Active Schools Week 2018-19

Our FIRST ever Active Schools Week took place during the week of 10th – 14th June 2019. 

Firstly, we wanted to make sure that every pupil’s opinions were heard. So, together with last year’s Active Schools Committee, we discussed possible events and line-up of activities that could work for our school for this very important week! The members gathered together different suggestions of activities from their own classes before bringing them with them for the Active School meeting. Many of the suggestions were taken on board and took place during this week. Check out our ASW timetable below!! Active Schools Week 2019 allowed the children to have a say in what activities they’d like to try out and to remain fit and active within a non-competitive environment. 

EVERY MORNING of the Active Schools Week 2019 we completed the Daily Mile challenge wherein the whole school got involved in running laps around the perimeter of the school. This was a great way of warming up before completing our other activities throughout the day! 

On Monday 10th June 2019, we participated in the ‘Climb the Heights’ skipping challenge! Each class, along with their class teacher, had the opportunity to firstly choose one of the highest mountains in Europe to climb, before spending 10-15mins out on the court skipping. Each skip was the equivalent to 1metre! Once the skipping session was over, the children would give their number of skips (consecutive skips for senior classes) and the teacher would add up everyone’s score to see how high they climbed and how many mountains they reached! It was that easy and SO much fun!! We have spent more time on this challenge since and even ordered new sets of skipping ropes for our pupils!   

On Tuesday 11th June 2019, we held our annual SPORTS DAY! This is basically a day FULL of activities and team games and just general FUN! The 6th class pupils are usually in charge of setting up all the different sports stations in different areas around the school.  Each class has the opportunity to play different games for at least half an hour before moving onto the next station. The sports on the day included tennis, hockey, rounders, athletics, dodgeball, gymnastics, crazy golf and cooperative games using the parachute!

On Wednesday 12th June 2019, after the Daily Mile challenge, we had planned a whole school ZUMBA fitness challenge which instead turned out to be the day of the Girls Basketball Final which took place in Ballon Community and Sports Centre! The younger classes got to complete the Zumba at a later stage whilst the senior end of the school was busy cheering on our girls. It was a very close match and a great win for the girls and their teacher Ms. Kennedy!

On Thursday 13th June 2019, we had a VERY special guest visit our school, Marcus Lawler. Marcus Lawler is an Irish sprinter specialising in the 200 metres. He finished fourth at the 2013 European Junior Championships and represented his country at two senior European Championships. He won a bronze medal at the 2019 Summer Universiade. He is 25 years old and studied in the IT Carlow. Marcus was greeted by the Active Schools Committee members at the school gate, while the whole school gathered in the hall for his arrival! This was followed by Marcus taking out different classes to give them athletics based lessons before a question & answer session in the hall once again. The children really enjoyed it and learned a lot about eating healthy and the importance of getting enough physical activity at a young age!

On the last day of the Active Schools Week 2019, on Friday 14th June 2019, we had a teacher v student game of basketball The 6th class students played against the teachers while the rest of the school spectated! This got very competitive indeed! However, it was the students who came out on top, much to the annoyance of our teachers! It must have been due to the fact they were playing in the basketball final just days before! However, the week after Active Schools Week 2019 the teachers sought revenge and won the teacher v 6th class students game of rounders! Think it was best to leave it at that then ….. Please see a picture of our Active Schools Week 2019 display in the lunch room in school.