Playground Leaders
The Active School committee are our Playground Leaders. They make sure everyone is playing together nicely, they assure everyone is equipped with the right playground equipment such as basketballs, skipping ropes, French skipping lines, rugby balls, soccer ball, footballs and softballs. They collect up the equipment at the end of break and ensure that it is all put back in its proper place in the P.E storage room. The committee take great pride in this room, as they have counted and labelled everything, assuring that it is in its proper place. Thank you Mary for the help with this task!
Our Playground Leaders also take charge of our Active Lines. The children follow the leaders as they take them through exercises after the bell rings as they are waiting for their teachers to return. This gets everyone motivated and focussed, ready for class.
Active School Walkway
The Active School Walkway was launched during Active Week 2019. The route was planned by our senior ASC, using google satellite maps and measuring equipment. We linked this in with our maths lessons on measurement and co-ordinates.
The ASC drew the route map and it is displayed at the start point. There are visible signs noting the route throughout the walkway.
The walkway starts in our school yard and follows our boundary fence around our scenic green area and pitch, then back up towards the school gardens. This beautiful route is for all to enjoy, no matter the weather! The children wear their wellies on wet days. The walkway has been registered on getirelandwalking.ie
On launch day, the whole school followed the signs to complete the Active Walkway and because it was such a beautiful day, we also walked Red Lane. Check out this short clip of the launch:
Running Initiative:
Our Running Initiative has been evolving and gaining momentum since 2015. We began The Daily Mile as a whole school initiative with great success. As part of Active Schools November 2017, the committee decided to introduce the Running Club at lunchtime, where the children signed up to get involved.
As we gained momentum, we decided to introduce running as a whole school activity. Every morning at 10am, every child gathers with their teachers to jog or run our field. The Active Committee have measured out this route and they record everyone’s distance. Each week we are able to run a little bit further! The committee then convert the laps into km and each day we run to a new town. It’s great fun! By the end of June, we are hoping to run as far as Cork City. Have a look at the map of Ireland on the Active School noticeboard in the school, we record our achievements every day.
As a staff, we have decided to continue this running initiative indefinitely. The children are focused, energised and of course, fighting fit!
Rainy Day Active Breaks
Here in West Wicklow, we can be a bit unfortunate with the weather. As a school we generally send the children our for fresh air and a run around as long as they have their coats and wellies on. Sometimes though, if the rain is pouring too much, we do need to stay inside to stay dry. Our teachers have agreed to use this time for indoor Active activities.
Emma, our schools Occupational Therapist came in to show us lots of ways to stay Active by just staying at our desks. She also introduced FUNtervals to our classroom. Each teacher now has Funterval Activity cards at their desks, as well as Activity Dice, so as they can keep active during very wet days.
Sometimes, we use GoNoodle in our classrooms. These are online videos to follow and keep us active, we love dancing along to these until the rain stops.
Active Calendar
(Check out our Active School Blog for more detail)
Active Schools 2017-2018:
September: Run A Muck (BETNS Parents & Teacher)
October: Witch Walk
November: Yoga classes & Spikeball
January: One Million Steps Challenge with the WLSP
February: GAA with Paul and Sports For Schools Fitness Challenge
March: Disco-Ceili
April: Easter Hunt
May: Active Week
June: Soccer Tournament
2018-2019
September: Run a Muck with the BETNS Parents
October: Witch Walk
November: Yard Games, skipping and French Skipping
December: Active Advent Calendar
January: Spikeball Tournament
February: Hip Hop Dancing with Sinead
March: Easter Active Hunt
April: Tug of War in Russborough House with the WLSP and lunchtime Basketball tournament
May: Lunchtime Unihoc tournament and Active Week!
June: National Bike Week- Bike safety lessons
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