April 2022

• 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th Class participated in a cross country race in St. Anne's Park.  This event was a competition between local schools.  3rd & 4th Class ran 500 metres while 5th & 6th Class ran 800 metres.  It was a really fun day and the team brought home a trophy and 5 medals.  They really enjoyed the event and can't wait for the next event.  (Click here for photos)

March 2022

• March has brought some very exciting changes to the school.  We are now able to mix with different classes.  This means all classes can now have two outdoor breaktimes together everyday.  We now have three yards in operation everyday.  The basketball court is  being used for classes to buddy up together.  Senior classes have become playground leaders and they are busy teaching the younger children lots of different games.  Playground equipment can now be shared with other classes.  Everyone is delighted with all the new changes.   

• The 6th class girls helped Ms. Howard to reorganise the P.E. storeroom as teachers can more easily share the equipment for P.E. now that restrictions have been lifted.  Exciting times ahead for the whole school!

• The teachers and SNAs completed CPD on gymnastics this month.  Caitríona Cosgrave from the IPPEA guided the staff through some new very active ideas for gymnastics which included some rhythmic gymnastics.  Additional resources were purchased for the school following this workshop.  Some other teachers also attended training for Cricket and for Hockey.

• Teachers are able to bring their classes on buses once more so are starting to make plans for active tours in the coming months.  On the 5th of March 5th & 6th class participated in a Tag Rugby Blitz in Clontarf.  The girls played against mixed teams from different local schools.  They had a really fun time and we look forward to welcoming the Clontarf Tag Rugby coaches into the school later in the year (click here for photos)

• On the 8th March, girls in 6th class participated in a fencing demonstration.  Hopefully more classes will get a chance to participate in fencing later in the year (click here for photos)

• 4th & 6th Class also participated in a taster Cricket session.  More classes will hopefully get a chance to participate in cricket later in the term.  

• Classes have been extremely busy running laps as they make their way to different destinations around Europe.  They are tracking their progress over four weeks.

• Our after school activities have started back also this month.  Children are taking part in dancing, mixed activities, Gaelic football and keep fit classes. 

• Athletics training has started for the senior classes as they prepare to participate iin a cross country race in St. Anne's Park in April.  They will also run in Santry in the Summer.  This event has not taken place for two years so it will be very exciting to take part again this year. 

• On the 16th of March all classes came together in groups to show off the Irish dancing they have been learning in P.E.  There was great craic agus spraoi as each class performed.  Some children also performed dancing individually for the school (click here for photos)

• 5th Class continue with their cycling safety classes and had a chance to try out their cycling skills on the road. Well done to all the girls who took part in this. 

• Active Week 2022 will run the first week after the Easter holidays.  Parents have been invited to come into the school grounds to participate in Wake Up Shake up and playground games and others have volunteered to teach active skills to classes during this week.

February 2022

• 5th Class continue with their cycling safety classes. 

• All classes are participating in 10@10 each week and loving this activity. (Click here for photos)

• On the 13th of February all families in the school were invited to St. Anne's for Junior Parkrun.  Junior Parkrun takes place every Sunday at 9.30a.m.  It is a free event and children from 4-14 can take part.  Over 50 children from the school and their siblings braved the wet weather and participated in this "Friendship Run."  It was a great morning and allowed families to meet up together outdoors in a Covid safe way.  Hopefully children will continue to take part in this super event in the future. (Click here for photos)

• Classes are working towards active rewards within their rooms.

January 2022

• 5th Class started Cycling Safety lessons which includes learning how to check the safety of bicycles and to make adjustments when needed.  They have been learning how to improve their cycling skills and how to cycle safely on the road.  It has been a very fun learning experience for them. (Click here for photos)

• New gymnastics equipment has been purchased to enhance our learning of this strand in P.E. 

• Mr. Birch is working with all classes for their P.E. lessons and trying out some new skills with classes outdoors. 

• During our well-being week, classes had the opportunity to engage in Pilates workshops.  Lots of other classes tried out some yoga in their classrooms. 

• Our Active Committee are starting to make plans for Active Week 2022.  We are very hopeful that we will be able to include parents in the plans for Active Week this year.

December 2021

• Many classes completed dance workshops this term.  These creative dance workshops were extremely enjoyable and gave the students and teachers lots of ideas to use in their P.E. classes in the future.  (Click here for more photos).

• Our Festive Fitness Fun Days were held on the 15th and 16th of December.  All classes had the opportunity to participate in Jingle Bells Jumping, Icicle Hockey, Wrapped-Up Relays, Snow-ball Shoot Out and throwing frisbees into Santa's postbox.  All Classes had a chance to participate in the activities and everyone had so much fun participating in all of the activities. (Click here for photos)

November 2021

• Our Active Committee met up to go on a walk of our Active Walkway.  This walkway is 1.5km long and the active committee are busy brainstorming exciting ways for their classes to use the walkway with their classes. 

• Plans are being made for activities to celebrate Christmas in St. Brigid's in an active way.

October 2021

• Our staff have nominated Gymnastics as the area of the curriculum that will be focused on within the school this year.  New resources will be purchased and the teachers will be learning new skills later in the year in this are which they will bring to their classes.

• Lots of classes took part in Maths Trails as part of our Maths Week.

• All classes were busy learning dances with a Halloween theme.  On the last day of school before the midterm break, all classes had the opportunity to take part in a Covid friendly, socially distanced Halloween disco.  They were dressed up in their Halloween clothes and everyone had lots of fun. (Click here for photos)

September 2021

• Our New active committee has been formed and we are all set for an exciting year ahead which will hopefully see us renew our active flag.   

