Active News
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May 2019
Congratulations to Rares Ardleanu (Room 15) who represented Ireland at the 5th European Championship Kids and Juniors of Quan Ki Do. Rares travelled to Zurich in Switzerland to represent Ireland with his club ‘Bao Newbridge’. This is a great achievement. Congratulations Rares!
The pupils of St. Fiachra’s JNS are busy engaging with ‘Marathon May’. We are aiming to renew our ‘Active Flag’ this year. As part of the renewal process we are trying to see how far around Europe our school can run during the months of April and May. There is lots of running on the school ‘Slí na Sláinte’. We will keep you updated when we count the kilometres at the end of the month!
Game of the month: ‘Hi! My name is Joe’ – this is an active rhythmical game which is being taught to classes at assemblies. Enjoy everyone!
April 2019
As part of our aim to renew the Active Flag, our school has begun a running initiative. Due to the Easter break it will take place during April and May. We have decided to call the months ‘Athletic April’ and ‘Marathon May’. Each class is going to try and run our school ‘Slí na Sláinte’ as many times as they can. Each round of it counts as 1KM. At the end of May we will add all the kilometres together to see how far our class ran around Europe. Best of luck everyone!
March 2019
This month, we continued to work on the strand of ‘Dance’. Under this strand, we learned a number of folk dances under the guidance of Mrs. Nolan. Classes learned ‘Shoe the Donkey’, ‘Military Two Step’, ‘Siege of Ennis’ and ‘Staicín Eorna’ for example. Classes came together during Seachtain na Gaeilge to perform these dances in a school Ceilí.
We also had a school Ceolchoirm. During this, lots of pupils and teachers who dance performed a number of dances which they had been practicing over the past few weeks. Well done to everyone who participated in the Ceolchoirm. We completed Seachtain na Gaeilge by having a ‘Mórshiúil’. Pupils wore green, white and orange and used the route of the ‘Slí na Sláinte’ to guide them around the school grounds.
Classes also completed the ‘Class Commitment’ chart. Due to mid-term break our ‘Fit February’ class commitments ran into March. Pupils engaged with a variety of active breaks (dancing, running, exercise) over the course of the month.
We also linked up with the Green School Committee this month for National Spring Clean Week. Each class had their own ‘Spring Clean’. The winners of the tidiest classroom won extra time in the Active Zone! Well done to the winners!
February 2019
We have been busy working on the strand of ‘Dance’ this month. All classes have been learning dances under the guidance of Mrs. Nolan. This will culminate in a ‘Ceilí Mor’ during Seachtain na Gaeilge.
Another addition to our school yards are our ‘Games of the Month’. This month we are focusing on ‘Cén t-am é a Mhac Tíre?’ (What time is it Mr. Wolf?).
We have been very lucky with the nice weather lately, classes have been enjoying their outdoor P.E. and also the Active Zones in all yards.
Some classes have committed to completing one active break each day for the month of February. The aim of this is to raise awareness of the importance of physical activity – it is recommended that we engage with 60 minutes of physical activity every day.
January 2019
Welcome back everyone! Term two has begun with a focus on the Gymnastics strand. Students in all classes have been practicing a range of different movements, travelling in a variety of ways and a number of rolls. There have been lots of interesting sequences made in classes too!
A new set of classes have begun hurling and G.A.A. skills with Seán.
All classes have been receiving ‘Active Homework’ since the beginning of this month. Junior and Senior Infants pick their active homework from a range of suggestions created by the ‘Active Committee’. First and Second classes are engaging with the ‘Super Troopers’ programme which provided the students with an active journal.
We are looking forward to beginning the ‘Dance’ strand in February in preparation for Seachtain na Gaeilge.
December 2019
December was a busy month. We rounded off the first term with our annual ‘Santa Dash’. There was lots of energy on display as pupils, parents and teachers dashed around the ‘Slí na Sláinte’ in their Santa hats. The Santa Dash took place in aid of ‘Focus Ireland’. There was great excitement when a special visitor ran with the classes (and even did the Floss!).
November 2018
Following the mid-term break, the ‘Active Zone’ has now been set up in Infant yard. There are lots of different activities for the children to engage with including hula hoops, foot balls, step ladders and rackets for example.
