Active School Flag
We were delighted to be awarded our first Active School Flag in June 2016. Since then, we have continued to be an active school we were awarded our second Active School Flag in February 2021.
Our Active School Committee meets regularly and includes pupils from all classes in the school, who help to organise activities. Our Active School slogan is “Don’t quit, Be fit!”, encouraging everyone to be fit and healthy.
Physical Education
Killeshandra N.S. (C. of I.) is committed to providing high-quality Physical Education to all pupils. All classes receive 60 minutes of PE lessons each week. All PE strands are taught during each year – children take part in Athletics, Games, Dance, Gymnastics and Outdoor and Adventure activities. All classes also take part in Aquatics, attending 6 weeks of swimming lessons in Cavan Leisure Complex each year.
Teachers use a variety of resources to guide them in delivering quality PE lessons. All teachers use the Primary Schools’ Sports Initiative lesson plans and resources to plan PE lessons. The Move Well, Move Often programme is also used to teach the Fundamental Movement Skills to all pupils.
Teachers regularly engage in CPD in the area of PE. All teachers attended a Creative Dance workshop organised by PDST in March 2020. Teachers also attended seminars for developing Physical Literacy through Fundamental Movement Skills.
A standardised PE timetable is implemented across the school, meaning that all classes are taught the same PE strand and Fundamental Movement Skill at the same time during the school year. This allows for the sharing of resources and ideas, and ensures that a balanced amount of time is given to each area of the PE curriculum.
The PE strand and the Fundamental Movement Skill that all classes are working on at the time are displayed on the Active School notice board, along with a poster explaining the Fundamental Movement Skill.
Fundamental Movement Skills are taught and integrated into every PE lesson using the Move Well, Move Often resources, focusing on one skill every month.
Striking with an implement 
Balancing
Every Monday night, children have Active Homework – they take part in physical activity instead of a piece of written homework.
Each month, the PDST video for the Fundamental Movement Skill we are focusing on in PE is shared with the children on Seesaw so they can practise this skill at home as part of their Active Homework.
The strand of Gymnastics was identified as an area of focus for the year 2019-2020. A specialist coach, Niall Teather, taught Gymnastics to all classes for 6 weeks, and teachers also engaged with an advisor from the PDST in the area of teaching Gymnastics.
The Land PAWS Water Safety Programme was completed by the children in the Middle Room – they enjoyed learning about how to stay safe around water and were delighted to receive their certificates to show they completed the programme.
We have a great range of PE equipment available in the school. All equipment is stored in the PE shed behind the school, and is easily accessible by all classes. PE equipment is regularly checked and replaced as required.
Physical Activity
Break and Lunch time – all children are encouraged to be active at break and lunch time, helping them to achieve the target of being active for 60 minutes a day. The yard is divided into different areas for soccer, basketball, playground games and free play. All children have the opportunity to play regularly on all areas of the yard, including the 4G grass pitch and the multipurpose pitch.
Playground equipment – a range of equipment is available every day for children to use during playtime, including soccer balls, basketballs, soft balls, cones and skipping ropes. Other PE equipment is also available for the children to use on the yard as requested.
‘Walk and Talk’ – children who just want to have a chat in the playground are encouraged to ‘walk and talk’ to make sure that they are keeping active.
Playground leaders – children from 5th and 6th Classes are trained as Playground Leaders and organise games at lunchtime for other children to play.
Dance Day – children suggest songs they would like to dance to, and these songs are played outside on the yard on ‘Dance Day’ at lunchtime. Children enjoy showing off their dance moves and performing routines to some of their favourite songs!
Active Breaks in the classroom – all children completed the ‘Active Break Every Day’ challenge for 4 weeks in November/December 2019, taking part in running, exercise or dance breaks every day. Active breaks are regularly included in the school day to improve concentration and fitness. We enjoy exercise and dance breaks, including Just Dance, Go-Noodle and 10@10. On wet days when pupils can’t go outside, exercise breaks are completed in the classroom.
