Active Schools
Active Schools Flag is a Department of Education and Skills initiative supported by Healthy Ireland. You can read all the details here. Essentially it is a flag awarded to schools that strive to achieve a physically educated and physically active school community….which is something we do at Scoil Mhuire! We were awarded our first Active Schools Flag in the 2013/2014 school year and since then we have continued to encourage our students and the community to be active!As the Active School Flag involves the whole school community we would encourage you to also provide opportunities for your children to be active at home.Additionally , if you think you have any skills or ideas that would be of benefit to maintaining our active School flag we would love you to get involved. You can pass on your suggestions to your child’s teacher. Your support of the Active School Flag is greatly appreciated.
We are currently applying to renew our Active flag in 2019 which means we are coming up with new ideas to keep active and we are having great fun in the process.
Please find below the different initiatives and strategies we have undertaken through the Active School Flag programme
Physical Education
The national curriculum allows for an hour of Physical Education each week for each class. We teach all 6 strands each year: Athletics; Dance; Gymnastics; Games; Outdoor and adventure activities; and Aquatics (from 1st class). Scoil Mhuire has good sporting facilities for our PE lessons. We have a school hall that is suited to indoor activities in poorer weather. We have a basketball court and a playground on our school grounds and plenty of space outdoors. We also have access to the community hall and sports fields nearby.
Since 2018 we have also begun to add Fundamental Moves to our formal PE lessons while also taking every opportunity to incorporate the specific movement we are working on into the activities of our pupils on a daily basis.
Physical Activity
As well as teaching Physical Education lessons in Scoil Mhuire we strive to encourage physical activity throughout the day. We take regular activity breaks: dancing it out or stretching throughout the day in our classrooms. A school circuit has been set up with activities at every turn, this can be done as a class activity break or in smaller groups. Our school yards are designed to encourage activity at play time and the children particularly love the playground added to our yard in 2015. Each class uses the playground in turn during the week and some classes have access during break times.
We have special days that focus on encouraging activity.We Moves on Monday where we play music in the yard at lunchtime, dnace at 10 where all classes drop everything at 10 o clock and dance in their classroom to music over the school intercom. We also are trying out playground leaders, bizzy breaks , go-noodle and Jog for June
Of course ideas vary from year to year but we have had “a scoot to school day”, sponsored walks and every year we have an active schools week – including lots of activities throughout the week and a whole day dedicated to sports and fun.
We promote -” Do your talking as your walking”to make sure our children get as much activity as possible during their yard break. We also try to get out and about moving as much as possible by integrating activities across different curricular areas for example ;
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Our 6th class took a filed trip to Gougane Barra,
We danced our hearts out during “Seachtaine na Gaelilge”,
We love to go on walking trails around Ballincollig’s many historical sites and Senior Infants went on a Nature Hunt.
A lot of our School Tours are activity based as well which our pupils love !
Partnerships
We encourage our students at School Mhuire to get involved in activities outside of school. Involvement in a local club is most likely to encourage lifelong participation in a sport or activity. Basketball, table tennis, swimming, GAA, Zumba, Creative Dance and Athletics are amongst the options locally and our students get a taste for these activities in their PE lessons at school. This variety of activities allows each child to find something active that suits them and their personal interests that can be continued after school and hopefully become a lifelong interest!
We have a strong connection with the Local Ladies Football GAA Club and they help us with training throughout the year. They have helped and encouraged us with our Sciath na Scol training and it has made a huge difference.
Ballincollig Camogie club have been sending coaches to Scoil Mhuire for many years and they took on a new challenge this year (2019) by starting training with the girls from 1st and 2nd class which everyone really enjoyed.
We are also involved with Munster Rugby, Cork City Sports and Table Tennis Ireland.
Active School Week 2019
Active School Week 2019 was a great success in Scoil Mhuire with a Basketball Blitz, Teachers Basketball Challenge , Zumba and the Water Stations being among the highlights . Check out some of these activities and more below. We are already excited about next years active week!
Teacher Basketball Challenge
Athletics is an important part of the year’s sports programme in Scoil Mhuire. The school takes part in the Cork County Primary Sports every year and always with great success! Training takes place in school.
Gaelic Football and Camogie
Gaelic Football and Camogie are very popular sports for the fifth and sixth classes in Scoil Mhuire. The school participates in the Sciath na Scol competitions in both sports. The girls train after school. The training is carried out by Scoil Mhuire teachers. A lot of the girls also play in the local Ballincollig clubs.
Some years the P.F.A. (Parents & Friends Association) has been able to sponsor 6 weeks of Camogie coaching for Fifth Class as part of their P.E. programme and the local Ballincollig GAA Club has supplied coaches.