The children in the First and Second Class yards have continued ‘Active Lines’. Each day there are a number of different activities:
Monday – Squats & Jumping Jacks
Tuesday – Star jumps, Squat jumps
Wednesday – Run on the spot, hop on each foot
Thursday – Lunges, High knees
Friday – Heel kicks, March on the spot
October 2018
As part of Maths week, we completed lots of Maths trails around our school Slí na Sláinte. Some classes walked the trail and used iPads to take pictures of Maths items they spotted using their ‘Maths Eyes’. Other classes used their ‘Maths Eyes’ to identify Maths in the school environment following the route of the Slí na Sláinte.
The teachers have been busy this month completing refresher courses for defibrillator training. Some of the teachers also learned how to the dance the South Galway Reel Set under the guidance of Mrs. Nolan.
The Active Committee have been busy ensuring that the Active Zones are running energetically. Active lines have also been introduced to the students in the First and Second class yards.
September 2018
Welcome back everyone! We are delighted to have a new student committee for this years ‘Active Committee’.
We have had a busy month. The active zones are now up and running in the First and Second Class yards. Each class are in the zone one day a week.
On Friday the 28th of September, our school held their annual sponsored walk. We were lucky to have a nice sunny day. On the same day, we celebrated ‘European School Sports Day’. A P.E. trail was set up around the school ‘Slí na Sláinte’. There were ten different activities which we had to complete along the trail e.g. frog jumps, side steps, walking lunges and marching for example.
Some classes have begun their G.A.A. skills training with our coach Seán. The nice weather lately has meant that the training has been able to take place on the Astro pitch nearly every week.
June 2018 – Active Week
Active Week took place from the 18th to the 22nd of June 2018. The sun was shining and we all enjoyed engaging with lots of extra activities. We were very lucky that some coaches came to visit out school. Each class learnt some new kickboxing techniques. Students in Junior and Senior Infants learnt some new dance moves from Michaela, a dancing instructor. Students in First Class completed Athletics training with Collette while students in Second Class participated in Tug of War training. A big thank you to the wonderful coaches who visited our school!
Wake-Up, Shake-Up took place again every morning – it was great to see lots of participation from pupils, parents and teachers! Each class had their own hula-hoop competition. Following this, the winners from each class came together to see who would be crowned the ‘Hula-Hoop Champion’. The teachers even had their own hula-hoop competition aswell! One highlight of the week was when the teachers and parents (cheered on by the great student support from First and Second Class) joined forces for a soccer match. This year, we had a whole school dance. We spent some time learning the dance moves to ‘Waka Waka’ (which tied in with the World Cup). The students in each class gathered together on the last day of Active Week to do the whole school dance together in the First and Second Class yard.
During the week, each class took part in the ‘School Marathon’. Each class aimed to run our ‘Slí na Sláinte’ five times throughout the week. Running the ‘Slí na Sláinte’ five times adds up to one full mile. There was some competition between classes to see who would reach the first mile! 🙂
May 2018
The students in second class have been completing the PAWS (Primary Aquatics Water Safety) programme. This programme was created by Irish Water Safety. PAWS teaches children how to be safe around water in homes, farms, pools, beaches and on our waterways. The children have really enjoyed the programme and will each receive a certificate upon completion of the programme.
April 2018
With the good weather present, ‘Dance on Wednesdays’ have become a popular feature of the week. Every Wednesday music is played over the outside speakers. The children display some fantastic dance moves!
February 2017
SKIP n ROPE
Mark from Skip n Rope is back by popular demand with a refresher skipping workshop for all our classes and an introductory workshop for our Infants.
Operation Transformation 10 at 10
To celebrate ten years of Operation Transformation, Karl Henry wanted every primary school in Ireland to get moving for 10 minutes of exercise at 10am on the morning of February 10th .
Everybody in St. Fiachra’s JS was excited to take part in a classroom exercise plan specifically designed by the Operation Transformation team.
January 2017
Beaumont Hospital Foundation
We were delighted to be able to make a very generous donation of 870 euro from the proceeds of our Santa Dash to the Beaumont Hospital Foundation last month. Many of us in St. Fiachra’s JS have had direct experience of a visit to this hospital, either personally or a visit to a loved one and is was wonderful to be able to contribute to make Beaumont Hospital a better place for over 220,000 patients who attend there annually.
