Physical Activity
Skip Around Europe
Winners!!
Scroll down to see what our school won for participating in the Skipping Challenge! We're very excited about it!
On Monday 31st March, we started the first day of the skipping challenge. Some classes managed to skip over 3000km on the first day alone! In assembly, 3 members of the Active School Flag committee explained how the challenge will work and answered some important questions.
Every day, we will skip for 10 minutes and record the number of skips on the progress chart.
The challenge continues...
We've been clocking up thousands and thousands of skips during this challenge! The committee have been announcing the weekly totals during our whole school assembly. Watch out for some interesting facts that can be found on classroom doors around the school - classes have been researching some wild and wonderful facts about their target country and even sharing a few with during assembly.
Junior & Senior
Infants
1st & 2nd
New Resources!
Our Active School Flag Committee were very excited to receive the package from Active Schools! The committee sorted out the materials, taking inventory of our current skipping ropes and the new additions. The new ropes received have lovely black handles and when compared with the originals, they are slightly longer. The committee decided it would be best to keep the new, longer ropes for the senior half of the school to use. They identified an ideal location for the new rope holder and measured an appropriate height for it to be placed.
New Skip Counters
6 lovely skip counters are a brand new addition to our skipping challenge! Children in the senior classes have the added help of the counters where 1 click = 1 skip. The totals are added together at the end of the 10 minutes to get the daily amount. The total number of skips is then divided by 10 to convert into our KM count.
New Rope Holder
3rd & 4th
5th & 6th
The Challenge Comes to an End...
As we approached the last week of the Skip Around Europe Challenge, some of our Active School Flag committee members revealed the total skips for week 3...an unbelievable 102,101 skips!! They made announcements in each classroom and encouraged everyone to keep up the great skipping for the last week. During week 4, we've been working extra hard to get as many skips as possible to reach as many capital cities as we can. On the final day of the challenge, we blasted the music, with every classroom outside and skipping in the sunshine at the same time.
What a way to end the challenge!
Across the 4 week challenge, as a school we did a total of...
358,301 skips
Darkness into Light
The last day of the challenge also happened to line up with Yellow Day. We wore yellow as a sign of hope for everyone in support of the Darkness into Light event by Pieta House.
Winners!!
St. Paul's N.S. has won the Sligo prize for the Skip Around Europe Challenge! We were very excited to receive the news and even more delighted to hear about the prize...a climbing wall for our school!! Thank you to for organising the skipping challenge and for the fabulous prize to come!
Have a look at the sample climbing wall below.
Active Breaks Challenge
18/11/24 - 13/12/24
Here in St. Paul's, our Active School Committee have been busy organising posters and ensuring each class is taking part in the Active Breaks Challenge daily. We're hearing lots of positive feedback from children and teachers in relation to the movement breaks. Have a look at the photographs below to catch a glimpse of some the activities.
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Hallowe'en Fun and Games!
Speed Flying
Can you spot the flying children?! We had great fun in relay races, flying down and around the cones and then back to the team.
Catch the Witch
Children worked in teams to capture the witches by throwing hoops.
Roll a pumpkin
Relay races to roll a wobbly pumpkin around the witches and back to the team. All pumpkins survived the experience and went home with some happy children!
Spooky Cans
A new game this year was to knock over as many tin cans as possible with three beanbags. We had lots of fun throwing, missing, knocking down and picking up the rolling cans.
Run Around Europe
26th February - 22nd March
The Run Around Europe challenge is starting in St. Paul's, alongside many other schools around the country! We're very excited to get running every day and to see where we might visit in Europe. 1 lap of our basketball court = 1km. So everyday for the next four weeks, each classroom will be running laps, contributing towards our total distance covered.
Week 1 Total laps
Junior & Senior Infants 572
1st & 2nd 539
3rd & 4th 490
5th & 6th 878
Whole school 2,479km
Week 2 Total laps
Junior & Senior Infants 560
1st & 2nd 470
3rd & 4th 681
5th & 6th 837
Whole school 2,548km
Week 3 Total laps
Junior & Senior Infants 583
1st & 2nd 729
3rd & 4th 665
5th & 6th 783
Whole school 2,760km
Week 4 Total laps
Junior & Senior Infants
1st & 2nd
3rd & 4th
5th & 6th
Whole school
Our Walkway!
On Friday 29th September, the children completed the 'Active Walkway' route instead of the table tennis takeover event. Each classroom had the chance to get outside and move in an active manner from one sign to the next along the route. We had great fun exploring the different pathways and directions we can travel in to get our bodies moving!
Feel Good Friday
A real favourite of both children and staff here in St. Paul's are the Feel Good Fridays! We've had lots of fun dancing and listening to music during our lunch breaks throughout the year. The Active Walkway and playlists by the Irish Heart Foundation, TG Lurgan and IPPEA have lifted everyone's spirits and got us moving in a different way during break times!
