Sports
Please click on the + to read more information about each activity!
Each year, all pupils from 1st – 6th classes go to Birr Swimming Pool as part of our Aquatics strand in the P.E. curriculum. We employ 3 coaches for three sessions to cater for beginners, improvers and deep-end swimmers. By 6th class, all pupils are comfortable in the deep end of the pool. A very important skill for all!
Miss Fox does a number of sessions with the girls from the senior room each year and when possible will run a tournament involving other local schools, to give our pupils the chance to work as part of a team / squad.
This is a very inclusive and fun sport. We have access to a coach from Leinster Rugby who teaches the skills, play small games and organizes an inter-school tournament locally at the end of the coaching period.
All classes from Junior Infants to 6th undertake a 6 week block of dance lessons with Lisa Hogan. Lisa is a former pupil of our school and the children love her lively and fun classes, where they not only learn some new routines but also get to put together their own routines in small groups. A lot of learning happens in a very fun –filled environment.
We undertake a 6-week stint of athletics lessons with a coach annually. These are very enjoyable and all children take part. It is a fun and inclusive activity.
One of our parents does six weeks of Pilates classes with our children each year. These classes are fun and very inclusive and our pupils also find them really relaxing.
We undertake a number of coaching sessions each year. Mr. Sampson trains the school teams in Hurling, Camogie, Gaelic football (Boys & girls) and we have parental involvement in coaching all age groups as part of our P.E. programme.
We also have coaches from Offaly G.A.A. coming to work with the children during the year.
Miss Fox runs the skipathon fundraiser each year. This again is an opportunity for pupils to learn about people who are less fortunate than themselves while helping to raise money in a fun way.
An annual event that is looked forward to eagerly by all pupils. We put teams together with members from all classes from 2nd – 6th The teams then undertake a number of activities at stations manned by staff members and helpers with the emphasis on inclusion and encouragement. At the end, everyone enjoys some “goodies”, while they sit around and chat.
Other experiences
Our Speech and Drama Teacher is Mr. Jared Madden.
Mr. Madden works with all classes from Junior Infants to 6th class, between January and May each year. In late May, we put on a school show in Birr Theatre. This is an event the whole school community looks forward to each year. Our shows become more polished each year and our pupils learn a lot from the experience.
Our school has taken part in the Fís (Film in Schools) for many years. The initiative is run by Laois Education Centre and involves the children coming up with an idea, script, division of parts, filming, editing and story-boarding. Our Speech and Drama teacher has been of enormous help with or films in recent years and our pupils have enjoyed a lot of success both at local and national level. We have been prize winners at the National Finals of Fís in the Helix Theatre on a number of occasions.
Our pupils engage in a huge variety of art and craft activities. They take part in local and national art competitions and have been very successful at both levels. We undertake construction of models integrated with many subject areas, in all classes.
Each Christmas, the children make cards and decorations in their own Art classes but also with Mrs. Sampson and they produce beautiful work every year.
In the past few years, under the direction of Mrs. Sampson, our SET teacher, has undertaken “Maths for Fun” in all classrooms. This means that the children will play games once a week based on the topic being covered in class at that time. It has meant that maths is now viewed as a fun activity, while much learning is going on at the same time.
Again, under the direction of Mrs. Sampson, pupils in all classes work on a novel in small groups. As they read, they engage with many skills e.g. predicting, discussing, comparing/contrasting, character descriptions, summarizing etc. They undertook oral and written exercises following each chapter. They also find the meanings of new words and keep a note of all this work in their notebooks. Much engagement takes place in the groups and the novels are dealt with in great detail. It has proved to be a very popular activity and has greatly helped encourage reading as a pastime.
Our pupils in the middle and senior classes grow seeds during the year and plot their progress. Some of these may be sown in the school garden. Children work in the school garden in small groups, under the direction of Mrs. Sampson and Mrs. Houlihan preparing the soil, sowing, watering, weeding and tending to plants as the grow. They take home produce as it grows.
DCs for bees gave us an orchard of 3 apple trees, one plum tree and one pear tree. It is linked in with the national biodiversity data centre in Dublin and each year there’s an opportunity for the kids to track the pollination effort and feed into the All Ireland Pollinator Plan – teaching the kids about the impact we can all make to help halt the decline of bees.
We have a healthy eating policy in our school. This means that sandwiches, fruit and vegetables should be brought for lunch Monday – Thursday and a treat may be brought on Friday. Fizzy drinks are not allowed in school and pupils are encouraged to drink juice or water. We have taken part in the “Food Dudes” programme on a number of occasions and this is a fun way to encourage pupils to eat fruit and vegetables every day and to make them part of their healthy lunch routine.
We undertake a number of coaching sessions each year. Mr. Sampson trains the school teams in Hurling, Camogie, Gaelic football (Boys & girls) and we have parental involvement in coaching all age groups as part of our P.E. programme.
We also have coaches from Offaly G.A.A. coming to work with the children during the year.
Miss Fox runs the skipathon fundraiser each year. This again is an opportunity for pupils to learn about people who are less fortunate than themselves while helping to raise money in a fun way.