• Classes are engaging in an initiative whereby they are having active breaks every single day and tracking this for four weeks.  Classes are busy running laps everyday with their classes.  On rainy days, classes are staying active indoors with Bizzy breaks, Go Noodle and cosmic yoga.   

• Our playground markings were re-painted over the summer and classes are having lots of fun using these again.  

• Lots of classes are now doing active homework every week.  Classes are practising the fundamental movements in activities set by their teachers.

• Amy from Craobh Chiaráin has returned to the school to help teachers in their coaching of G.A.A.  All classes will have a chance to work with Amy over the next few weeks. (Click here for photos)

OUR ACTIVE SCHOOL PLAN 2021/2022

Physical Education

·      The children have at least one hour of time-tabled P.E. every week. 

·      The 5 Strands of the curriculum are being taught in a broad and balanced way.  There is a unified time-table across all the classes and strands are taught in blocks throughout the year.

·       We prioritise a different strand of the curriculum to be developed each year.  This year we are working on Gymnastics.  New resources have been purchased to support a broader Gymnastics curriculum.

·       The P.E. equipment is being added to on a continual basis and the Active Committee regularly check that it is all organised and tidied away.

Physical Activity

·      The children have physical activity breaks twice daily on dry days.  When it is wet the children engage in Active Breaks in their classroom.

·         Each class run laps of the school playground.  They record the amount of laps they do daily.  Some classes have completed a marathon already!

·         All classes get involved in Drop Everything and Dance on a regular basis.  The senior girls teach different dances to the girls each month.  When the weather is good, we often have a “Wake Up, Shake Up,” where we do all the dances together in the playground.

·         The school organises Active Fundraisers each year including a Skipathon and a sponsored walk.

        Every Christmas, Festive Fitness Fun Days are organised for all classes where the children engage in Christmas themed activities such as "Jingle Bell Jumping," "Icicle Hockey," "Parcel Relays", "Santa Sack Races," and "Bauble & Spoon race."  

·      The teachers give active minutes as a reward for good behaviour.  These can be used to engage in whatever physical activity each class decides.

·        St. Brigid’s has a Green Flag for Travel.  The children are encouraged to use Active Travel.  There are Walk and Scoot to School days organised regularly.  The school has a scooter dock for the children to park their scooters.

       A variety of after school activities are available to the girls in St. Brigid's these can vary from term to term but include basketball, Gaelic football, Athletics, Irish Dancing, mixed sports.

A    Every year our school participates in the European Week of Sport.  In the past, classes worked together to complete a whole school marathon (300 laps of the senior playground) over the week.  They also completed the Run Around Europe Challenge.  There have been many activities organised during these weeks which have included whole school “Wake Up Shake Ups,”  teachers challenging the teachers to a penalty shoot-out as well as whole school participation in our local Park Run in St.Anne's Park.

Partnerships

·         The school is linked with Killester Basketball Club, Craobh Chiaráin G.A.A. Club, Clontarf Rugby Club and Clontarf Cricket Club.  St. Brigid's G.N.S. also links up with the Fingal County Sports Officers & recreation services who have provided many exciting active opportunities to the school over the past number of years.   

       The school has also linked in with Junior Parkrun and every year the children are informed about parkrun and encouraged families to participate in this event.  At different times throughout the year, the whole school is invited to come together to participate in Junior Parkrun together.

·         As part of our four previous Active School Weeks, links were made with the local Cricket, Fencing, Taekwando, Tag Rugby, Badminton, Ultimate Frisbee and Tennis clubs.

·         Parents of children in the school gave lessons in Irish Dancing, Aerobics, Yoga, Soccer, Tag Rugby and Pilates and parents and grandparents of children gave lessons in playground games from the past.

·         Parents have been invited to come to take part in “Wake Up, Shake Up,” teach playground games from their childhood to children and join in on Parkrun events occasionally too.

 Active School Week

·         We have completed 6 Active Weeks to date which were so much fun.

·         During these weeks the children experienced Ultimate Frisbee, aerobics, Cricket, Tug of War, Irish dancing, Tennis, Fencing, Yoga, Pilates, Badminton, Tag Rugby, Taekwando, grandparents & parents taught playground games from the past, there were active picnics, some classes walked a mile with a smile, teachers challenged the active committee to a game of dodgeball and there were “Wake up shake ups.”

·         Our next Active week will be in April 2022  and lots of fun activities will be planned! 

This year we are working towards an Amber Flag at St.Brigids. The Amber Flag shows that our school promotes positive wellbeing and mental health. As part of our Amber Flag initiative, we hosted our first ever Well-being Week! Here is our timetable of exciting things we got up to!

We also held a 'design a mindfulness colouring sheet competition'. Click the image below to see our winning entries.. well done to all  who participated!

Other activities included yoga, gratitude journaling, circle time and nature walks.

Check out our whole-school well-being wall! Each one of our students created a 'shield' for Wellbeing; one section amber for The Amber Flag, one section with their favourite quote and the last decorated with doodles of things that make them happy. The girls had great fun picking out their own shields on the wall.

We were also lucky enough to have some visitors join us during the week. The Junior classes participated in a storytelling workshop with Seosamh, and the senior classes took part in a Pilates workshop with Barbra. On Friday we all dressed up in rainbow colours as part of a fundraiser for Pieta House. 

Click on the picture below for more photographs.....

A big thank you to everyone who participated and helped make our first 'Wellbeing Week' a great success!