Thank you to all our parents for your support.
December 2016
St. Fiachra’s welcomes Sam McGuire
There was great excitement on Monday 5th December as we welcomed past pupil and Dublin footballer Cormac Costello back to our school. Cormac was very proud to show the children the Sam McGuire cup as he made his way around the school.
October 2016
Halloween Parade
We all had a ‘spooktacular’ time on the 28th of October last as all classes took part in our annual Halloween Parade. Led by our ‘Active Bear’ we made our way around the grounds showing off our colourful costumes and scaring all we met along the way!!
Supertroopers!
We are delighted to be taking part in Super Troopers with Laya Healthcare, the first ever health homework programme in Ireland. It is aimed at helping children become more active and learn about healthy lifestyles.
Did you know that only one in five children currently meet the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended daily guidelines of 60 minutes of activity per day?
Laya Healthcare have created this exciting and FREE programme along with teachers and a team of experts in the areas of psychology, nutrition, wellbeing and physical activity to encourage EVERYONE to get more active!
All our 2nd classes have received their activity journals this week and are looking forward to getting started.
September 2016
Welcome back to a new school year.
St. Fiachra’s Sponsored Walk
The sun was shining on Friday last ( September 30th) as everyone in St.Fiachra’s JS got out on our annual sponsored walk. A big thank you to everyone who sponsored the children and a very big well done to all our children for completing the walk. A special mention for our new Junior Infants on taking part in their very first sponsored walk in St. Fiachra’s.
Well done everyone!
Ireland’s Fastest Feet Initiative
We were very excited to take the opportunity to participate in a new initiative that was recently set up in order to introduce children to athletics nationwide. It was an exciting, fun and inclusive athletics event.
Our school became a test centre on Sept.8th where all of our second class children ran through the speed gates to test their top end speed over 20m and to be in with the chance of becoming ‘Ireland’s Fastest Feet’ U9 years.
Athletics coach and Director of Believe and Achieve Coaching, Dermot McDermott was very impressed with the talent and running times achieved by all the children in our school. He will continue to visit other test centres around Ireland between now and December. The fastest children from each centre will be invited to a final event at the state of the art AIT arena in Athlone later in the year, where they will race off in order to determine who is Ireland’s fastest Girl and Boy. We look forward to hearing from Dermot again soon.
Well done to our very own Fastest Feet in Fiachra’s:
First Aid Course
Many of our staff members kick started the school year by completing a full CPR and Defibrillator course on Wednesday the 14th September with Instructor Keith Tallin.
G.A.A Skills
With ‘All-Ireland Final’ fever in the air our 1st classes were raring to start their six week block of G.A.A coaching with Niall from local club Whitehall G.A.A this week.
Niall will visit our school every Tuesday and all our children will get the opportunity to work with him throughout the year.
June 2016
Mick Clohisey visits St.Fiachra’s
We were very honored to welcome Marathon runner Mick Clohisey to our school on Monday 27th of June. Mick will be competing in the upcoming Olympic Games in Rio.
Our First classes enjoyed a ‘Questions and Answers’ session with MIck and were delighted to accompany him on a jog around the school grounds. Mick was accompanied on his visit by his trainer – Dick Hooper, a former Olympian Competitor and Dad to our very own Ms Hooper (Prefab 12)
We wish Mick the very best of luck in the Olympic Games from everyone in St. Fiachra’s JS.
Active School Week
June 13th-17th 2016
A fantastic fun-filled week was had by everyone in St.Fiachra’s Junior School.
We really enjoyed getting out and about and together we completed our School Marathon over the five days.
The children enjoyed visits from Collette Quinn (Athletics coach) from Raheny shamrocks and Steven from Ultimate Frisbee Ireland.
Many of our classes got to wind down and experience the many benefits of yoga with a visit from some wonderful local yoga instructors.
On Tuesday we walked ‘A mile with a Smile’ around the community and were delighted that so many of our parents could join us on our walk.