A Mile a Day – we measured the distance around our playground and pitches and worked out that 10 laps = 1 mile. Children walk or run for 10 minutes a day, aiming to complete at least a mile a day.
Active School Walkway – We were delighted to receive our Active School Walkway resources so we were able to mark the route around our playground that we use for our Mile a Day. We have also been using the walkway for orienteering activities.
‘Run around Ireland’ Challenge – during the month of November 2020, all classes took part in the ‘Run around Ireland’ challenge. Each room kept a record of how many laps of the Walkway they completed every day, and the places that they reached. We enjoyed learning about lots of different landmarks in Ireland, as well as improving our running skills.
Physical Activity Rewards – physical activity is used as a reward in the school, for example a trip to the park or extra playtime as a class or whole school reward or treat.
Physical Activity across the Curriculum – physical activities are included across the curriculum wherever possible, for example History walks in Killeshandra and Maths trails in the yard.
Physical Activity in calendar events – where possible, physical activity in incorporated into annual events in the year, for example a forest walk during Tree Week, an Active Advent Calendar, lots of active games at our Christmas Party and dancing during Seachtaine na Gaeilge.
60 Minute Physical Activity Challenge – children in 2nd – 6th Classes kept a record of their physical activity over a period of one week each term. They were aiming to be active for at least 60 minutes every day.
We try to include as many opportunities as possible during the school day to get moving – we take movement and brain breaks in our classrooms, we go outside for our mile and we put on music in the classroom and have a dance around for a few minutes – all these little actions add up to reduce the amount of time we are sitting for and help us to concentrate on our work!
School Tours – School tours are organised with physical activity in mind. In recent years, children have enjoyed tours to GR8 which included indoor football, golf and a large soft play area, and to Let’s Go! with inflatables, go karts and outdoor games.
Partnerships
Active School Committee – there are 8 pupils, one from each class in the school, as well as 2 teachers, Ms Graham and Ms Gregg, on our Active School Committee. The committee meet regularly to discuss and plan events and activities. All children are encouraged to use the ‘Active School Suggestions’ box, and the committee read and act on these suggestions. Children on the Active School Committee report back to their classes about what was discussed at the meetings, and any new initiatives or activities.
Members of the Active School Committee, as well as other pupils, help with planning events, partnering with younger children during activities, making sure PE equipment is ready and put away carefully and acting as Playground Leaders – everyone has an important role to play in helping us to be an Active School.
Active School slogan – lots of suggestions were made for our slogan for the Active School Flag. The Active School Committee decided on the slogan “Don’t quit, Be fit!” as the one to encourage and inspire us to be more active and healthy.
Sports Coaches – the school invites in a range of coaches to enhance the pupils’ experience in physical activity. In previous years, the children have enjoyed GAA, hockey and tennis coaching.
In January/February 2020, all children received 6 weeks of Gymnastics coaching from Niall Teather.
Well Done Wall – the Active School notice board includes a ‘Well Done Wall’ where children’s sporting achievements both inside and outside school are celebrated. Children are encouraged to share their achievements with their class, for example by bringing in a trophy won by their team or showing a dance they performed in a show.
Cross Country – all children took part in cross country training in September 2019, and 18 pupils represented the school at the Cavan Primary Schools Cross Country competition in Killinkere in October 2019. Congratulations to all who took part, especially the teams and individuals who were awarded medals!
Swimming Gala – a number of children also represented the school in the Cavan Schools Swimming Gala. Well done to everyone who took part and swam so well for the school!
GAA – we enjoy coaching sessions with a coaches from Cavan GAA, developing our skills and playing games.
The school also has strong links with the local Killeshandra Leaguers GFC.
Pupils from 4th – 6th Classes join with Scoil Bhríde to enter a Killeshandra team in the Cumann na mBunscol competition. The boys train and play their matches in the Autumn, while the girls play in the Spring and Summer.
