Active Schools Motto - It's not time to sit, it's time to get fit!
Our Active Schools have been going strong in Killinkere NS for 3 years. We have been awarded our first Active flag which we raised in June 2019. We have continued on our journey with lots of activities planned. Check the page for updates to see how we are getting on. A big thank you to teachers Noleen Rudden and Patrice Clarke for the work they do in organising events.
Santa Dash Christmas 2019
Laya Super Trooper Health homework Programme
This Programme is designed around 3 main pillars - Physical Activity, nutrition and Well being. Each child received a wall chart with 10 weeks of one - a week family challenges. They revealed the challenge set each week by scratching the next panel.
Daily Mile
Our daily mile is an initiative we have continued from our first flag. The children really enjoy this activity and we can definitely see the benefits of this in all classes.
Active Walkway
Our active walkway is up and running around the school. The pupils follow the green walkway route markers which include lettering at the bottom to incorporate orienteering activities into the route also. There are four active blue markers positioned along the route as designated activity zones.
Active Week June 2021
Active week was a great way to end the year. A plan was followed for the week with daily activities set daily. The children were given active homework in replace of written homework. We received the active wheel from Cavan Sports Partnership which the children enjoyed using.
June 2021 - Marathon
On Monday 14th June we completed the marathon run as part of active week and our active schools flag. It was a great team effort by all with everyone from Juniors to 6th class playing their part. The children had been preparing for the day by completing out popular daily mile. The pupils really enjoyed the day. Thanks to Mrs Rudden and Mrs Clarke for all their hard work in organising the event. Pictures below.
Active Flag events 2022/2023
Water Safety Ireland’s PAWS (Primary Aquatics Water Safety) outlines the essential life-saving guidelines that every child needs to know.
Fourth and Fifth took part in Land Paws in January. They really enjoyed this and learned the importance of keeping safe around water.
October 2022
Athletics forms part of our PE programme and each year our school takes part in the County National School Cross Country Running competition. It took place on the 14th of October in Killinkere. Over 40 schools in the county took part with more than 150 competitors in each race. Everyone ran so well and they should be so proud of their performances. We even won medals on the day in the Intermediate boys race and in the Senior Boys. Killinkere also won a gold team medal for the senior boys team. It was a great day and all the children thoroughly enjoyed it.
Dance
The children love dance and enjoy learning new dance moves to a variety of songs. We also try to link dance with other activities that might be going on in the school, for example, Seachtain Na Gaeilge
Games
Each teacher ensures that a variety of games and activities are taught as part of the games strand.
Playground Equipment
The pupils were extremely lucky this year as when they returned to school in August they had a new obstacle course installed on the Senior yard. Each class gets a turn to play on this every day and great fun is had by all.
Basketball hoops have also been installed on both the senior and junior yards and the children love playing basketball. The playground activity markings were also repainted and added to and goal posts were put up on each yard.
Skipping has also been a huge hit with all the pupils .
Music in the Yard
We have had music playing in the playground at times and the children really enjoyed this.
At Christmas music played as the pupils did their Christmas Jumper Dash and they enjoyed dancing to the music after it.
We linked our Active Flag with Seachtain na Gaeilge in March and the pupils learned the dance to An Dreoilín.
Play Ground Leaders
The pupils from 5th and 6th class volunteered at the start of the year to become Playground leaders. A rota was drawn up and Playground leaders were on the Junior yard every Monday and Friday.
A box with a selection of game was organised for the Playground leaders to use to help them with ideas for different games. They organised the equipment needed and ensured that the pupils on the Junior yard had great fun.
Our Active Walkway
Our active walkway is up and running around the school. The pupils follow the green walkway route markers which include lettering at the bottom to incorporate orienteering activities into the route also. There are four active blue markers positioned along the route as designated activity zones.
The pupils enjoy the walkway and teachers enjoy using it to make learning fun and active.
we have used some of the ideas from the walkway booklet to incorporate learning and exercise.
Some of these activities include
- Active Flag leaders leading the each class and stopping at each active marker to complete an exercise
- Active maths- Addition and subtraction and Multiplication and division activities using the numbers on the markers
- Active Literacy- Make up a word with the letters on the markers and then use a dictionary to look up words
- Learn spelling/ tables as they walk
- Brainstorm ideas as they walk
Daily Mile
Our daily mile is an initiative we have continued from our first flag and all classes take part. The children really enjoy this activity and we can definitely see the benefits of this in all classes.
The pupils in the senior classes are now running their Daily Mile
Active Lines
With the help of the Active Flag leaders we now have active lines at the end of break every Tuesday and Friday. The Active Flag leaders demonstrate and lead the pupils in a variety of exercises. The pupils really enjoy this.
Active Easter, Christmas and Halloween
Lots of fun was had at Halloween as the pupils enjoyed an active w
alk around our Walkway in their fancy dress costumes and also a Pumpkin Fitness Challenge.
P is for 10 push ups
U is for 10 up and down squats
M is for marching in place for 30 seconds
P is for pull a rope for 30 seconds
K is for kick your legs for 30 seconds
I is for invent an exercise
N is for Ninety seconds of jumping jacks
Thanks to our Active Flag Committee we had a fantastic active morning on Wednesday the 21st of December. The committee worked together to organise circuits for all the pupils.
The Active Flag leaders took each class to the class and the pupils had great fun doing the E.A.S.T.E.R. exercises and playing musical statues in the hall.
Decrease Sedentary Time
The pupils and teachers worked very hard on trying to decrease sedentary time this year. The children were encouraged to get up and move as they learned.
Examples of some of the activities include
- matching activities,
- walk around and use the Gaeilge phrases learnt
- stand and say tables/ spellings
- Jog on the spot as they count
Cycle and Walk to School
Some of the pupils love cycling to school and thanks to the Green Flag committee they have somewhere safe and dry to store their bikes.
The Active Flag and Green Flag committee worked together to encourage the children to walk to school or park and walk every Wednesday.
They also ran the “ Walk to School for 10 days” challenge in February. The pupils really enjoyed this and thankfully the weather was nice every morning.
A No car day was also organised for Friday the 28th of April and this worked very well. The staff and parents parked their cars up at the church and walked down to school.
Working with Local Agencies
As a school we always enjoy working with a range of local agencies.
Every year we work with Ulster Rugby to promote Rugby within the school. A coach visits the school 3 or 4 times during the year and the senior end of the school get to work with him.
We also take part in the Virginia Rugby Blitz each year and the children really enjoy this day out.
Cavan County Board GAA coach Karen worked with pupils during Term 1