Skipathons, Hoola hoop competition and Activity picnics were enjoyed by all over the course of the week as were our action packed ‘Sports for all’ days. Our Mums and Dads and staff members also got a chance to get active in our friendly soccer match on the Astro pitch on Thursday. Euro 2016 all the way!!!
We always like to do our bit for charity during Active School Week and were delighted that we were able to raise over €800 for Hope Foundation through our Jersey Day.
Well done everyone!
Skip n’Rope Workshop
May 2016
All our classes enjoyed a skipping session with Mark McCabe from “Skip n’Rope” which culminated in a fantastic skipping display on Monday afternoon May 30th from all our skipping stars.
Well done everyone.
Walk to School Week 2016
May 2016
Well done to everyone making a special effort to walk to School for National Walk to School Week. We had great fun aboard the Walking School Bus on Wednesday 18th of May.
March 2016
Here we are on our annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade
January 2016
All our Junior Infants are having a great time practising their G.A.A. skills with Niall.
December 2015
Well done to everybody in St.Fiachra’s Junior School who got out and active again this Christmas for the St.Fiachra’s Santa Dash.
This year we dedicated our dash to the memory of the late Eamon McGrane and raised founds for a very worthy cause-St.Francis Hospice, Raheny.
Thank you to everyone who contributed.
Please see the Gallery for pictures
September 2015
Welcome back to an exciting new school year in St.Fiachra’s JS.
We were very proud when on Friday, September 25th we raised our very first Active School flag.
We were delighted to welcome Colette Quinn from Raheny Shamrocks Athletics club to our school for this special occasion. We were joined also by Fr. Dan, the pupils, staff and parents of our school.
Congratulations and Well Done again everyone.
Some of our second classes playing the Bodhrán.
Collette giving us some tips on how to incorporate sport into our lives.
Second class performing the set dance ‘Sweets of May’.
Our wonderful Active School Committee
We look forward to keeping you up to date with all things active in our school.
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On June 4th we welcomed Karen Cotter, National coordinator for the Active School Flag to our school. We were delighted when Karen awarded St.Fiachra’s JS with the Active School Flag. We look forward to raising our flag very soon.
Well Done everyone!!
Our P.E Slogan
“An active school is fun and cool!”
Well Done Katie Quinn- Room 19
Check out all things ‘active’ by visiting our Active School Board and our ‘Well Done’ wall in the P.E hall.
Here are our Active Committee in brainstorming mode at one of our regular Monday Meetings!!!!
Fiachra’s really is an active place to be!!
June 2015
June 8th -June 12th was Active Schools Week in our school and what a fantastic week was had by all. Visit our gallery for some pictures of our week.
Thank you to everyone who contributed to ‘Jersey day for Nepal’. Over 900 euro was raised for this very worthy cause.
May 2015
Orienteering
Thank you so much to Ciara Delaney from PDST who treated us to two fantastic days of Outdoor & Adventure activities .
Water Safety
Our first classes are proud to receive their certificates after completing the Land PAWS 1 water safety programme. Well done everyone.
April 2015
Active Flag Poster Competition.
Well done to all our winners for the fantastic Active School Flag posters. Our active Teddy is delighted with his new T-Shirt featuring our schools P.E Motto and also featuring the overall winning ‘active’ poster by Sinead in Senior Infants. Well done Sinead.!!!
St.Fiachra’s Sports survey
We all agreed that we do one hours P.E per week.
Everyone agreed that they like P.E
100% of the pupils agreed that we had lots of P.E equipment.
The most popular sports our children engage in after school include G.A.A , swimming,Irish dancing,gymnastics and karate.
Thank you boys and girls for taking part in our survey.
Walk To School Week
April 27th -May 1st was a very busy week with everybody making huge efforts to Walk to school by jumping aboard the ‘walking’ school bus.
Our Walk to School week also coincided with a visit to each class by Justine Trautt from the RSA for a presentation on Road Safety.
Rugby with Colm
Senior Infants have really enjoyed their Thursday sessions of Rugby for the month of April. A big Thank You to Colm Finnegan from Leinster Rugby. See our Gallery for photo slide.
D.O.T Day
Dance on Tuesday or D.O.T day as we like to call it is now in full swing. Pop by our yards at lunchtime on Tuesdays and join in the dancing fun with popular music blasting from our fabulous new speakers! See our gallery for photo slide.
