Active School Flag

Scoil Ghráinne is currently working towards earning our second Active School Flag.

Physical Education in Scoil Ghráinne

There are six strands of the PE Curriculum that are covered throughout the year:

  1. Games
  2. Athletics
  3. Dance
  4. Gymnastics
  5. Aquatics
  6. Outdoor and Adventure
  • Junior and Senior Infant classes have a minimum of two 30 minute PE lessons timetabled per week, 1st – 6th classes have a minimum of one 60 minute lesson per week.
  • We have a whole school approach to the teaching of PE which supports collaborative planning and management of equipment. 
  • Lessons are differentiated to cater for different needs and in the case of unforeseen injuries; activities are adapted to ensure all children are physically active e.g. child with a broken leg can take part in throwing activities.
  • Parents are informed of children’s progress in PE both at Parent Teacher meetings each November and in the End of Year Reports.
  • Teacher’s use the PSSI lesson Plans to guide yearly and fortnightly planning. 

Fundamental Movement Skills

The fundamental movement skills are prioritised by school staff and promoted throughout the children’s physical activity lessons. These skills consist of running, dodging, jumping for height, jumping for distance, skipping, side stepping, hopping and walking. Posters outlining these skills, a step-by-step guide of how to successfully implement each one in addition to visual aids are displayed in the school sport hall. Scoil Ghráinne recognises the importance of the fundamental movement skills in children’s physical development and how children can develop these sport-specific skills when practiced regularly. These skills are central in supporting children’s co-ordination and movement which is why they are prioritised.

 

PE Equipment

The boys and girls in Scoil Ghráinne love to partake in various sports and activities during the school day. Our school’s PE equipment and resources are located in the store room at the back of the PE hall.

The layout of this room allows teachers to access various different PE equipment and resources. The PE equipment and resources in the store room are clearly labelled with written and visual pictures on them. This is great for allowing staff members to easily gather and return items quickly during the school day.

The PE equipment and resources are loved by all the boys and girls in Scoil Ghráinne. Our PE resources include- cones, bibs, beanbags, skipping ropes, hula hoops, sponge balls, footballs, rugby equipment, basketballs, ladders, tennis equipment, badminton equipment, athletics equipment and parachutes.

Aquatics and Swimming

All classes complete the Irish Water Safety PAWS program each year between the months of April to June.

3rd to 6th classes attend six weeks of lessons each year in the National Aquatic Centre with qualified swimming instructors.

Additional Physical Activity

In our school, we love taking part in active breaks many times throughout the day! We do far too many different active breaks to list them all but some of our favourites are GoNoodle, 10 @ 10, Yoga with Adriene, The Body Coach, Cosmic Kids Yoga, Yoga & Corpoideachas le Ciarán ar Cúla4, Run Around Ireland, D.E.A.D. (Drop Everything and Dance) and The Daily Mile. We really enjoyed taking part in the ‘Active Break Every Day’ challenge earlier in the year, so much so, that many of us have continued with it in our classes! Here are some photos of us doing our Daily Mile! As you can see, we are having so much fun! We love having these active breaks as we know they help us to become much fitter and healthier and we can concentrate a lot better and learn even more when we return to learning, after our active break!

Run Around Ireland Challenge

Every class completed the ‘Run a Day’ challenge, as a whole school initiative, over a period of 4 weeks this year. This has been a great way to learn about Ireland and many of its famous landmarks around the country. It gave running a purpose for the children as they reached targets and goals each week. The children reached landmarks such as The Spire in County Dublin, The Rock of Cashel in County Tipperary and Hook Head lighthouse in County Waterford. This helped the children to develop good running technique throughout. Huge effort was put in daily.

60 Minutes Physical Challenge

The children from 3rd-6th class in Scoil Ghráinne were each given a copy of the 60 Minutes Physical Activity Challenge to complete each term. The children recorded any physical activity completed for one week on the template given to them by their class teacher. The World Health Orgsnisation recommends that children should accumulate at least 60 minutes of physical activity daily, which is accumulated along with being active in during the school day. Examples of the children being active outside of school were walking or cycling to school, going for a walk or run as exercise and training for a team or individual sport.

Active Homework

All pupils areceive PE homework once per week, related to the PE strand they are working on.

  1. Click here to download a bank of active homework resources that the students/teachers can choose from to use for their active homework.
  2. Click here to download a sample of active homework activities that are related to the Athletics strand. This resource is suitable for all levels and contains activities for the week.

Partnerships

We are very lucky to partner with local clubs and teams each year.

  • All classes participate in a 6 week block of GAA training with Erin go Bragh
  • 5th and 6th classes complete rugby coaching with Leinster Rugby
  • 4th class take part in Cycling Safety with Fingal County Council

Active Schools 2020-2021

Click here to find out all that our school has got up to the last year!

  1. Physical Education – how we have tried to make this fun
  2. Physical Activity – initiatives like the Daily Mile we have introduced
  3. Partnerships – how we have linked with other bodies in our community

Active School Surveys

In April and May 2021 we conducted both pupil and parent questionnaires to find out people’s views and opinions on physical activity. These questionnaires were completed in class by 2nd-6th class and on Aladdin by parents.

Click here to see the results.

Active School Surveys

In April and May 2021 we conducted both pupil and parent questionnaires to find out people’s views and opinions on physical activity. These questionnaires were completed in class by 2nd-6th class and on Aladdin by parents.

Click here to see the results.

 

Active Week 2021

Active Week 2021 promises to be the best yet! It will run from the 14th-18th June and is jam-packed with lots of fun activities. Children will take part in co-operative and orienteering challenges, basketball, GAA, tag rugby and Irish dancing activities during the week. Teachers will be recording their classes activity for the three weeks up to Active Week with the ‘Road to Tokyo’ physical activity challenge!

The most keenly awaited days are Junior Sports Day (Wednesday 16th June) and Senior Sports Day (Thursday 17th June)! Children will have more time to rotate around stations and with the day divided there will be more space. The school will be divided into four country teams (e.g. USA) and children will get awarded a gold, silver or bronze medal for their effort after each station. At the end of the day the country that has the most points will be the Sports Day Olympic champion! 

Click here to see the provisional plan for Active Week.

Click here to see the provisional plan for Sports Day.

Notice Board

Letter from the Principal

Dear Parents/Guardians,

As we approach the end of another school year, it’s a good opportunity to reflect on Scoil Ghráinne’s accomplishments and express my sincere appreciation for the efforts and contributions of our entire school community

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Enrolment for September 2024/25

Closing date for applications into Junior Infants for September 2024 is 31st January 2024.

Any applications received after this date will be a late application and filed as such.

You can call into the school's office for an application form or alternatively you can download one here.

Read more

Annual Admission Notice