Active School Flag

Flagmount Central National School.

Flagmount, Caher, County Clare.

Welcome to the Active School Flag section of our website!

What is An Active School?

The Active School Flag (ASF) 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. We are working towards obtaining our first Active Flag for the school in the academic year 2020 / 2021 with the help of our dedicated Active School Flag Team. Our Active Flag Team organise activities to encourage our school community to be more active, more often.

The Four Components of the Active Flag

Flagmount Central National School have been working hard on each of the four components of the Active Flag – Physical Education, Physical Activity, Partnerships and Active Schools Week. Please see below for a description on each.

Active Flag Committee 2021 with the winning Active Flag Walkway design.

P.E. Equipment in the School Hall.

Gymnastics with Jane Forshaw - Junior Room

Gymnastics with Jane Forshaw - Senior Room

1) Physical Education

P`.E (Physical Education) is a major part of our school curriculum. We have recently reviewed our Whole School Plan for P.E., which outlines how and when we teach the six strands of the P.E Curriculum – Athletics, Aquatics, Dance, Gymnastics, Games, Outdoor and Adventure. All classes, Junior Infants to Sixth Class are taught at least five different P.E. strands every year. All classes, Junior Infants to Sixth Class are provided with sixty minutes timetabled P.E. every week. Lots of different resources and equipment are used to help deliver exciting and engaging lessons. We also have a range of online resources, including the Primary Schools Sports Initiative (P.S.S.I.) lessons, that teachers can access for support to teach P.E. lessons. The Senior Class Teacher, Ms. Browne attended a Professional Development Service for Teachers (P.D.S.T.) Course 'Move Well Move Often' in February 2020. This full - day course gave teachers exciting new ideas in relation to delivering the P.E. Curriculum and also outlined ways to make P.E. more inclusive for all pupils within the school.

We are extremely lucky to have a large open space as our playground, a basketball court, a playing field and the use of the local community hall for P.E activities. Inside the community hall we have access to a wide range of sports equipment from balls and bats to gymnastics equipment such as mats and benches. Our Active Flag Team take special care of the equipment ensuring it is clearly labelled, well organised and accessible.

In the 2020 / 2021 school year the teachers in Flagmount Central National School worked together to strengthen their delivery of the P.E Strand 'Gymnastics'. After much discussion the Teachers agreed that this Strand was an area of the P.E. Curriculum that required further development. We are very grateful to Jane Forshaw who has been delivering a weekly Gymnastics Programme in Term Three of the 2020/2021 school year.

Students in the Senior Classroom (Third Class- Sixth Class) of Flagmount Central National School have recently learned about the Land Primary Aquatics Water Safety (P.A.W.S.) Programme.

This comprehensive programme;

-Teaches children how to be safe around water in homes, farms, pools, beaches and on our waterways.

-Outlines life - saving guidelines for children of every age.

-Incorporates all aspects of the physical education aquatics strand of the primary school curriculum.

Students in the Senior Classroom enjoyed the engaging Power Point Presentation and the interactive puzzles that were part of the programme.

Students also picked a topic from the Power Point Presentation and drew a picture to match the concept.

Gymnastics with Jane Forshaw - Senior Room

P.A.W.S. Programme - Power Point Presentation

Learning about the different Flags - P.A.W.S Programme

Student Art - P.A.W.S Programme

C.P.D. in P.E. - Senior Room Class Teacher

P.S.S.I. Resources for Teachers

Go Noodle

Just Dance

2) Physical Activity

We encourage physical activity throughout the school day. Each class has two outdoor breaks in the playground every day. Children are encouraged to keep moving throughout the break – no sitting allowed! We play lots of different games at break from skipping to basketball and Piggy in the Middle! Our school facilitates the use of playground equipment such as footballs, basketballs, hoola hoops and skipping ropes. We also have trained Playground Leaders at each class level. The Playground Leaders ensure that play runs smoothly at break and lunch time and that everyone is involved. The Playground Leaders also encourage the idea of playing different games and keeping as active as possible at all times.

We get outside as much as we can, but on the occasional days when it is too wet, we do extra 'Go Noodle' and 'Just Dance' sessions and make sure we have lots of fun!

Our school created an Active School Walkway route and we use it regularly to promote physical activity and cross - curricular learning. Recently we used the Walkway for our 'Run Around Ireland Challenge'.

All classes in the school completed the 'Active Break Everyday Challenge' as a whole school initiative, over a period of four weeks this year. Students really enjoyed the active breaks which were taken from the 'Bizzy Breaks' Booklet (Irish Heart Foundation).

All classes in the school also completed the 'Run Around Ireland Challenge' as a whole school initiative over a period of four weeks this year. Senior students enjoyed calculating the distance from our school to the various attractions on the Run Around Ireland Map. We reached a number of attractions including the Cliffs of Moher, Aran Islands and Rock of Cashel!

We are pleased to say that our school incorporates physical activity into annual events. Our annual 'Witch Walk' at Halloween involves students dressing up in costumes and walking through the village. Our annual 'Bike Week' as part of the Green School Flag Initiative also involves students cycling to school and promotes the importance of exercise.

