WE HAVE OUR ACTIVE FLAG… WELL DONE EVERYONE!
See below for our Active Flag journey and continous updates as we continue to KEEP ACTIVE!
Active Flag
As you are aware, we have launched our Active Flag campaign. Since we came back to school in January, we have all tried hard to ‘Get Active’. Our ‘Let’s Get Active’ board is coming to life and has some nice articles and photographs on display for everyone to see. Remember the ‘Let’s Get Active’ board is available to parents, groups and others to advertise any local active events.
Final Year Update
Wednesday the 18th of June was a great day here at school as the 6th class pupils raised our Active Flag. We’re very proud to have this flag flying outside our school as it symbolises the children’s commitment to the project. When we embarked on this project almost two years ago, our aim was to increase the children’s awareness of sports and activities, to ‘broaden their horizons’, and to increase their ability to participate in activities at all levels, be it competitive or ‘just for fun’. We feel they have achieved these goals in spades.
Lots of people were involved along the way and to them a big ‘thank-you’. The biggest ‘thank-you’ of all needs to go to the children for embracing all the different activities so whole-heartedly, and for always showing such enthusiasm throughout this process. A special thank-you to the 6th class pupils for being a ‘class’ active team. As this is a continuous programme, we look forward to our next years active team’s ideas. As always, if you have any suggestions/talents that you wish to share with us, please contact Colette at the school.
So, have a great summer, enjoy the holidays, and remember…Let’s Keep Active.
Active Week 2014
ACTIVE WEEK 26TH-30THMAY and 5th/6thJUNE
Active Flag week again was very enjoyable, it started on May 26th and stretched all the way to June 6th. Lots took place during these weeks; teddy bear picnics, spikeball games, Zumba classes, mini-beast hunts, athletic sessions, boules finals and much more. The whole school had a fantastic day out at Cavan Crystal Maze and the senior room enjoyed a morning at Slane GAA Club taking part in an inter-school blitz. Last but definitely not least, we covered the distance of 5 marathons between us…that’s 211km…no mean feat!! We closed the week with a certificate of participation for everyone and a very well-deserved ice-cream treat!
Well done to everyone for participating so wholeheartedly and making this week a thoroughly enjoyable experience.
Photos will be on the Active Board soon!
June Update
As usual, we’ve been very busy here keeping ‘Active’: we’ve finished our 5 weeks of GAA skills with Siobhan and are now enjoying some Zumba classes with Paula (our favourite Zumba teacher). Swimming at Kells Pool continues on Monday afternoons for the whole school….it’s a great start to our week. We’ve also completed 23 early morning runs so far this year….still time for a few more.
May Update
Since we came back from our Easter holidays, we’ve started our 7 week course of swimming lessons at Kells Swimming Pool. So far, everyone seems to be enjoying themselves, especially all our junior infants, who are going swimming with the school for the very first time.
Thursday afternoons are now something to look forward to, as Siobhan is back to help us all brush up our GAA skills.
Our “boules battle” has again been very popular, with all who wanted to be involved playing against each other to see who the class champion is. Most of the games have been played, some of them have been very close battles and all of them have been played with great sportsmanship. The finals will be played during active week which is planned for May 26th (weather permitting). We have some new ideas for this week, but as always, your suggestions are welcome. Please contact Colette with same.
Look what we got….
Our Special Visit
Des, our active school flag accreditor spent most of the day with us on Monday 31st March. He was coming to see just how active we all are here in Rathkenny school and we hope we impressed him with our busy active calendar and all our demonstrations. We started the day with a Power Point presentation, given by the senior room pupils. They all did a fantastic job. Then the junior and senior infants showed him how to ‘Hokey Pokey’, 1st and 2nd danced a very hard 6 hand reel and the senior room, The Walls of Limerick. Thanks, Louise, for helping us on the day. We also showed him how to play boules and spikeball. We finished the day with 2 slide shows of photographs…all taken since we started our active flag campaign. We will soon know if we’ve been successful in achieving our active flag, so….fingers crossed!
