Physical Activity
           'Exercise a lot, give it your best shot' Our Active School Slogan

Active Lines.

When the bell rings at the end of break and lunch-times our students participate in Active Lines. This takes place on a daily basis. Active Lines are led by our Active School Committee who blow the whistle to start and finish each exercise. Our Active School Committee are on a rota to blow the whistle. Our rota is displayed on our Active School Board. Examples of exercises include, burpees, squats, line cross, high heels and punch bag, star jumps... to name but a few! The exercises are displayed on the window nearest the yard and are changed weekly. There are arrows to indicate break or lunch-time exercises. We move these arrows every Monday. 

Playground Leaders

Since October, students from 5th and 6th class have been volunteering as playground leaders. They teach Junior and Senior Infants and games and skills on a weekly basis. The leaders teach the games at lunch-times on Mondays and Tuesdays. Here are some examples of games that have been taught:
Treasure Chest. Halloween Relay. Pumpkin Toss. I Sent a letter to my friend.... Cat and Mouse and Duck, Duck, Goose.  Games range from traditional games, tag games, chasing games and co-operative games. 

Table Tennis Take Over. April 28th 2023. 

The day started with a whole school assembly in the hall. Our ASC demonstrated table-tennis skills that the children could try out later in the day. We had a time-table for the school hall, all classes had their opportunity to play. We borrowed tables from each classroom for the day and had it all set up Thursday evening so that we were ready to go. We had seven tables which meant 28 children could be playing at one time, so everyone was involved and active for their entire time.  Thank you to Active Schools for sending us the table tennis sets. 

Basketball. March, April 2023. 

Third and fourth class girls are taking part in basketball lessons at present in the school hall. One of the students expressed and interest in doing this so we said why not! ​

Bike Day 2023. 

Bike Day 2023, Wednesday 17th May 2023. 

This was our second year marking Bike Week. It is proving to be one of the best days of the school year! Many children who live nearby cycled to school. On Wednesday 17th May 2023 all children were invited to bring their bikes to school. Anyone who could not bring a bike or does not have one walked the route. At 11:30 a.m. the whole school cycled down the road to the T-Junction and back to the school. Parents and grandparents helped steward the event. For the rest of the day each classroom had a time slot of three quarters of an hour to cycle around the perimeter of the school. It was a fantastic day. The Active Committee also ran an art competition during bike week based on the theme of Bike Safety. We held an Active Assembly at 10:15a.m. in advance of our cycle. Each child showed their artwork and read out their bike safety message. 

Bike Day 2022. 
16th - 20th May. 

We celebrated Bike Week, 16th - 20th May 2022. Many children who live nearby cycled to school everyday. On Wednesday 18th May 2022 all children were invited to bring their bikes to school. Anyone who could not bring a bike or does not have one walked the route. At 10 O'clock the whole school cycled down the road to the T-Junction and back to the school. Parents and grandparents helped steward the event. For the rest of the day each classroom had a time slot of three quarters of an hour to cycle around the perimeter of the school. It was a fantastic day. The Active Committee also ran an art competition during bike week. An Active Assembly was held to thank everyone for their efforts and to present prizes to the winners. The prizes were skipping ropes and balls. 

Each class focused SPHE lessons this week on Road Safety and particularly a focus on safety when cycling. 

10@10

Our 10@10 takes place on the second Wednesday of every month at 10 o'clock. It includes 10 stations and 10 school teams. 10@10 begins with each student lining up in their school team in the school hall followed by a warm-up led by our ASC. If we are adding a new exercise, this is demonstrated. We then participate in exercise stations. We move in a circle around the school yard. If the ground is dry, we move up to the school field. We have music pumping to help us move faster!! Example of exercises include, skipping, mountain climbers, step-ups, invisible chair, pop squats, hill runs, sprints, basketball shots and hurdles. 

Christmas 10 @ 10 2022. 

On sunny days 10 @ 10 moves up the field!

Active Walkway. 

We have created an Active Walkway around the school field. Students are encouraged to use this route at lunch and break-times. We use this route for whole school running. We also use our walkway for movement breaks. 

The Daily Mile

First and second class started The Daily Mile after the October mid-term break. They ran everyday at 1:40 p.m. After Christmas Junior and Senior Infants began running the Daily Mile and by February our whole school were taking part. Our whole school began the Daily Mile on February 20th 2023, after our mid-term break. Our Daily Mile mainly takes place around our active walkway. We record our runs using a sticker and the day and date. 

World Daily Mile Day. April 27th 2023. 

We will celebrate World Daily Mile Day on Thursday April 28th. 

Hallowe'en Walk

On October 28th 2022 we had our annual Hallowe'en walk. The students put a huge effort into making some really creative, home-made costumes. Lots of parents joined us on our walk down the road from the school to the crossroads and back to the school.

Halloween Games. 

Junior and Senior Infants played Skeleton Replay and Pumpkin Toss as part of our Playground Leader games. 

Santa Dash 2022

Our Santa Dash was held on Thursday December 15th 2022. We intended doing our usual run on the roads but the weather all week from the 12th - 16th December was extremely frosty so it was just too dangerous. Thankfully on Thursday 16th it thawed out enough for us to use our school field. We played lots of Christmas tunes and ran our hearts out. We ran for 20 minutes as a whole school and marked out the route with boundary poles. 

 Santa Dash 2021

Our Santa Dash took place on December 17th 2021. All students who participated ran/walked 3.3kilometres. The route was on roads around our school. Members of the community and parents/guardians helped steward the route. Teachers ran and helped with providing refreshments of water and oranges when the children finished the run.

Seachtain na Gaeilge

In the weeks leading up to Saint Patrick’s Day all those who Irish Dance gathered together and over the course of a week they created a 'Dancing Showcase'.  All classes assembled in the school hall to enjoy the show and celebrate our Irish Dancing talents. 

Easter Exercise Trail

On April 8th 2022 all students, as part of our school teams participated in an Easter Exercise Trail. We made 24 points around the school yard and field. Each team followed the directions to go from place to place completing a variety of exercises along the way.

Easter Egg Hunt

On April 8th 2022 the children from Junior and Senior Infants, 1st and 2nd classes enjoyed searching for plastic eggs around the school grounds and field. The Active Committee hid all the eggs and kept track of how many eggs we had left to find. We searched for over 120 eggs. 

 

Brain Breaks and Rainy Day Activities.

Brain breaks are becoming part of our daily routine in Ballyadams NS. On rainy days teachers choose from a bank of activities they have to ensure students get their exercise, despite the weather. These activities range from doing a dance using go noodle, to squats, mountain climbers, lunges, pop squats to name but a few. All teachers have been given posters for their classroom with ideas for brain breaks and activities for rainy days.  All classrooms have been given dice faces for movement breaks. Roll the interactive dice to see what exercise we should be doing. 

Ideas given to teachers during Croke Park hours for brain breaks.