The active school flag is a Department of Education and skills initiative. It encourages, inspires and recognises schools who achieve and improve the physical activity of children and the school community. Here in St. Patrick's we are actively engaging with the Active Schools initiative in a variety of ways that we cant wait to share with you. To begin, we self-evaluated, planned, implemented and monitored improvements in the area of Physical Education, Physical activity and Partnerships as well as holding an active school week.

Our Active Schools Walkway

We had our Active Schools Walkway Day. We all had so much fun!!

Active Schools Week

Active Schools Week is always one of the highlights of our school year, and this year we were delighted to place a special emphasis on wellbeing, alongside fun, fitness, and participation for all.

Throughout the week, the children enjoyed a wide variety of exciting activities designed to promote physical activity, teamwork, confidence, creativity, and positive wellbeing. Our aim was to provide every child with the opportunity to try new sports, develop healthy habits, and discover enjoyable ways to stay active both in school and at home.

Our action-packed programme included:

• Active Homework Challenges

• Photo Orienteering in the Phoenix Park

• Rowing

• Athletics

• Kids' Boxing

• Yoga and Mindfulness Sessions

• Friendship Bracelet Making

• Crazy Hair Day 

• Basketball

• Tennis

• Hip-Hop Dancing

• Classroom Movement Breaks

• Soccer

• Active Yards

• Dance Yards

• Sports Day

The enthusiasm and participation shown by our pupils throughout the week were fantastic. From energetic dance sessions to mindful yoga practices, every activity encouraged children to embrace an active lifestyle while supporting their physical, social, and emotional wellbeing.

We were also delighted to make use of the excellent resources provided by Laya Super Troopers, Get Ireland Active, and Irish Heart Foundation, which helped inspire and support many of our activities throughout the week.

Active Schools Week was a wonderful celebration of movement, wellbeing, friendship, and fun. We are incredibly proud of the energy, positivity, and school spirit shown by all our pupils and staff, and we look forward to building on these healthy habits throughout the year.

Playground Markings

As part of our Active Schools campaign we have asked our senior class students to create playground markings to utilise during yard time. The children are asked to consider how they could promote fundamental movement skills through these markings and how they can engage the younger children in gross motor skills such as hopping, skipping, jumping, running and balancing. 

Active Breaks

Active breaks have become a very important part of our school day. Breks may include being outside to run around the yard and engaged with playground games or a quick brain break in the classroom. Here are some of the resources that we may use in the classroom.

Dance

Each year we strive to better our skills in each strand of the Primary Physical Education Curriculum. This year we are working to improve our fundamental movement skills through dance. We have specifically chosen to work on Folk Dance. We worked very hard to learn our dances and showcase them to the rest of our school. We worked on our development of our exploration of movement through dance and development of rhythm. 

Teachers vs Students Dodgeball match