The time has come to apply for our second active flag!
We received our first Active School Flag back in 2018, so four years later, it is now time to try achieve it again! 😀 With a great group of Active Committee Members this year and a very active Springdale community, we have no doubt we will be awarded our flag! Time to start planning!!
What is the Active School Flag?
As part of achieving the Active Flag, it is imperative that we “strive to achieve a physically educated and physically active school community. The process aims to get more schools, more active, more often.”
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!
Ms. Dowd and Ms. Lodola have been working with a great group of active and inspirational children for the last month from 1st class to 6th class. Check us out below!
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. You’ll read more about our jobs throughout the other sections of our Active School Flag Info…
December:
Our plan since September was to restart our active lines, complete active homework once per week and announce the most active participants from each class during assembly, each week! We decided to run active lines everyday after big break. This will be led by the Active Committee members from each class. Each class teacher will assign a 10 minute activity for homework every Thursday to encourage the pupils to continue to stay active at home. Finally, each teacher will elect one pupil from their class who they considered to be the most active each week.
Our Active Flag Notice Board:
We keep our noticeboard up to date, so keep an eye on it for all information about recent and upcoming events! Check out some of the interesting posters we created in our class groups!
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:
Playground Leaders:
Our Active School Committee Members has an important job this year and works with The Student Council and the teachers to organise our yard. They help to manage the zones in the yard and we encourage everyone to get involved in activities during break times. It’s easy to spot them in their blue ‘Playground Leaders’ bibs! You can find playground zone maps up around the school and on the windows!
Active Lines:
Every second day, 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!
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:
- The Leprechaun Cup (cricket)
- Basketball Ireland Leagues
- North Central Dublin Primary Schools Cross-Country Races
- Santry Sports
A new way to get active…
On Tuesday 9th November, Springdale hosted a cultural exchange event with Ngati Ranana (the London Maori Club). Also in attendance was New Zealand’s Ambassador to Ireland, Mr. Brad Burgess, and his team. The Ngati Ranana held a captivated audience while they taught us the Haka in preparation for the weekend’s rugby match.
We learnt and performed the HAKA, two 6th class girls worked hard composing an Irish dance and the whole school then performed ‘An Dreoilín’.
Many thanks to Niamh Bhowan and all in New Zealand’s Embassy for organising this wonderful event which provided us with the opportunity to experience Maori culture and to share our culture through song and dance too.
Well done to all our photographers on the day (Joe, Conor & Mr. Vincent) who captured the fun on camera.
The following is a link to Joe’s movie- well done! https://youtu.be/8hDNSOlTQOQ
And another link to a view from a drone by Conor: https://youtu.be/WT7xyf2shNs
Healthy Heroes
As a school, we have decided to take part in the ‘Healthy Heroes’ project. As part of the new school’s ‘Healthy heroes‘ programme, we completed the November challenge of creating our own sandwiches. This ties in nicely with the whole ‘Healthy school policy’ and compliments the idea of being active and healthy.
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.
Active Week 2023
This year, the school had a jam packed week for Active Week! Each day started with a different challenge, followed by a 10@10! After break we had a D.E.A.D (Drop Everything and Dance) and a K a day for each class to complete. In the afternoon, 3rd-6th class engaged in circuits and a game of dodge ball. On Friday, 6th class organised a Sportathon. Some activities that they organised included, dance classes, circuits, target throwing, football skills and much more!
The Walkway
In Springdale, we have our very own walkway in which children enjoy exploring various FMS to navigate around it. These FMS include walking, skipping and side stepping.
The Active School Committee