Prioritised P.E. Strand – Outdoor & Adventure - Orienteering

When we started the Active School process, the Active Schools Committee, the pupils and the teachers all agreed that Outdoor & Adventure was an area of the P.E. curriculum that we really needed to give more attention to. So, we decided that this would be our prioritised P.E. strand.

 

Since returning to school after the Easter break, every teacher in the school has been actively engaging in the Primary Schools’ Sports Initiative (PSSI) lesson plans, see link: https://pssi.pdst.ie/pssi_outdoor/outpage.html .

 

To get everyone started, the Active Schools coordinators provided each class teacher with a hardcopy of these various lessons suited to their class level, along with a copy of the relevant ‘Walking Activities & Outdoor Challenges’ provided on the PSSI website also. This straight away got everyone interested and eager to get involved!

 

It has been truly wonderful seeing all the classes running around outside whilst on their scavenger hunts, searching every corner of the school grounds, eyes peeled and clipboards in hand!! (See our numerous photos!!) Both the teachers and the students seemed to really enjoy all the lessons, as well as the challenges which went down a treat!! Examples of activities which were completed were number matching, snake walks, orienteering, adjective scavenger hunts, mapping/following directions, control cards etc.

 

As well as this, the children completed different orienteering activities which incorporated our new Active Schools walkway! These included dictionary work, multiplication as well as mindfulness activities! This was a great success and linked in very well to our prioritised strand.

 

As a result of prioritising ‘Outdoor & Adventure’ as our PE strand as part of Active Schools, we feel that both the students and the teachers have a more positive attitude towards this area of the curriculum.