~ Physical Education ~
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Physical Education (PE) provides children with learning opportunities through the medium of movement. It contributes to their overall development by helping them to lead full, active and healthy lives. Children can experience the joy of physical exertion and the satisfaction of achievement while developing the skills of positive attitude that enhance self-esteem.
Through PE we aim to help children develop physically as well as socially, emotionally and intellectually. We use PE in our school to support children in every aspect of their lives and development. To achieve that goal, we use our agreed approach to teaching PE and the content of the curriculum programme at each year level.
The PE curriculum is for children from junior infants to sixth class. P. E. is allocated 1 hour per week. It provides a balanced range of activities for children through the six strands. Each of the six strands are taught every year. We have standardised the school year so that all classes are taught the same strand at the same time.
• Athletics
• Dance
• Gymnastics
• Games
• Outdoor and adventure activities
• Aquatics
Through PE we aim to help children develop physically as well as socially, emotionally and intellectually. We use PE in our school to support children in every aspect of their lives and development. To achieve that goal, we use our agreed approach to teaching PE and the content of the curriculum programme at each year level.
The PE curriculum is for children from junior infants to sixth class. P. E. is allocated 1 hour per week. It provides a balanced range of activities for children through the six strands. Each of the six strands are taught every year. We have standardised the school year so that all classes are taught the same strand at the same time.
• Athletics
• Dance
• Gymnastics
• Games
• Outdoor and adventure activities
• Aquatics
Teacher Planning & Timetables
All teachers have been given copies of the PSSI (Primary School Sports Initiative) lesson plans for their class level along with a bank of warm-up and cool-down activities. These plans have been extremely useful throughout the year for all strands. Each class has two timetabled slots for PE each week. One of these is in the hall and the other is on the yard.
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PE Equipment & Storage
Our older Active School Committee members help to monitor our store room to ensure that it is kept tidy. An inventory of all the equipment is done at the end of each academic year and any broken or damaged equipment is replaced. We have lots of equipment for the various strands and they are all labelled.
P.E. Library
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We have recently created an area in the staff room where teachers can access resource books for P.E. This includes:
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Curricular Professional Development
GYMNASTICS ~
Catriona is a local primary school teacher who kindly offered to share her experience teaching the strand of Gymnastics as it is our focus for development this year. She attended school for a Croke Park Hour in January of this year to provide training for teachers. Every teacher found the content very useful and we all got some great ideas from the workshop. Catriona kindly gave us all a handout which outlined all the activities and content which we covered in the session.
GAMES ~
Will is our local GAA Development Officer and has vast experience teaching children the skills involved in GAA. He was invited to visit our school as we focused on Games as our strand for development last year. He attended our school for a Croke Park Hour in June to provide training for teachers. Everyone participated enthusiastically on the day and came away with lots of useful ideas for teaching games. He also gave us each a booklet which included games and skills to have as a reference for lessons.
Catriona is a local primary school teacher who kindly offered to share her experience teaching the strand of Gymnastics as it is our focus for development this year. She attended school for a Croke Park Hour in January of this year to provide training for teachers. Every teacher found the content very useful and we all got some great ideas from the workshop. Catriona kindly gave us all a handout which outlined all the activities and content which we covered in the session.
GAMES ~
Will is our local GAA Development Officer and has vast experience teaching children the skills involved in GAA. He was invited to visit our school as we focused on Games as our strand for development last year. He attended our school for a Croke Park Hour in June to provide training for teachers. Everyone participated enthusiastically on the day and came away with lots of useful ideas for teaching games. He also gave us each a booklet which included games and skills to have as a reference for lessons.
Strands
Games
Games is taught under the strand units of Sending, Receiving and Traveling, Creating and Playing Games and Understanding and Appreciation of Games. Some of the fundamental movement skills taught alongside this strand are dodging, sidestepping, kicking and striking with hand/implement.
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Dance
Dance is taught under the strand units of Exploration, Creation and Performance of dance and Understanding and Appreciation of Dance. This strand is usually taught between the months of November and February as the weather can be poor and we can use the hall and classroom for some of our lessons.
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Athletics
Athletics is taught under the strand units of Running, Jumping, Throwing and Understanding and Appreciation of Athletics. Some of the fundamental movement skills are taught alongside this strand. They include walking, running, jumping and throwing.
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Gymnastics
From Junior Infants to First Class, the strand units of Movement and Understanding and Appreciation of Gymnastics are taught. Teachers focus on the fundamental movement stability skills of balancing and landing through gymnastics.
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