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!