Active School Flag

In St. Mary's Woodside N.S. we are on a mission to get our Active School Flag.

Active School Flag Information

What is the Active School Flag?

The Active School Flag (ASF) is a Department of Education and Skills initiative supported by Healthy Ireland. The Active School Flag is awarded to schools that strive to achieve a physically educated and physically active school community. The process aims to get more schools, more active, more often.

St. Mary’s Woodside is currently working towards attaining our Active School Flag. In order to achieve this, we will be running various active initiatives throughout the year. The aim of this is to increase awareness of the importance of physical activity amongst young people. It is recommended that every child receives 60 minutes of physical activity a day.

For us to achieve the ASF, we have to satisfy four criteria which are listed below:

A. Physical Activity

B. Physical Education

C. Partnerships

D. Active School Week

There are four key areas to the ‘Active Schools’ Programme – our physical education lessons, physical activity at other times of the day, getting everyone involved and having an Active Schools Week.

Physical Education

At St. Mary's Woodside N.S we seek to assist the children in our school in achieving their potential by the promotion of physical activity throughout the school. We intend to reinforce the seven key messages of the Primary PE curriculum in our lessons.

Key Messages of the Primary PE Curriculum

The importance of enjoyment and play.
Maximum participation by all children.
The development of skills and understanding.
A balance between competitive and non-competitive activities.
Providing opportunities for achievement of each child.
Providing activities equally suitable for boys and girls.

All pupils in our school are provided with 60 minutes timetabled PE per week, as a minimum.

All classes are taught 5 different PE strands each year: Athletics, Dance, Gymnastics, Games, and Outdoor and Adventure.

All classes are taught the PAWS Water Safety Programme in June each year. All classes from 1st-6th avail of an 8-week swimming block throughout the year in Meadowbrook Swimming Pool.

Every child’s progress is discussed with parents at Parent-Teacher meetings and feedback is included in the annual school report.

Our school PE programme allocates a balanced amount of teaching time to each of the different PE strands.

St. Mary's Woodside NS ensures that PE activities are planned so that they are accessible by all pupils.

Teachers use the progamme 'The Fundamental Movement Coach' (designed by our current 2nd class teacher Mr. Hickey), PSSI lesson plans and the 'Move Well, Move Often' resources to guide their delivery of the PE Curriculum.

P.E. Curriculum

Strands Strand units

Athletics

Running
Jumping
Throwing
Understanding and appreciation of athletics

Dance

Exploration, creation and performance of dance
Understanding and appreciation of dance

Gymnastics

Movement
Understanding and appreciation of gymnastics

Games

Sending, receiving and travelling
Creating and playing games
Understanding and appreciation of games

Outdoor and adventure activities

Walking, cycling and camping activities
Orienteering
Outdoor challenges
Water-based activities
Understanding and appreciation of outdoor and adventure activities

Aquatics

Walking, cycling and camping activities
Hygiene
Water safety
Entry to and exit from the water
Buoyancy and propulsion
Stroke development
Water-based ball games
Understanding and appreciation of aquatics

PE Equipment and Storage

Our school ensures that children with special needs can play a full role in all PE opportunities – all equipment is labelled clearly in our new PE shed.
The School work with the local Sports Inclusion Disability Officer to find out how we can become more inclusive as a school in terms of the PE and physical activity opportunities that we offer.
Our school undertakes a PE equipment audit once a year, disposing of old and broken equipment.
Our school has adequate, age appropriate equipment to teach all of the PE strands.
Our PE equipment and resources are clearly labelled, well organised and easily accessible in our new PE shed.

PAWS - Water Safety

At St George's NS, we teach the PAWS Water Safety Programme to all class levels each year during the month of June.

We are very lucky in Balbriggan to be near the sea. This also means it is extra important for us to understand the importance of water safety.

PAWS (Primary Aquatics Water Safety) outlines life-saving guidelines for children of every age and is available digitally to every school in the country. It teaches children how to be safe around water in homes, farms, pools, beaches and on our waterways.

For more information visit https://watersafety.ie/primary-school/

Fundamental Movement Skills

With the help of the Active Committee, we decided that the 4 Fundamental Movement Skills (FMS) that we would focus on are:

Running

Dodging

Catching

Throwing

Further information about Fundamental Movement Skills and the Move Well Move Often resources used can be found at https://www.scoilnet.ie/pdst/physlit/fms-activities/