P.E Equipment and Storage
A Bake sale was held in the school hall where families, staff and those in the local community came together bringing delicious baked items into the school to sell. Each class got the opportunity to purchase and enjoy the wide range of food. Collectively it was decided all money raised would go towards new P.E equipment.
The purchase, organisation and storage of all new equipment was arranged by Ms Markham and the Active schools committee. Some of our Active committee members took an inventory of all the equipment, replacing any broken o damaged equipment. They also created a checklist to ensure everything is in its correct location and this is completed every Friday afternoon.
Aquatics: Tallaght Swimming Lessons
Students from 4th to 6th class were lucky to take part in swimming lessons in Tallaght leisure centre. These lessons took place over the months of January and February for 6 weeks. It was a brilliant opportunity for children to engage with the strand Aquatics. The emphasis is on acquiring a set of fundamental skills, attitudes and understanding before becoming competent in traditional strokes. The strand units of the Aquatic curriculum are:
- Hygiene
- Water safety
- Entry to and exit from the water
- Buoyancy and propulsion
- Stroke development
- Water-based ball games
- Understanding and appreciation of aquatics
Strand Focus: Gymnastics
There are 6 strands in the physical education curriculum. One of the first things we did as a staff was vote and decide on which strand we wanted to focus on developing further and improving our teaching for the year. This year we decided to focus on the strand of gymnastics.
To start this off we have created a teaching resources area in our Equipment Room. We printed all PSSI lesson plans for gymnastics and put them in a folder. We laminated the wonderful PDST Gymnastics Skills Cards and many more resources which will be easily accessible for teachers. Our Student Active Committee also created wonderful gymnastic posters which are on display in our hall. These will prompt students and teachers to work on their, balancing, rolling, jumping and making shapes using various body movements.
We had the pleasure of having two well qualified coaches from our local club Excel Gymnastics come to our school to complete 2 full days of a workshop with our students. It was a great opportunity for teachers to observe to teaching of specific gymnastic skills, learn strategies to assist children with forward rolling, balancing on beams and much more. The teachers found it very beneficial and commented on how much the students enjoyed the process. We hope to have Excel come to our school for a 6 week block in the academic year 2023-2024.
For those looking to join Excel please see their website and contact details HERE
