Active School Flag

Avoca N.S. are currently working very hard to receive our first Active School Flag.

 What is the Active School Flag?

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

Avoca N.S. is already a very active school, having promoted healthy living through physical activity the past few years. We aim to further promote this important area in our school so that we can attain our ASF.  We hope to find interesting and exciting ways to energize the school day as we believe active children are happy learners. Our school has been very busy over the last year working on the following areas: Physical Education, Partnerships and Physical Activity. We also organised an Active School Week in June.

Please keep an eye on the website for updates on how we have been getting active in our school!

Our Active School Flag Committee

The ongoing work to attain our Active Flag is led by Ms. Byrne, Ms. Lawson and their energetic Active School Committee, made up of pupils from 4th, 5th and 6th class. They meet regularly and report to the whole school at assemblies - reminding us of all the many ways that we can keep healthy through being active! The Reps are as follows; Carrie, Daniel, Rebecca and Ryan from 6th class. They are supported by Michael, Jack, Megan and Belle from 5th class. Helen and Joseph from 4th happily assist the others on this committee. All of the members attend meetings, share information, conduct surveys, monitor the ‘suggestion box’ and propose new ideas.

Some ideas the committee have come up with include playground leaders, active líne leaders, ASF suggestions box, P.E. equipment monitors, Go Noodle classroom breaks, Walk a Mile with a Smile, Active Person of The Month, Drop Everything and Dance, Active Lunch Breaks and much more. We hope to pick one or two ideas a month to focus on and created a School Active Calendar to remind everyone of upcoming events to look forward to!

Active School Flag Notice Board

We now have our ASF noticeboard set up in our school hall which displays our Active Calendar and anything else related to the Active School initiative. Our Active Calendar helps to keep everyone in the school informed of the upcoming events (e.g. a Skipathon in March, Active Week in June etc.) while also helping to build excitement within the school.

Seeking the Slogan

The Active School Committee at Avoca N.S. thought that we needed a slogan to remind us to exercise. They set up a competition to find the best slogan. There were lots of people writing rhymes and everybody was very enthusiastic about the competition. The judges had a really hard job to pick winners but Sarah Brennan and Leah Fox from 3rd class emerged as eventual winners. Griffin Coyle from 1st class was the runner up. The class winners were as follows: Abby Moore (1st class),Freya Bass( 2nd class), Cathal Lancaster (3rd class), Niamh McGeechan and Helen Winterbotham (4th class), Shane Whelan(5th class) and Lauren Hubbard(6th class). The prize winners received their prizes at Monday’s Assembly. Well done to all the winners and those who took part. The winning entry and runner-up are displayed below.

Active School Committee Survey

The active school's committee conducted a ‘What clubs are you in?’ survey to find out what sports clubs the students of our school are members of. The committee found over half the children in our school were members of local sports clubs. GAA (Gaelic football, hurling/camogie) was the most popular sport and soccer wasn’t far behind. Other sports included football (soccer), dance, swimming, gymnastics, golf, tennis, athletics, boxing and more. Committee members from 5th class created a bar chart to showcase our findings on our Active School Notice Board.

Physical Education in Our School

There are 6 strands in the P.E. curriculum:

• Games

• Dance

• Athletics

• Gymnastics

• Outdoor and Adventure

• Aquatics

All classes from Junior Infants-6th class cover 5 strands of the PE curriculum, with 2nd and 3rd class covering 6 strands as they attend swimming lessons. The PAWS programme (Primary Aquatics Water Safety) is taught in 1st Class each year in preparation for their swimming lessons.

Each class receives 1 hour of physical education per week. Please see the scheduled P.E. time for each class attached below.

Time Allocation for P.E. at Avoca N.S.

Teaching staff also use the 'Move Well, Move Often' programme resources to promote fundamental movement skills development when teaching the different P.E. strands. The ‘Move Well, Move Often’ posters are displayed in the school hall as a point of reference for lessons.

Partnerships

In order to promote physical activity both in and outside of school, Avoca N.S. works with many of the local sports clubs. The children are very fortunate to receive coaching from the local rugby and GAA clubs each year. These coaches work with different class levels for blocks of 6-8 weeks, allowing the children to experience a new sport or improve on skills already developed. They can also help develop a child’s confidence and encourage them to join some of the local sports clubs in the community. The school also worked closely with the Wicklow Games Development Administrator, Darren Hayden, for implementation of the GAA Five Star Initiative before school closures last year. Each class in the school participated in this and it was greatly enjoyed by all.

In addition to their weekly P.E. lessons, GAA and Rugby coaching, many of the children of Avoca N.S. have had the opportunity to both represent their school and local communities by taking part in Gaelic football leagues along with Athletics and Cross Country meets. In all of these events, the children of Avoca N.S. have not only done themselves proud but their school and community. Well done to all who have taken part in these events so far this year!

Please take a look below at some of the events/activities that our school has participated in.