Spring 2014
St. Louis National School School Football Team.
Our soccer team went to the MDL in Navan to take part in the F.A.I. 5-a-side competition last week. They did really well and won their group. In the next round, they drew their game, so it went to a Golden Goal. Unfortunately, Carlinstown scored first, so we were out! The team had a great day out and we’re all very proud of them.
Our active flag campaign is still going strong. Here are some of our recent events:
Ian from 4th class is a member of Collon Boxing Club. He had his first ever match lately and he did really well in it. We all enjoyed hearing about his training and seeing some of his punches and jabs
Spikeball
If you hear the children from the senior room talking about digs, spikes or hits, don’t worry, it’s all part of the new game we’re learning…….Spikeball. We hope to have a mini-league soon, when we have all learned how to play.
Keepy Uppies
We tried our keep uppies again with the children from 1st to 6th class and there were some fantastic scores. Keep practising and see can you beat your score next term.
Seachtain na Gaeilge
We celebrated Seachtain na Gaeilge in an active fashion too. There have been treasure hunts (in which even our fittest footballers were out of breath!) a ‘puc fada’ competition for the senior room, and of course, some Irish dancing for everyone with Louise.
And we’re still running…….flowers, hearts, pancakes, trees and shamrocks have been some of our latest early morning themes ……
Winter 2013
Cumann na mBunscol
Our school team played in Páirc Tailteann on November 16th in the Division 7 final. It was a hard fought game and Carrickleck were worthy opponents. However, the Rathkenny girls and boys played a strong final quarter and our captain happily accepted the cup on behalf of the whole team. We’re all very proud of them.
Even Billy made an appearance……
Early Morning Runs.
Our early morning runs continue, recently we had a trophy shaped run to celebrate our football team’s success. Christmas is the theme at the moment, so we’ve had a Christmas tree run ,a Santa-shaped run and a star run.
Boules, Boules, Boules.
We’ve just finished another boules battle, a team event. Patrick and Michaela were the senior room winners and Finn and Eoghan, the junior room. It was fun, with lots of skill and team spirit evident.
And we’re still skipping……
Autumn 2013
Since our return to school in September, we’ve been busy getting active. Here are some of our highlights…..
1) Bizzy Breaks Return
Our bizzy breaks are back…. on rainy days. Our new junior infants got bizzy learning the moves.
2) Cumann na mBunscoil
The Cumann na mBunscoil gaa competition is underway. So far, our school team has won all their games except one. We’re hoping to follow in the footsteps of the Rathkenny Senior Football team and play in the Páirc Tailteann at a later date. Go n-Éirí an Bothar Libh.
3) The Tailteann Challenge
The Challenge this year is to “hit the net”. Each child has 5 attempts on each foot. Olivia and Pete will represent our school in Páirc Tailteann at a later date. Go n-Éirí an Bothar Libh.
4) GAA Skills
We’ve completed 5 weeks of GAA Skills with Siobhán. We had great fun!
5)Early Morning Random Runs
We’ve had some early morning runs before school…. Our most recent one was a pumpkin run for Halloween.
6) Active Lunches
Our 1st and 2nd classes have completed 4 weeks of active lunches. The 6th class children have been very involved and helpful during these sessions. We’ve had large obstacle courses, penalty shoot outs, relays, hoop huts and much much more….
Junior and Senior Infants have just started their active lunches and learned how to play boules. This week Olivia, Patrick, Will and Pete were great teachers!
Summer Term 2013
Our senior room have been trying some gymnastics! They have been doing a great job, take a look at their 2,3 and 4 point balances and also our morning stretches in the sun….
Recently, we’ve had some athletic training sessions with Niamh McGuire. Niamh coaches in the local athletic club and she has kindly given up her time to train all our classes. Her sessions are very popular with the children. Thanks Niamh!
A Great Day Out
On the 6th June, our whole school travelled to Gormanstown College for an action packed day at their Let’s Go Camp. There were bouncy castles, zorbing balls, flickers, carts, slides, bungee trampolines and so much more. And we tried everything!! Some children even ran laps of the running track during lunch!! Everyone had a great day and there were lots of happy tired children on the bus home.
