leadership roles in games. Leaders select an active game from a list compiled by the teachers and also from suggestions received from pupils (via our suggestion box). The games that take place every Monday, Wednesday and Friday are a massive success and it has proven to be a fantastic way of promoting team work among our children and also a way of ensuring that every child gets involved in physical activity. Keep up the great work leaders! See our Active Leaders below!
Here are some pictures of our Active Leaders at work indoors and outdoors and also some of our Busy Break or Brain Break activities carried out by our teachers throughout the school day!
Our Active Schools Committee are responsible for helping keep our school body active through lots of different initiatives!