GAA

From the beginning of Term 2, it was with great anticipation that everyone awaited the return of the famous “Tommy” and his GAA antics. Everyone from 3rd to 6th class have been working with Tommy once a week and will continue to do so until Christmas, with the junior classes getting their chance after Christmas. Rain or shine, Tommy puts everyone through their paces, from fitness exercises, to throwing and catching skills and drills. There is something for everyone! The fun and enjoyment the children get from their time working with Tommy is clearly seen and heard across the school. Thanks so much for all your hard work Tommy!

The Under 12 boys team from our local GAA club, succeeded in getting to the county final. The team included many students from Avoca NS. Well done boys!

In November 2019, 3rd & 4th Class had great fun participating in an indoor school hurling blitz in Aughrim Community Hall. This was run by Wicklow Games Development Administrator, Darren Hayden.

Athletics

Students from Third to Sixth Class also took part in both an Athletics and Cross Country invitationals in Avondale this term. No one was turned off by the mud or cold weather! Huge effort and great participation along with a great sense team work was clear for all to see. Thank you to Ms. Corcoran for all her hard work preparing the students for these events as well as all the support and encouragement both her and Siobhan gave from the sidelines.

Wicklow Invitational Athletics Meeting

32 children from Avoca N.S. competed at the Wicklow Schools’ Invitational Athletics meeting in Avondale. Despite the very wet weather, the teams competed and ran great races. They came home with quite a collection of silver and bronze medals. Many thanks to Ms. Corcoran for organising and coaching the children and to Siobhan McCreevy for her assistance on the day.

Rugby- Supporting the Irish Rugby Team

With the Irish Rugby team taking part in the Rugby World Cup, students throughout the school have used their Geography skills to learn as much as they can about Japan and the different countries taking part. We decided as a school to lend our support to the Irish team and learn the ‘Haka, as Gaeilge’. Third Class worked hard to learn the words and the actions and then went to each class to teach it to the other students. In a hope to show up the All Blacks, the ‘Haka, as Gaeilge’ could be heard throughout the school as we performed it altogether during an assembly. Each classes’ hard work and enjoyment was clear to see. Well done to Third class and Ms. Byrne for all their hard work!

5th and 6th Class have been working with coach “Barney” from Arklow Rugby Club once a week, over the past few weeks. Everyone has had the opportunity to learn and develop their Rugby knowledge and skills. Great fun has been had in each of these classes. All students had the opportunity to put these skills into practice in a Rugby Blitz which took place on Wednesday 16th October in Arklow Rugby Club. This was a great day out for all with Avoca students even making the newspaper! We even had a visit from the Leinster Rugby Mascot ‘Leo the Lion’!

Leinster Rugby Mascot, ‘Leo the Lion’ visited the school.

Avoca N.S. making headlines!

Physical Activity in Our School

Since forming an Active School's committee here in Avoca N.S, we have worked hard to create new, enjoyable and inclusive ways of encouraging as much physical activity throughout the school. Pupils who take part in physical activity both inside and outside of school and their achievements are always recognised. Teams often speak during assembly about their achievements and visit classrooms showing their silverware and sharing about their experience. Take a look below at all the marvelous ways in which we have promoted getting active in our school!

Our Running Challenge

The Active Schools committee have been very busy promoting our action plan across the school. We started our ‘The Daily Mile’ challenge in September and every class has been getting fit trying to complete it. The goal is that each student runs 4 laps of their yard every day for 8 weeks. This is a whole school initiative in support of promoting physical activity while also focusing on the development of our priority P.E. strand; Athletics.

Walk a Mile with a Smile!

As we approach the Halloween break, it is clear how busy the first term has been. We started back as we mean to go on with all classes walking a mile with a smile! Each class has spent ten minutes a day walking, jogging and even sprinting in many cases to challenge themselves to complete a mile each day. It is obvious from the children’s expressions, they enjoyed this and have definitely met their target of walking a mile with a smile! Well done everyone!

Active Breaks

The ASF committee have also introduced ‘Active Breaks’ into each classroom. Each class is encouraged to take one short active break a day which can include a running, dance or exercise break. The children really enjoyed this new incentive and we noticed an improvement in concentration and focus when completing school work. Each class also received an Active Break sheet to record their completed active breaks each day.

Our Playground Leaders

 Our 6th class ‘Helping Hands/Playground Leaders’ are in charge of both distributing and collecting playground equipment on the junior yard. Equipment for this yard is kept in a red tub in the corridor outside the infant classes and is brought out onto the yard at big break by the ‘Helping Hands’ children. This equipment includes: cones, soft balls, hula hoops and skipping ropes.

The Playground Leaders are given a folder full of game ideas for their Active Lunch breaks. The can decide in advance which game or activity they will complete on the given day and what equipment they will need. They are each also given whistles and bright labelled bibs to assist them in their active mission!

