This week saw the start of our 6 week swimming programme with the pupils from 3rd & 4th Classes. This takes place annually here at St. Naul’s and it is very much looked forward to by the children! Here are the excited pupils on their way to the bus!
We had a great day away at the Cross Country County Finals in Buncrana. Over 20 children from St. Naul’s qualified for the finals and we were delighted to have some medal winners on the day! Congratulations to our U13 boys, who won gold medals and the cup as county champions; and our U13 girls and U9 boys, who won bronze medals.
Our school is excited to take part in the European Week of Sport. As part of our inclusive P.E. programme we are learning some new lámh signs. Class Teachers showed the pupils how to sign these action words, e.g. ‘to run’ ‘to walk’ and ‘to hop’. Each day the pupils practised these signs in class and today we completed 120 minutes of physical activity including a game of ‘Simon Says’ using the new lámh signs.
The Junior and Senior Infants learned a new sensory circuit programme this week where they enjoyed a fun exercise routine using tools to alert, organise and calm their bodies – promoting health and well being.
As part of our P.E. Programme, one of the strands is ball games. 3rd & 4th Classes were very enthusiastic with the new games this term!
Here at St. Naul’s National School we are delighted that Jackie Hughes of Eany Celtic football club has returned to coach Ms. McGroary’s class on Friday mornings. The pupils are encouraged to maintain physical activity while enhancing their teamwork skills.
Thank you to all the parents and pupils for collecting stickers for the Aldi poster competition. We will once again be in the draw with a chance of winning the big prize.
The rain showers did not deter the children or staff in starting their fun activities. We began with a morning assembly where the Active Agents informed us all about the action-packed timetable for the week ahead. We then moved outside where the whole school took part in a ‘Wake Up Shake Up’ routine led by our Active Agents. A 3-minute lap running challenge followed starting with the junior classes. There were so many exciting activities throughout the day as the weather cleared. Three different games of rounders were going on in the busy yard at one time while Junior and Senior Infants had fun playing dodgeball in the GP room. Afterwards, a fun dance routine was practised in each classroom. Meanwhile the Infant classes had an extra novelty game during their lunch break.
A big thank you to Leslie Robinson from Donegal Golf Club who kindly gave our 5th and 6th classes a golf lesson in the afternoon. The fun factor and energy levels kept up right to the end of the day with new team games, “Deflection” and “‘Bullseye”, creating lots of excitement.
We started the morning with ‘Wake Up, Shake Up’ in the GP room; getting everyone’s heart rate going to the beat of the music. Once again the 3/5 minute lap running challenge got underway with pupils trying to beat their own record from yesterdays run. The dance practice continued in the classrooms after both breaks and it is heating up for a great display at the showcase planned for next week.
The Skipathon is always an exciting activity and is fun for children of all fitness levels. Each pupil participated in a class skipping race. This was followed by ‘who can skip the longest?’ to great cheers from fellow-classmates. The Active Agents kept things running smoothly with changeover of skipping ropes to each class. Today’s novelty lunch time event was the Limbo Game for 1st and 2nd class. There was a great interest in this new activity in the yard.
Late afternoon was very busy with a wide range of games and physical activity getting underway. Mrs McCallig’s class played Hotseat and quickly moved on to a fun circuit activity. Another class worked on their ‘Run Around Ireland’ challenge while the senior classes were getting to grips with new playground “chain games” – boys versus the girls. A fun time was most definitely had. It was great to see how happy the pupils were while they kept active and at the same time learnt healthy habits for life.
This continued until the bell rang for home time when the children were reminded of their active homework! Pupil quote “This is too much fun..”
A soccer day…. An excellent day of activity! Jackie Hughes of Eany Celtic Soccer Club arrived early this morning and started a fun structured session with the Junior and Senior Infants; teaching them the basic drills of soccer. They all participated and were delighted with Jackie’s new equipment which was set up in the yard. After a physical workout they were eager to play a proper game of football. This session followed with the 1st and 2nd classes all practising basic skills followed by a game. A very sincere thank you to Jackie for her time spent with us encouraging physical activity.
Meanwhile, the other classes were extremely active in the yard and luckily on the grass also due to the better weather today. They continued their daily 3/5 minute-lap challenge, hotseat, 3 legged races and circuits while Master O’Donnell’s class enjoyed a very competitive game of basketball.
The dancing continued after break time in each class. Today, the novelty activity was a basketball challenge for 3rd and 4th class; how many baskets they could get in 10 minutes? Unfortunately, a rain shower interrupted this exercise 4 minutes from time with 4th class winning the challenge by 8 baskets.
In the latter part of the afternoon the soccer tournament commenced with 3rd-6th class getting to grips with the first fixture. Mr Byrne from Donegal Town football club organised a competitive six a side tournament with each team playing one game each to the sound of great excitement from the sidelines. The winning teams of each match are now through to the cup on Thursday while the losing teams will play in the shield. There were tense moments as goals were scored, and everyone is now looking forward to the final on Thursday afternoon.