The Junior classroom enjoyed a GAA taster session when John Cosgrove, coach of the Little Leaguers and the U7 Academy, came to talk to them about the club.
Cavan Sports Partnership – the school has benefited from many coaches provided by Cavan Sports Partnership in recent years.
Pauline provided a coaching session on how to play Tug-of-War.
The Junior and Middle Rooms enjoyed one Zumba lesson with Aisha in March 2020 before the school had to close due to Covid-19.
The Senior Room were planning to take part in the Tri-Heroes programme with Sasha in April 2020. Unfortunately, this was cancelled due to Covid-19, but we hope to run this programme, as well as a full session of Zumba lessons in the future.
What clubs are you in? – the children in the Middle Room carried out a survey of all the children in the school to see which sports clubs they are members of. The children used the data they collected to create tally charts and graphs in Maths.
The results of the survey were displayed on the Active School notice board. We discovered that the children are members of 12 different clubs – GAA, soccer, gymnastics, dance, hockey, swimming, rugby, horse riding, karate, kick boxing, cycling and triathlon!
Parent and Pupil Questionnaires – In November 2020, all pupils from 1st – 6th Class and all parents were invited to take part in a Questionnaire to find out their views on PE, physical activity and the the Active School Flag process in the school. We were delighted to recieve such a positive response from both parents and pupils.
It is very clear that parents feel their children enjoy PE and the variety of strands covered in the curriculum. There was and overwhelming positive response from parents to both Active Homework and the Mile a Day challenge, as well as to Active School Week. A number of parents suggested that it would be beneficial to take part in more external competitions and have more coaches visit the school, and we hope to be able to do this in the future (post Covid-19).
Parents agreed that the school environment encourages children to be active, but suggested that their children would like more equipment to play with on the yard. As a result of this suggestion, we added skipping ropes to the box of playground equipment for each classroom, and will continue to ensure the children have a good supply of balls etc. Unfortunately, although lots of parents suggested that we could have longer break-times, we have to adhere to the timings set down by the Department of Education!
Pupils are really enjoying the Active School Flag process. When asked to choose their favourite PE activity, all strand areas were well represented. They enjoy getting outside for the Mile and Day, and also enjoy a range of classroom-based activity breaks. Pupils also enjoy the wide range of activities they get to take part in during Active School Week, and had a number of suggestions of things they would like to do in the future!
Thank you to both parents and pupils for your support of all that we are doing to be an Active School and help achieve our target of being active for at least 60 minutes every day!
Active School Week
Every year, the children really enjoy taking part in Active School Week. We spend a large part of every day being active – we might begin with a morning ‘Wake Up, Shake Up’ or dance routine, run a mile or take part in team challenges after break, and go for a walk, complete an orienteering activity or enjoy a basketball or soccer blitz in the afternoon.
We also have the opportunity to try different sports or activities during the week which we might not have played before, including badminton, table tennis or rounders. All the teachers enjoy getting involved in all the different activities going on as well!
An important part of Active School Week is the homework – all week, children have no written homework. Instead they complete at least 30 minutes of physical activity and keeping a record in their Active Homework Diary.
Another important element of Active School Week in Killeshandra National School is working with our team – children from all classes work, learn and play together.
Here are a few photographs of some of the activities we enjoyed during Active School Week last year.
In April 2020, instead of Active School Week, everyone took part in Active HOME Week instead because the school was closed due to Covid-19. Everyone was encouraged to be active for at least 60 minutes every day, try a range of different activities and keep a record on their Challenge Chart.
We were delighted to see so many families taking part in so many different activities, and lots of children were active for a lot longer than 60 minutes every day.
Some of the activities recorded on the Challenge Sheets included cycling, going on the trampoline, walking, playing hockey, skipping, lifting weights, learning dance routines, running, playing tennis, go-karting, walking the dog, playing basketball, gardening, scooting, doing Go Noodle, playing football, completing obstacle courses, doing PE with Joe, gymnastics, going on the swings, boxing and farming! WOW!