Active Lunch Breaks

In January 2020, our ‘Helping Hands/Playground Leaders’ began organising Active Lunch Breaks every Tuesday and Thursday. For this, they mark out an active zone on the junior yard and teach playground games/activities to one class each Big Lunch. If it is a wet day, they move the activity to the school hall. It has been going great so far and we hope to do something similar in the Senior yard in February.

Every day all classes also engage in an ‘active líne’ once the bell rings. They participate in a range of different activities each day such as squats, jumping jacks, jogging on the spot etc. All of these activities are led by the members of our Active Flag Committee. This has been working very well and the classes seem to really enjoy this new active incentive!

Take a look at some pictures of our Active Lunch Break activities with both Junior and Senior classes below.

Halloween Dress-Up Day-Drop Everything and Dance

On Friday, 25th of October we had a ‘Dress Up’ Day as part of our Book Week. Every class worked on the ‘Adam’s Family’ dance as part of their active breaks throughout the month and then performed it as a whole school at an assembly. As you can see from the videos below, this activity was greatly enjoyed by all. The Active School Committee has since made the ‘drop everything and dance’ challenge a regular whole school activity!

Our Active School Walkway

Each class had the opportunity to walk the route on the Walkway Launch Day in April 2021. Every class received a map of the walkway route and in small groups, completed the 'Walkway Addition' challenge from the Walkway Ideas booklet which integrated nicely with numeracy. Classes are enjoying using the Walkway for active breaks during the school day and our Active Committee plans on organizing a quiz-based orienteering and additional Math's tasks for each class to complete in May/June.

Active Person of the Month

Active ‘spies’ from the Active Flag Committee go around at break times and become inspectors on both the Junior and the Senior yard, monitoring the yard and encouraging any standing or inactive children to ‘do your talking as you’re walking’. They may inform a teacher of a very active child so that they can be considered for the next Active Person of the Month. At the end of each month, Ms. Byrne, our Active School coordinator presents a certificate at assembly to the children who have made a great effort to be active. One active person is chosen from each class. January’s Active People were as follows: Atesh (Junior Infants) Jamie(Senior Infants) Andrew (1st class) Ciara (2nd class) Megan(3rd class) Taylor(4th class) Fiachra (5th class) and Lauren from 6th class. We will be looking out for more Active participants next month!

Curriculum Links-Maths Week

As part of Maths Week, students throughout the school have been taking part in a wide range of Math’s challenges. These challenges ranged from undertaking mental maths challenges to maths trails. As part of their rugby coaching 6th class were challenged to a tables challenge. This challenge took the form of a team relay.  Tables were called out orally and each team had to see which could get the correct answer first by running a set course and correctly answering the question before the other team. This activity was a big success and really showed off the students’ competitive sides.

Active School Week 2020

Active School Week is a very enjoyable part of the year for many children at Avoca N.S. and usually takes place at the end of every school year. Unfortunately due to school closures, we couldn’t have our annual Active School Week so we participated in ‘Active Home Week’ instead. The week was very successful and much enjoyed by students, parents and staff at Avoca N.S. The Active Home Week ran from Monday 15th June and came to an end on Sunday 21st June. We asked the children to participate in 60 minutes of activity each day and to record their activities on their Active Home Week chart. The children were encouraged to try something NEW, have FUN with family activities and to ENJOY the week!

Please see our ‘Active Home Week Schedule’ below which was sent out to parents and children at the very start of the week. It outlined suggested daily activities and informed them which teacher challenge was coming up next.

Teacher Daily Challenges

To make things more fun, the school teachers also decided to set a Daily Challenge as one of the activities each day. The teacher challenge videos were posted on the Class Dojo the evening before each day so that the children would know what challenge awaited them next! They were encouraged to challenge themselves, a family member or others to try and beat their score. Take a look at some of the daily challenges set by our teachers below! ☺

Here’s Ms. Van Eesbeck and her family giving the Bucket Toss Challenge a try! We think they did a brilliant job!

Ms. Byrne challenged us to complete the GAA Solo and Toilet Roll Keepie Uppies Challenge. Click on the video below to see how she got on!

Watch the video below to see how many times Ms. Cullen could hand-pass a ball against a wall in 30 seconds!

Over the course of the week, the students sent pictures and videos of the activities that they were completing at home to their teacher on the Class Dojo. We were blown away with the wide range of activities being displayed and were delighted to see the level of enjoyment being had by all.

Please see some examples of pictures and videos that we received from the children during our Active Home Week 2020. Participants pictured include children from Junior Infants right through to 6th class who took part in the activities.

Here are a selection of videos submitted by the children during the week.

Please also find some samples of the children’s Active Home Week recording sheets. Participants filled these in as they completed their activities each day throughout the week.

As you can see from the bar chart below, we had a great student participation rate with over 50% of our students taking part in our Active Home Week!

Many thanks to everyone for making this such an exciting week during the Covid-19 lockdown. We are already looking forward to organising our annual Active School Week in school in 2021!

Active Flag Awards