Run Around Ireland
6th - 31st March 2023
Being an Active School, we participated in the Run around Ireland challenge for 4 weeks leading up to the Easter Holidays in March. The whole school took part in the daily run, in all weather conditions!
With 1 lap of the basketball court equalling 1km, we reached great distances throughout the four weeks. Each classroom teacher kept a record of the distances travelled, adding up the daily total with the children's help.
The junior room ran as far as Dunmore Cave in Kilkenny, and the middle room travelled a great distance to get to Killarney National Park. The senior room also visited many places and ended up with a total journey of 4,092km.
The children really enjoyed the daily 5 - 10 minute run outdoors, often reminding their teachers incase it would be forgotten!
The Middle Room visited all 20 locations, a total journey of 3,004km!
Here are some of the places the Junior Room visited.
The Senior Room also travelled all over the country, have a look at where they stopped along the way!
Hallowe'en Physical
Activity
For Hallowe'en, we had a Hallowe'en themed P.E. lesson! We tried to catch the witches! Each team had to throw the hoops over the witches. The winning team was the one who caught the most witches.
We had a relay race using pumpkins. This proved fantastic fun as the pumpkins rolled along the ground!
We visited the pumpkin patch and did the exercises on the back of the pumpkins. Definitely ready for Hallowe'en treats after all that exercise!!
Ring the Witch
Throw hula hoops over the witch's hat!
Pumpkin Relay
Roll the pumpkin around the cone and then back to your team. First team to finish wins!
Pumpkin Patch Stations
Run to the pumpkin patch, grab a pumpkin and do the action on the back of the pumpkin for 30 seconds. Then grab another one and keep going!
Christmas Physical
Activity
For Christmas, we had a Christmas themed P.E. lesson! We did 'The Twelve Days of Fitness'. We used the tune of the song 'The Twelve Days of Christmas' but changed Christmas to Fitness! We did different exercises for each day.
10 @ 10
We really enjoyed doing Operation Transformation's 10 @ 10 for 6 weeks. Every day, we did 10 minutes of exercise at 10 o'clock. Have a look at us in action!
Active Lines
We loved doing the active lines every day for 6 weeks! We did the active lines after break-time. We did 10 different exercises in our active lines!
Seachtain na Gaeilge
For Seachtain na Gaeilge, the middle and the senior room learned how to do the dance 'Siege of Ennis'. They had great fun learning the steps!
Tour of Europe Challenge
For 6 weeks, we put on our running shoes and visited some of most famous landmarks in Europe! Each class ran laps of the pitch every day and we calculated the total amount for the week on a Friday. We worked together as a school and here is how we did!
After Week 1 & 2 1,433km Brandenburg Gate, Germany
After Week 3 2,591km The Blue Grotto, Malta
After Week 4 3,364km Acropolis of Athens, Greece
After Week 5 3,399km Aspendos Theatre, Turkey
During Week 5, we started to run back home! We ran 1,778km of the way home this week.
During week 6, we ran a further 1,722km. We made it home again. Good Running!
Easter Physical Activity
The children had great fun going on an Easter Egg Hunt! They enjoyed searching around the school grounds for some yummy Easter Eggs.
D.E.A.D. Cool Time
(Drop Everything and Dance)
Halloween Physical Activity
For this year’s Halloween themed physical activity, we started by strolling through a pumpkin patch to pick a perfect pumpkin (by squatting). We then became the pumpkin (by sitting with knees bent and holding) and rolled like a pumpkin (by lying on our back, knees tucked into our chest and rocked from side to side).
Next, we got into groups and played a dice game. We rolled the dice to find out if we had to march like Frankenstein, flap our wings like bats, roll like a pumpkin, balance like a tree, hop like a toad or stretch like a cat.
Then in the same groups, we played another game. Every group got a card with an exercise e.g. lunges x15. When the exercise on the card was complete, the group chose another card and repeated until all the cards were gone!
Finally, we did an exercise for every letter of the word PUMPKIN e.g. P= 10 push ups
Christmas Physical Activity
For our Christmas themed Physical Activity, we imagined that we were in the North Pole. We were the reindeer preparing to take the toys to all of the children on Christmas. The ‘reindeer’ went through training to make sure they were fit enough for the job! Activities included rooftop balancing, tree weaving, cloud leaping and chimney tossing.
Next, we imagined we were elves. We got into groups and collected the toys that were scattered around Santa’s Workshop! We had to be careful though to stay inside our path of hoops while collecting the toys.
Finally, we did some exercises for every letter of the words SANTA and TREE.
Easter Egg Hunt
Due to Covid, this year's Easter Egg Hunt was a little bit different than usual. Normally, we would have a whole school Easter Egg Hunt. However, to comply with Covid regulations, each bubble had their own Easter Egg Hunt. We had lots of fun searching for yummy chocolate eggs and bunnies and we found them all!
