We aim to maximise all opportunities for physical activity at Ballygar National school. Physical activity promotes the engagement of exercise and movement in addition to the 60 minutes of Physical Education per week. Ballygar National school actively promotes the message that children require 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity every day. Each child is encouraged to become more active during the school day. We have taken part in a variety of initiatives to promote and inspire the Children of Ballygar Nation School to become more active.
Active Playground
Children are given the opportunity to improve their fundamental movement skills throughout the day. During break and lunch children are encourage to stay active. Our school playground is zoned and this gives the pupils freedom to choose from a variety of activities. Our school has an excellent group of playground leaders that encourage the pupils to become more active. The playground leaders; plan, set up equipment, demonstrate and monitor the activities.
Active Breaks/ Rainy Day Breaks
All classes engage in active breaks throughout the school day. On wet days all children engage in an extended classroom based physical active break. (Go Noodle, Just Dance for Kids, Bizzy Breaks etc)
Active Lessons
We understand that active kids learn better. Physical activity can help pupils focus, improve behaviour and boost positive attitudes. The more they burn the more they learn!!
Active Schools Walkway
On Friday the 12th of April we launched our new Active School Walkway with a Mad Hatters Run/Walk! Ava and Julie Ann the youngest and oldest pupils in the school cut the ribbon to open the route. We had such a fantastic day!
Our Active School Walkway encourages pupils to do their ‘talking while their walking’. Thanks to Tom and Shane for setting up our new walkway. It is 325 metres around the perimeter of our beautiful school grounds.
Using our active schools walkway everyday!
Run Around Europe Challenge
To make every step count, we took to the school tennis court and challenged ourselves to run around Europe in just 4 weeks. Each lap of our tennis court is equivalent to 1 km. We ran over 5,500 km which is the equivalent of running to Yerevan, Armenia. We have noticed a huge improvement in our fitness levels and have really enjoyed the journey! We are looking forward to a new challenge in 2019.
Climb The Heights Peak
The whole school took part in climb the heights peak challenge. We gave ourselves four weeks to see how many mountains we could climb in Europe. We exceeded all our expectations. Together we had a total of 45,332 skips! Well done to Everyone what a fantastic achievement!
Santa Dash
We had our Santa Dash through Aghrane forest on Friday 21st December. This was a fun run/walk to mark the end of our Run Around Europe Challenge. Children wore festive attire on the day. We had hot chocolate and ate our gingerbread houses as a treat after the run. It was a really fun way to end our school term and all the teachers definitely noticed a huge improvement in our fitness.
Seachtain na Gaeilge
Every class took part in a céilí in the Mattie McDonagh Centre. We had great fun dancing to different Irish dances such as ‘Siege of Ennis’ and ‘Shoe the Donkey’ We also had an Irish disco and had great craic dancing to Irish songs. On Friday we also took part in a ‘Paddy’s Day Boot camp’!!