Active School Flag

Scoil Chlochair Mhuire are on a mission to achieve their first Active School Flag.

The Active School Flag is a Department of Education and Skills initiative which recognises schools that strive to achieve a physically educated and physically active school community, by awarding them with an Active School Flag.

To achieve the Active School Flag we started by self-evaluating our current provision across PE, Physical Activity and Partnerships. We then planned and implemented improvements that continue to have a real and tangible impact on our school community.

We already have a very strong history of physical activity and team sports with after-school and during-school activities in place. We continue to introduce a variety of activities to the children in our school such as American Football, cycling, athletics and Zumba.

As part of the Active School programme, we organise an Active Schools Week in May. This is a whole school initiative, with exciting activities and lots of fun and games. One of the aims of Active Schools Week is to show that not only is physical activity good for you but it can also be lots of fun and a great way to spend time with friends.

To find out more about the Active School initiative click on www.activeschoolflag.ie

Physical Education

There are six strands in the PE curriculum - Athletics, Aquatics, Dance, Games, Gymnastics, Outdoor and Adventure. At least five of the six strands are covered each year. There is a minimum of 60 minutes of timetabled PE per class each week. Students from 3rd,4th, 5th and 6th class take part in swimming lessons over a six week period. The land PAWS water safety programme is also covered with students.

Teachers use the Primary School Curriculum, PSSI lessons and the Move Well Move Often programme to inform their planning and delivery of PE. Lessons are planned and taught in a way that is accessible for all students. Staff members take part in different courses in relation to PE and share feedback and resources with the rest of the staff. This year teachers attended the ‘Move Well, Move Often’ seminar.

Teachers discuss each child's engagement and progress in PE during parent teacher meetings and this is also highlighted on their end of year reports.

2nd, 5th and 6th class engaged with the Land PAWS water safety programme. Water Safety Ireland’s PAWS (Primary Aquatics Water Safety) outlines the essential life-saving guidelines that every child needs to know.

Students have access to a variety of sports and PE equipment during PE lessons and also out on the yard at lunchtime. All equipment is kept in our PE room and everything is stored and labelled clearly. An audit is carried out each year and the ASF committee helps out with this. They check if any equipment is broken or needs replacing.

The whole school takes part in Active School's Week every year in May and we give 'active homework' during this week. We also have seasonal active initiatives throughout the year such as our, Halloween Monster Mash, 'Active Jingle Mingle', a céilí during Seachtain na Gaeilge, World Book Day walk, annual school sponsored walk, along with many more.

Playground Leaders

Every Wednesday we have Playground Leaders from the ASF committee on yard to organise and set up games for their fellow pupils and younger classes. Our Active Flag Committee have helped to organise this. The boys and girls on the junior yard look forward to this every week and always have lots of fun thanks to our wonderful Playground Leaders!

Active Schools Week May 2024

We had a lot of fun during our Active Week. We had different coaches and teachers come into the school throughout the week and work with us in basketball, Irish dancing, Zumba and rugby. We had a whole school Sports Day that was packed full of activities including GAA, egg and spoon races, sack races, American Football, and obstacle courses to name a few. We also had a student vs teacher game of soccer! And teachers took on teachers in the Gladiator Ring.

See our Sports Day video below.

Physical Activity

We are very lucky here in Scoil Chlochair Mhuire that we have a lot of space on our yard and around the school for the students to use when engaging in physical activity. We have a basketball court, an astro yard for the junior and autism classes, a garden, the Eddie Murphy Walkway (Active School Walkway) and a large grass pitch with goal posts and garden.

'Active Break Every Day' Challenge

We completed the 'Active Break Every Day' Challenge over a four week period in November and December. We were introduced to various Irish Olympic athletes and each day we had a different Olympic Movement Break to try out.

Active Break Times

Children have small break at 10.45am-11.00am and big break from 12.35pm-1pm

The members of the Active School Committee are the playground leaders every Wednesday and they encourage their classmates to participate in playground games. Students are encouraged to be active during lunch breaks and can use PE equipment outside. The committee members have organised that each class is equipped with their own playground equipment and students can avail of the different resources on yard e.g. skipping ropes, hula hoops, bean bags, soft balls, etc.

Active Breaks in the classroom

Go Noodle, active songs, yoga, brain breaks, standing desks are all normal occurrences in our classrooms throughout the day.

Active Lines

Classes are encouraged by the ASF committee while waiting for their teachers on yard to stay active. Active line posters are dotted around the yard and easily seen for all to engage with.

Run Around Europe Challenge

There was great enthusiasm from students and staff in completing the Run Around Europe challenge. They have been going outside for our daily laps as part of our Run Around Europe challenge. Many classes even travelled the distance from multiple cities around Europe.

Walkway Learning Challenge

May is the month for the Outdoor and Adventure PE strand and classes are enjoying the walkway learning challenges.

Partnerships

Our school established an Active Schools' Committee. The committee members have various roles such as managing equipment, conducting surveys, organising activities at lunchtimes and sharing ideas from their classmates at our Active Flag meetings to name a few.

Our Active School Slogan

Our ASF committee organised a whole school slogan competition. The winning motto is ‘Being Fit is a Big Hit’.

'What club are you in?' survey

Our committee members carried out a 'What club are you in?' survey throughout the school to see what clubs our students are involved in. They gathered information about the different types of clubs available in the locality and the results were shared on our Active School's noticeboard for other students who might be interested in joining them.

Cork Sports Partnership

We have worked closely with Cork Sports partnership for the past number of years and have accessed many sport sessions with them.

Sciath na Scol

Scoil Chlochair Mhuire take part annually in the Sciath na Scol Chorcaí competitions in football and camogie. It has been a historic year for us as we fielded our first ever Boy’s Team.

We are lucky enough to send representative forward for the Primary Game trials each year.

FAI Blitz

5th and 6th class boy and girl teams have taken part in the FAI blitz organised in Blarney and Carrigtwohill. All teams showed great sportsmanship.

Cork City Sports

Our Cork City Sports team of runners have been training very hard for the upcoming races on the 30th of May in MTU.

Cross Country Running

Scoil Chlochair Mhuire has participated in this years local Cross Country Running competition.

Cycle Right Programme

3rd, 4th and 5th class participated in the Cycle Right programme with Wild Atlantic Sports.