Fun with playground equipment - Junior Room

Fun with playground equipment - Senior Room

Senior Room Playground Leaders

Junior Room Playground Leaders

Active School Walkway Starting Point

Active School Walkway Marker

Active School Walkway Distance Marker

Bizzy Breaks Booklet - Irish Heart Foundation

Run Around Ireland Challenge - Senior Room

Run Around Ireland Challenge - Junior Room

Students in the Senior Classroom enjoying 'Just Dance' during the 'Active Break Challenge'

Students in the Senior Classroom enjoying dancing during the 'Active Break Challenge'

Students in the Senior Classroom enjoying 'Go Noodle' during the 'Active Break Challenge'

Students in the Junior Classroom enjoying 'Go Noodle' during the 'Active Break Challenge'

Annual Witch Walk

Senior Classroom

Annual Witch Walk

Senior Classroom

Annual Witch Walk

Junior Classroom

Cycle / Scoot to School Week - Juniors

Cycle / Scoot to School Week - Seniors

Cycle / Scoot to School Week - Juniors

Cycle / Scoot to School Week - Seniors

Cycle / Scoot to School Week

Become a Flagmount National School Partner

Cumann na mbunscol Camogie Games 2019/2020 School Year

3) Partnerships

Get involved - Become a Flagmount National School Partner!

If you are involved in a sports cub or are physical activity providers then we would be delighted to hear from you. We actively encourage the local community to come and visit our school. Give a taster session of your activity to the children. We like to include new activities each year. Previous activites that we really welcomed included GAA camogie, hurling and football coaches.

Cumann na mBunscol Camogie Games 2019/2020 School Year

In the 2019 / 2020 school year our Fourth Class and Fifth Class girls were involved in the Cumann na mBunscol Camogie Games of East Clare. The girls had some fantastic wins and most importantly a great time playing the sport they love so much.

Active School Flag Committee holding the winning Active School Flag Walkway design

Active School Flag Committee

Our Active School Flag Committee is made up of four students from the Senior Classroom - Olivia Horan, Ann Doyle, Maeve Mc Mahon and Aisling Mc Mahon. The committee help with many aspects of the Active School Flag initiative. Each member of the committee enjoys sport themselves, in particular camogie as was reflected in our 'What Club Are You In?' Survey!

Liaison with the Local Sports Partnership, Local H.S.E. Health Promotion Officer and Local Sports Inclusion Disability Officer.

The Active School Flag School Coordinator of Flagmount Central National School, Ruth Ann Browne, recently made contact with the Local Sports Partnership, Local H.S.E. Health Promotion Officer and Local Sports Disability Officer. The purpose of these correspondences were to find out about the following; opportunities for young people of all abilities and their families to get active in our community (Local Sports Partnership), the H.S.E.'s school's physical activity programmes, teacher training, resource materials and local support that is available and how we as a school can become more inclusive in terms of the PE and physical activity opportunities that we can offer (Local Sports Inclusion Disability Officer).

Local Sports Partnership Email

Local H.S.E. Health Promotion Officer Email

Local Sports Inclusion Disability Officer Email

What Club Are You In Survey Results

Members of the Active School Flag committee in the school conducted a 'What clubs are you in?' survey in the 2019 / 2020 school year to find out about physical activity opportunities in the local community. Members of the Active School Flag Team compiled the findings of the survey and students in fifth and sixth class then represented these findings by creating bar charts. The results found that the two most popular sports were camogie and swimming while the two least popular sports were horse riding and taekwondo.

Sample Bar Chart

-What Club Are You In

Sample Bar Chart

- What Club Are You In

Sample Bar Chart

- What Club Are You In

Sample Bar Chart

- What Club Are You In

Our Active School Flag Slogan

We recognise the importance of being active and how daily physical activity can help us mentally as well as physically. An Active School Flag Slogan Competition was held in the 2019 / 2020 school year for all classes. We had some great entries but our favourite slogan of all was 'Get Outside and Bee Active'.

G.A.A. Hurling:

In Term One of the 2020/2021 school year students had a fantastic G.A.A. coach that taught them hurling every week. Students learned lots of new skills and really enjoyed these hurling sessions.

Students are very lucky to currently have some new G.A.A. coaches teaching them even more hurling skills in Term Three of the 2020/2021 school year. Students are learning all kinds of important skills for example; sending and receiving, running, throwing and catching and the hurley strike.

G.A.A. Hurling. Term One and Term Three 2020/2021 School Year. Junior Room and Senior Room

2020

2021

Active Home Week Certificate 2020

4) Active HOME Week

(April 27th – May 3rd 2020)

National ‘Active SCHOOL Week’ takes place every April and is a really enjoyable part of the school year for many children.

Last year, because of COVID-19, it was not possible for this to go ahead so families of our school were invited to participate in the ‘Active HOME Week‘ challenge instead.

The aim of this initiative was to motivate young people to keep active at home by trying out NEW activities, taking on CHALLENGES and having FUN with family activities.

To complete the challenge young people had to find four different ways of being active every day, making sure that this added up to 60 minutes, or more, of physical activity.

Families were encouraged to fill out their Active HOME Week Challenge Charts which documented the types of daily activities they completed.

Those who completed their charts in full were awarded Active HOME Week Certificates.