Active Flag - St Nicholas of Myra National School

We are an Active Flag School and work hard to ensure that physical activity is valued, promoted and enjoyed by all. The Active School Flag (ASF) is a Department of Education and Skills Initiative supported by healthy Ireland, and part of the National Physical Activity Plan.

The ASF initiative provides schools with a framework to guide, support and incentivise them to work towards achieving a physically educated and physically active school community.

We were awarded an Active Flag in 2020 and are working hard to ensure we renew our flag this year. Here’s a look at some of the activities we take part in across the year:

Movement Breaks- daily all classes take part in movement breaks in the yard. We feel it is important to give students a brain break and give them the chance to get moving between lessons. When the weather is wet we use Just Dance, Go Noodle, Bizzy Breaks or exercise videos on Youtube.
Olympic Movement Breaks- The Olympic Movement Breaks are a series of 20 short videos led by Olympians and High-Performance athletes demonstrating fun exercises and activities that students of all abilities can do. The short videos, across a variety of different sports including athletics, boxing, rugby sevens, swimming, breakdancing, and para powerlifting, will help generate classroom-based movement opportunities. We will be running this at school from 5^th Feb- 8^th Mar in every class in the school.
Run Around Ireland- this activity encourages schools (teachers too) to walk, run or roll to visit some of Ireland’s most famous landmarks. We will run this activity during the month of June. It’s a great way to build physical activity into the school day and to bring learning outdoors. It supports the Athletics strand of the PE programme and gives students the opportunity to develop good running technique. Classes will record their progress each week on the chart and we will update the sites we have reached around Ireland.
Active School Slogan- We held a competition throughout our school to come up with a school slogan. The 6^th class students of our ASF committee ran this art competition in each class and voted on the winner. Our slogan as voted for by students in the school, was designed by student Adam in 4th class- “You gotta hustle for the muscle!”
Feel Good Friday- Physical Activity makes you feel good! International research proves that being physically active improves mental health by reducing anxiety, depression and negative moods and by improving self-esteem and cognitive function. To raise awareness about these facts, and because we know how important it is to find lots of different ways to keep everyone active throughout the year, we are introducing a NEW initiative called FeelGoodFridays. Each Friday from April- June students will complete a an Active/ Wellbeing activity. Once a month we will come together as a school to do this together.
Active Week– This is the biggest event in the Active School calendar and a favourite initiative for many students, staff and their families. Active Week will run from 10^th-14^th June in our school. During this week we will take part in many amazing activities such as Playground games stations, Sport’s stations, Teachers V their class challenges, Teachers V 6^th class Basketball match, Sport’s Day, Orienteering activities, Active Walkway challenges and some taster sessions with local sport’s clubs.
Physical Education- All pupils in St. Nicholas of Myra N.S are provided with at least 60 minutes of PE each week. We are very lucky to have a large yard and green pitch where we can run, jump, skip, hop and play all the games we want!! We have a fully stocked P.E shed with a great selection of equipment for all sports and activities. We teach all 6 strands of the Physical Education Curriculum and this year were lucky enough to begin swimming lessons at ALSAA Sport’s Club beside Dublin Airport. 4^th and 5^th class partook in a 6 week swimming block and all student’s made great progress. This block will happen yearly. Along with the 6 strands of the curriculum, we also ensure that we teach the Fundamental Movement skills to all students. These experiences should lead to a physically literate pupil, who has the movement competence, confidence, and understanding to continue participation in physical activity throughout their lives.

We are an Active Flag School and work hard to ensure that physical activity is valued, promoted and enjoyed by all. The Active School Flag (ASF) is a Department of Education and Skills Initiative supported by healthy Ireland, and part of the National Physical Activity Plan.

The ASF initiative provides schools with a framework to guide, support and incentivise them to work towards achieving a physically educated and physically active school community.

We were awarded an Active Flag in 2020 and are working hard to ensure we renew our flag this year. Here’s a look at some of the activities we take part in across the year:

Movement Breaks- daily all classes take part in movement breaks in the yard. We feel it is important to give students a brain break and give them the chance to get moving between lessons. When the weather is wet we use Just Dance, Go Noodle, Bizzy Breaks or exercise videos on Youtube.