March 2015
Slí na Sláinte
Our school boundary walk is now known as ‘Slí Na Sláinte’. What better week to name our walk but Seachtain na Gaeilge!!
Here we are getting out and active walking our ‘Slí na Sláinte’ on our St. Patricks day parade.
Irish dancing with Mrs Nolan
Thank you Mrs Nolan for your class’ wonderful demonstration of all our Irish Dances including ‘An Staicín órna’, Military two- step agus ‘Shoo the Donkey’ and for teaching us all how it’s done. We had great fun putting the steps into practice in preparation for our Céilí Mór for Seachtain na Gaeilge.
Céilí Mór
See our Gallery for pictures of our Céilí Mór sa halla on March 16th.
Athletics with Collette
First & second classes are currently enjoying 6 weeks of Athletics on Tuesdays with Colette Quinn from Raheny Shamrocks Athletics club.
Feb.2015
Operation Transformation
The children in Room 22 (Ms Healy’s Class) have certainly been very active over the past few weeks as they put the ‘Fit at School, Fit For Life’ programme designed for Primary Schools by Prof. Niall Moyna and recommended by RTE’s Operation Transformation to the test. They have been getting out and active with Ms Healy every day and will continue to do so for the next six weeks.
We were delighted to see the class feature on RTE’s Operation Transformation on Thursday 19th February.
Thank you Ms Healy and well done to everyone in Room 22.
Cricket with Fintan.
We had a very warm welcome on Thursday last (5th) for Fintan McAllister, Cricket Development officer for the Dublin City Area. Cricket sessions with Fintan and some of our 1st & 2nd Classes proved to be very popular. We hope to see him back in our school again soon! See gallery for more pictures.
Yard Zones
The children are thoroughly enjoying our new Active Zone’s which are now up and running in the yard at Lunch-Time. Leg-hops, soft balls, hoops, beanbags and frisbees are just a few of our activities that we now love to play in the yard.
Lunch-Time Activity Club
We all really look forward to our day in the lunch time activity club- Monday to Thursday where we can sample Dance, Basketball, Circuits and Games with four of the teachers.
Check out our Gallery for more Photos.
Jan.2015
Welcome back and a Happy New Year to you all. Our Active committee are hard at work as we continue our Active Flag campaign. Watch out here for lots of exciting active news to come!
Walking club
We are very excited to announce the start of a new WALKING CLUB for parents in our school. Meet Lisa and Sharon this Friday, January 23rd @ 9.00 am outside the church. Why not grab your runners and join in the action?
The chilly weather didn’t deter our enthusiastic parents as they set off on their first walk on Fri 23rd January. Well done to all who took part. Meeting again at the same time, same place next week- Be sure to come along!
Dec.2014
Santa Dash
This Christmas we introduced St.Fiachra’s first Santa Dash. It was a sight to behold as over 700 mini-santas were led by Santa himself on a dash completing the full circuit of our school boundary. All pupils, school staff and parents were invited to don a santa hat on the day. We had great fun trying to keep them on our heads on as we ran- a great way to kick- start the Christmas holidays!! €1,177 was raised on the day for the CLIMB4CLARE fundraising campaign. Well done everyone!
See Gallery
Nov.2014
P.E review
After a review of our P.E timetable the children were delighted to learn that they will now have P.E on two seperate days in the week. Getting outside in the fresh air for one of those sessions is an added bonus. We cannot wait!
Fit4skool
Fit4skool has arrived in our school!!! After a very informative presentation to our staff by one of the programme’s founders and developers Mr Cathal Ruane, we thought it a wonderful resource to have in our school and we got registered right away!! See our Fit4skool tab for more details and our gallery to see the children in action!!!!
Oct.2014
October was a busy month for us here in St. Fiachra’s JS. We have just been registered for the Active School process and are really looking forward to our journey to achieving the flag .
Hallow’een Parade
We all really enjoyed scaring those we met on our outdoor Hallow’een parade in October. The cold weather didn’t put us off getting out and active in our Hallow’een costumes.Well done everyone!!
Sept.2014
Sponsored Walk
We kick- started our school the active way when we took part in our annual sponsored walk in September. Lots of parents came to join us on our way!