Let’s Zumba
If you’ve been passing the school on thursday afternoons recently, you might have heard some unusual music coming from the yard. Well, that’s because all the children have been enjoying Zumba classes with Paula. Ms. Coogan and Ms. Marry have also been seen to enjoy it!
Keepy Uppies
We decided to have a Keepy Uppy Competition for anyone who wanted to take part. All our personal best scores are recorded and everyone is hoping to beat that score next year. Evan scored a fantastic 238….. that’s going to be hard to beat. Keep practicing!
Hurling
We have been very lucky lately to have Donal Curtis (David and Joey’s dad and former Meath footballer) teach hurling skills to the children from 2nd to 6th. Everyone enjoyed the session and plenty of goals and points were scored! Thanks Donal
Active Week 20th – 24th May 2013
This was our first active week here in Rathkenny NS. Lots of events took place. We had a teddy bears picnic, 3 legged races, garden walks, crab football, active lunches, swimming, hurling and zumba to name but a few. The junior room also reached their target of 10,000 skips in a week! That’s a lot of skipping! Some athletic coaches came to visit and so did Donal Curtis and Aoife Moroney. Our boules battle finals were played and we had some very close games and worthy winners. Siobhán proved to be a champion boule player in a very close game between the staff members. Thanks to Keith for umpiring.
Well done to everyone for participating in a very enjoyable week… can’t wait for next year!
GAA Skills
Siobhán (David and Ian’s Mam) is coaching us in football skills. We are doing lots of drills and learning to solo a ball. We played some fun games and really enjoy the sessions. Thank you Siobhan.
Februrary 2013
Sixth Class Help Out
During our last active lunch break, Erin, Mia and Shauna (6th Class Girls) gave up their own lunch time and helped us enjoy our activities. They set up the station, manned one each and couldn’t resist joining in at times! The girls were very helpful and we really enjoyed having them. Thanks Erin, Mia and Shauna.
We Love our Hearts!
To celebrate St. Valentine’s Day, we started each day of the week with a ‘heart’ – shaped run. Each class did two laps except for junior infants who did one. We all got our hearts pumping and were wide awake for a busy day in the classroom. Everyone enjoyed themselves and we hope to extend this theme to other occasions during the year.
Aoife
On the 12th of February 2013, Aoife Moroney came to our school. Aoife is a trained sports rehabilitator and personal trainer. She spoke to us about the importance of exercise in our lives and also gave us some tips on good posture. She took all our classes for a training session and even though we were all very tired, we enjoyed it. Aoife hopes to visit our school again and we all hope she does. . Thanks Aoife!
January 2013
Active Songs
In these photos the Juniors enjoying the Hokey Pokey. We had such fun learning this dance – we especially love the part when we get to put our whole self in and out and shake it all about!
Bizzy Breaks
The Junior Room gets “Bizzy”. We are even “bizzy” in our seats.
On your bike!
Our Senior Room learned some valuable cycling skills with Richie from the Cycle Safety Training Skills Initiative.
January 23rd 2013 – Our First Active Lunch
Everyone had a great time playing some new games. Áine and Colette had fun too!!
March 2013 – Let’s Dance
Shauna’s mum Louise very kindly gave up her time to teach us all some Irish Dancing. The Senior Room learned “The Seige of Ennis” “The Fairy Reel” and “Three Tunes”. The Junior Room learned “The Seige of Ennis” and “The Fairy Reel”. We all really enjoyed getting our dancing shoes on! Go raibh maith agat Louise.
We’ve also been busy doing some early morning runs. For St. Patrick’s Day, we had a shamrock shaped run and Easter wouldn’t have been complete without our Easter Bunny Run!!
The boys and girls from the senior room have all improved their basketball skills during our very active lunch times. Some super baskets were scored and they learned some fun games too: Rebound, Hot Seat and 21’s.
