What is an Active School?
As an Active School, it is imperative that we “strive to achieve a physically educated and physically active school community.”
Did you know that it’s recommended that children get 60 minutes of exercise every day?
Meet the Team!
Our Active Schools Committee was created in September 2022. Lots of children were really interested in becoming an Active School Committee Member and had loads of great ideas for how we can get Springdale more ACTIVE! As part of the application process, the children were encouraged to write a persuasive piece as to why they should be chosen!
Our Active Committee have been working hard over the past two years to encourage our school to be more active!
You’ve Met the Team…But What Do We Do?
Meetings:
Our Active Committee meets on a regular basis in school and we discuss lots of different things. One of our most important jobs is to be active, inspirational leaders. Our job is to think of new and exciting ways for ALL Springdalers to be active (parents and teachers included!). We also give feedback from our classrooms about how everyone is enjoying our activities and we discuss how we might need to change some things.
Don’t Just Sit, Go Get FIT!
We’ve also got some very talented sport’s people in Springdale N.S. who have played at national level in various sports including soccer, cricket, athletics, dance, kitesurfing, jiu jitsu, karate, tai kwan do, the list goes on!
PHYSICAL EDUCATION
Physical Education is an integral part of the curriculum and of life in Springdale. The curriculum comprises 6 strands: Aquatics, Athletics, Dance, Games, Gymnastics and Outdoor and Adventure. All classes are taught skills from a minimum of 5 of these strands each year. The Aquatics strand is covered in Springdale from 1st class – 6th class.
Each class gets a minimum of 1 hour P.E. teaching time each week.
In Springdale we are lucky to have a lot of sports and PE equipment. All of this is well organised and labelled so we can make the most of it! Thanks to our Active Schools Committee members for keeping an eye on what equipment we have, ensuring it’s all working and letting us know if anything gets broken!
We are lucky to have so many local clubs and agencies who come to Springdale to introduce us to new sports as well as to coach us in sports we are already familiar with! See more about this in our ‘Partnerships’ section!
PHYSICAL ACTIVITY
Physical Activity is an important part of Springdale life. We love to encourage each other to be active, to share our successes and to teach each other new games to play or sports to try out. The full range of fundamental movement skills are permitted and encouraged in the yard. Here are a few ways in which we promote physical activity in our school:
Active Lines:
In the Summer term, our Committee Members lead exercises for a few minutes at the end of big breaks. They take it in turns to change the activities for each week. They all lead the exercises, and also keep an eye out for classes who are working really hard with their active lines. The winners get a certificate and some extra PE the next week as a reward!
Funky Fridays:
Do you like to dance? Well if you do, then Funky Fridays are for YOU! Each Friday, DJ Cahill pops on some music for us to dance to in the yard (sometimes there’s a bit of karaoke too!) It’s great fun for all involved, students and teachers alike. Haven’t heard the right song to get you dancing just yet? We have a suggestion box outside Ms. Crawte’s office for any song requests for the DJ.
Classroom Movement Breaks:
Our Active Schools Committee has designed some easy breaks for the classroom to get us moving throughout the day. These include:
- Lollipop Exercises
- Go Noodle
- Cosmic Yoga
- Squat Challenges
- Drop Everything and Dance
- The Irish Heart Foundation Busy Breaks
- 10 @ 10
- Joe Wicks 5 minute PE lessons
Teachers and classes can choose lots of fun activities to do in their classrooms any time they feel like they need a wiggle!
K- a Day and Other Daily Movement Initiatives:
All classes have taken part in the K- a Day initiative where children run a kilometer (or as much as they can manage!) around the school yard each day. Some other daily movement initiatives we have completed are; Run Around Europe and Marathon Kids.
We will also be taking part in the ‘Lap and Yap’ initiative where children will have the opportunity to walk and chat with their friends and the ‘Skip Around Europe’ challenge. Keep an eye on our blog to check out our progress!
Partnerships
We are very lucky in Springdale to have so many local clubs and agencies who come to visit us in school! Some of these happen during school hours and others are available as an after-school activity.
We also take part in local sports events such as:
- Girl’s and Boys FAI Dublin Primary League and Cup Competitions
- North Central Dublin Primary Schools Cross-Country Races
- Santry Sports
- Tag Rugby blitzes
Active Lines
We’ve been doing great active lines at the end of big break each day! The active committee members are doing a super job leading them!
Sporty Springdalers
Within our school community, we have lots of sporty Springdalers! The children have played in cricket competitions, dance competitions, basketball competitions, and much more!
CLIL
Bhí Naíonáin Shóisearacha agus Naíonáin Shinsearacha ag déanamh treodóireacht trí Gaeilge. Bhí fonsa, mála pónairí, liathróid, raicéad, bosca agus cón a fháil sa chlós. Féach, d’aimsigh siad a lán rudaí! Bhí sé sin páirt den clár píolótach.
The Walkway
In Springdale, we have our very own walkway in which children enjoy exploring various Fundamental Movement Skills to navigate around it. These FMS include walking, skipping and side stepping.
The Active School Committee