We are working towards our 3rd Active School Flag.
Physical Education
P.E. is a very important part of the curriculum here in Killeshandra N.S. (C. of I.).
All classes have P.E. on their timetable each week.
Throughout the school, all the different strands on the P.E. curriculum are taught each year – Athletics, Aquatics, Dance, Gymnastics, Games, Outdoor and Adventure. Teachers use the PSSI resources to plan lessons. We have a standardised timetable so all classes are working on the same strand at the same time:
We also focus on a different Fundamental Movement Skill each month using the Move Well, Move Often resources. The FMS are divided over 2 years:
The P.E. strand and the Fundamental Movement Skill we are working on each month are displayed on our Active School Flag noticeboard.
We have a wide range of P.E. resources in the school – soccer, Gaelic and basketballs, hockey sticks and balls, tennis racquets and balls, bibs, hoops, skipping ropes, hurdles, javelins, discuses, beanbags, spots, balance benches, gymnastic mats, batons, cones – the list goes on! All our P.E. equipment and resources are easily accessible in the school and are used regularly as part of our P.E. lessons.
Physical Activity
We strive to make physical activity an integral part of every day here in Killeshandra N.S.
We take part in various ‘Active Break Every Day’ challenges during the year. One of these was the Olympic Movement Breaks, a series of 20 short videos led by Olympians and High-Performance athletes demonstrating fun exercises and activities. We took part in activities across a variety of different sports including athletics, boxing, rugby sevens, swimming, breakdancing, and para powerlifting!
These movement breaks had lots of benefits – they helped us to concentrate and focus on our learning during the day, they taught us about some of the athletes and their stories, we were more active during the school day and we developed our fitness, balance, co-ordination and skills. As well as all of this, they were great fun!
Partnerships
One of our Active School Committees choose our Active School slogan. They asked the children in their classrooms for their suggestions and ideas, then met together to decide on our slogan. It was a very tough decision as there were lots of fantastic ideas, but our Active School slogan is:
Active School Week
This places place every year in Term 3 and is one of the highlights of our school year! Instead of regular homework, we have Active Homework and each child completes an Active Homework Diary for the week.