Physical Education is a very important part of our school curriculum. The curriculum contributes to children’s overall development by helping them to lead full, active and healthy lives.
The PE curriculum in our school provides a balanced range of activities for children through the six strands:
1. Athletics
2. Dance
3. Gymnastics
4. Games
5. Outdoor and adventure activities
6. Aquatics
The PE curriculum in our school provides a balanced range of activities for children through the six strands:
1. Athletics
2. Dance
3. Gymnastics
4. Games
5. Outdoor and adventure activities
6. Aquatics
- All pupils in our school are provided with 60 minutes timetabled PE per week
- Our school PE programme allocates a balanced amount of teaching time to each of the different PE strands.
- We ensure that PE activities are planned so that they are accessible by all pupils.
- Classes are taught the Land PAWS Water Safety Programme each year.
- Teachers use PSSI lesson plans and the ‘Move Well, Move Often’ resources to guide their delivery of the PE Curriculum.
We have devised a simple plan to ensure each class is taught the six strands of the curriculum. We make every effort to ensure that classes are simultaneously working on the same strand. We have found this practice invaluable in that resources & ideas can be shared freely and the necessary equipment is made easily accessible for each class to use.
Each class level works on the same fundamental movement skill and teachers use the FMS notice board in the hall as a teaching aid. Classes focus on one/two teaching points from the current FMS each week.
All pupils receive active homework during Active Week and in the month of June.
Our Priority Stand for the Year 2021-2022
Teachers agreed to prioritise one PE strand for further development each year. After collaborating with everyone at a staff meeting, in 2021/2022 we choose to focus on Athletics. We had several meetings to discuss how we could enhance the Athletics strand for all classes, while ensuring we complied with all COVID-19 safety procedures. Each class teacher was provided with a hard copy of the PSSI lesson plans for Athletics to assist with their planning for the strand. We worked primarily from the PSSI lesson plans but also used suggestions from the PDST websites as well as lesson plans from the Move Well Move Often workshops. Teachers shared resources lesson plans during the six-week period in which each class worked on the Athletics strand. This worked out really well & teachers are now confident in the teaching of this strand.
Priority Strand 2022-2023
In 2022/2023 our priority strand is Outdoor and Adventure. Teachers plan on working together to see how we can strengthen the teaching of this strand in PE.
Physical Education in Our School
Each class has one hourly session of PE each week and we use lots of different resources and equipment to help deliver these lessons. We also have a range of online resources, including the PSSI lessons, that teachers can access for support.
This year, with the help of the Active School Committee, we did an inventory of the equipment we already had. Based on this, we made a comprehensive list of what we needed to order to enable teachers to plan and deliver PE lessons with ease. We regularly restock our playground equipment with new basketballs, skipping ropes, hula hoops, cones and footballs to ensure yard games & activities remain fun & engaging for all students. We used rope and masking tape to make individual skipping ropes for each child in the school. This was a lot of work, but a cost effective way to ensure we could all get skipping...even the teachers!
This year, with the help of the Active School Committee, we did an inventory of the equipment we already had. Based on this, we made a comprehensive list of what we needed to order to enable teachers to plan and deliver PE lessons with ease. We regularly restock our playground equipment with new basketballs, skipping ropes, hula hoops, cones and footballs to ensure yard games & activities remain fun & engaging for all students. We used rope and masking tape to make individual skipping ropes for each child in the school. This was a lot of work, but a cost effective way to ensure we could all get skipping...even the teachers!
Games
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Athletics
Dance
Gymnastics
Outdoor and Adventure
Physical Activity at Home
Click here to find out more information about the Super Troopers Initiative
When you move your body, eat healthy food and take care of your mental health, you feel super! Kids and their families can kickstart a healthier life with the Laya Super Troopers programme – specially designed for 4th, 5th and 6th classes in Ireland.
When you move your body, eat healthy food and take care of your mental health, you feel super! Kids and their families can kickstart a healthier life with the Laya Super Troopers programme – specially designed for 4th, 5th and 6th classes in Ireland.
Last year we used the Super Troopers Programme to give children opportunities to do physical activity as part of their homework. Each student has a Super Trooper journal and each class were assigned homework activities from the journals each week. The website has lots of information on physical activity, nutrition and well-being, plus lots of additional activities for kids of all ages.
We also partnered with Offaly Sports Partnership to promote ‘The Active Me’ physical activity diary. The initiative was just one of the Sports Partnership’s to help children be more active.
What are the Fundamental Movement Skills?
FMS are the basic building blocks of movement and a core element of physical literacy, because enhanced movement competence enables pupils to participate in a wide range of physical activities and settings, for a variety of intensities or durations. It is only when these skills are mastered that a child can go on to develop specialised movement skills, which will allow them to reach their potential in sports-specific endeavours.
FMS are divided into the following three categories:
FMS are divided into the following three categories:
What is Physical Literacy?
Physical Literacy gives pupils the tools they need to take part in physical activity and sport, both for healthy life-long enjoyment and for sporting success. The physically literate child can be described as having the motivation, confidence, movement competence, knowledge and understanding to value and take part in physical activity throughout their personal lifelong journey. Research shows that being physically active later in life depends on feeling confident in an activity setting; and that confidence, as an adult, most often comes from having learned a range of specific movement skills as a child.