Playground Equipment Monitors
This year, to comply with Covid guidelines, we have divided our school yard into three areas - an area for each classroom (bubble). Each bubble has their own 'tub' of playground equipment that they can use during breaktimes. Two playground equipment monitors were chosen from each classroom (bubble). Every day, the playground equipment monitors take their tub of equipment and place it in their yard area and also put the tub away at the end of the school day. The playground equipment monitors ensure the equipment is put away correctly and inform teachers if equipment needs to be replaced.
Active Break Every Day Challenge
19th April - 14th May 2021
The Junior Room are having lots of fun with the Active Break Every Day challenge!
Here they are having a 'pair topic run' for their active break today.
Today, the Junior Room had relay races for their active break!
The Middle Room have been doing a variety of activities for their active break every day challenge!
Here are some pictures of the middle room running, dancing and exercising!
The Senior Room are loving doing some dance activities for the Active Break Every Day Challenge! Here they are practicing the dance 'Footloose' from Go Noodle.
Also, here are some pictures of the Senior Room running for their active break!
Completed Challenge Charts
Our Walkway!
We had a fantastic week launching our Walkway! During the week (10th - 14th May), we explored our walkway and got familiar with the route of the walkway. We enjoyed stopping at the blue markers along the way to do some exercises! We can't wait to use our walkway during Active Week and to do some orienteering. Our walkway is 190m long - a perfect length for a quick walk!
Run Around Ireland
Running Challenge
We had our Run Around Ireland running challenge from the 17th May - 11th June. The whole school took part in the Run Around Ireland challenge.
Each classroom went on their own journey around Ireland to visit some popular attractions and destinations! 1 lap of our school pitch equaled 1km. For example, there are 26 children in the middle room - if all the children ran 1 lap of the pitch then they would have ran 26km. If all the children ran 2 laps of the pitch then they would have ran 52km...and so on!
The class teachers calculated how many laps the children ran every day and added it to the previous days laps to see if they had made it from Collooney to a new destination. This was repeated every day for 4 weeks. During the weeks, the children journeyed to various destinations around Ireland. It was interesting to see who had actually visited some of these destinations and helped us brush up on our geography!
Junior Room
Middle Room
Senior Room
Here are some of the places the
middle room visited...
and the senior room visited...
Be Active Walkway Day
24th September 2021
The children had great fun on the 24th September using our Active Walkway. We did lots of different walks, exercises and activities along the way.
County Sligo Cross Country Running
10 students from 3rd to 6th classes took part in the County Sligo Primary School Cross Country on Saturday the 9th of October. This was a first for St. Paul's, but hopefully not the last!
Well done to all of our pupils for finishing the race and overcoming two tough hills. Next time, perhaps we should remember to bring the wellies!!
Hallowe'en Fun & Games
We had great fun playing some spooky games for Hallowe'en. It was a windy day so our witches' hats took off flying on us a few times and our pumpkin patch moved around too!! It all added to the fun! The senior room had to find the parts of the skeleton and build them.
Our games were:
Catch the Witches!
Ghoul and Spoon Races
Freeze Dance to Hallowe'en music
Pumpkin Patch Circuit training
Describe your image
Describe your image
Describe your image
Describe your image
Senior Room
Junior Room
Middle Room
Active Advent Calendar
The pupils in the middle classes took on the challenge of an Active Advent calendar for the month of December. The children made lots of suggestions for the calendar themselves and it was hanging in the room for opening daily. Every pupil got to open a bag and get a prize. All the pupils in the room carried out whatever activity was in the bag that day....GoNoodle, Irish dancing, running laps, using the walkway, skipping etc. A great way to fit in our daily active breaks!
Christmas Games
As we approached the Christmas holidays, we burnt off lots of energy playing a selection of fun Christmas-themed games. Each classroom got a chance to participate within their bubble. It was a bit chilly but we weren't long warming up! Have a look .....festive faces all round!
Active Break Challenge
Each day the children in each of the rooms was active during class time. This gave everyone a chance to take a break from work for a few minutes. Unfortunately, due to this taking place in winter months, the Active Walkway was out of bounds as it was too wet to go on the grass. Storm Eunice closed us for a day also! Have a look at our completed challenge cards...
Run Around Ireland Challenge 2022 (Part 2)
As a continuation from last year, the children too part in the 2nd part of the Run Around Ireland Challenge. There was huge competition from the middle room to try to beat the senior room! There were days of sore legs trying to run as many laps as we could in the 3 weeks before Easter. Our aim was to reach as many of the destinations as possible.
As a school, we ran a very impressive 5324 km!! We think we did very well!
Easter Egg Hunt!
As we got excited for the Easter holidays, we went on the hunt for some Easter eggs and treats. We were so lucky to get some dry weather for it, before the hailstones began pelting down!! Have a look at all we found and the anticipation of the chocolate after all our running around!
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