Firies National School was delighted to obtain it's first Active School Flag in June 2021 in recognition of all the physical activity that takes place in our school. The aim of the Active Schools Flag is to encourage schools to be more active, more often. It links in with all of the work we are doing throughout the year on Healthy Living – being active, getting exercise, taking care of our minds and bodies. Here at Firies National School we believe that we are well on the way to continuing this great honour, with our full schedule of activities available for our students before, during and after school! Our Active School Flag committee continue to work hard with teachers, students and parents to make sure that we all learn to be more active in our teaching and learning. Have a look at some of the various activities we have taken part in over the past number of years – cycling, gymnastics, games, athletics, orienteering, our Christmas Santa Run, Happy Heart Day and much more. We have lots of plans to make our school physically educated and physically active so make sure to check back for some more updates.

To learn more about the Active School Flag Initiative, visit their website   – www.activeschoolflag.ie

Firies N.S. works with different agencies to promote physical activity throughout our school community. Over the past two years we were lucky to work with exceptional coaches that shared their skills with us.

We take part in lots of different activities to keep active in our school. These include team games and individual activities.

Playground Leaders - We have developed many new initiatives over the past two years which all the boys and girls of Firies N.S. are enjoying. At lunch time our Playground Leaders from 6th class spend time teaching the students from the junior classes to play playground games. The Active School Committee has created a list of Playground Games that they can play with the younger boys and girls. They also have specially dedicated equipment which is used exclusively for this project. The Playground Leaders can be seen easily on the yard in their blue jackets. Thank you also to the senior boys and girls who have volunteered, they are very much enjoying this leadership role in the school. 

Active Breaks - All classes take part in active breaks throughout the school day.  This includes Go-Noodle, Bizzy Breaks, P.E. with Joe Wicks and a variety of classroom movement ideas.  On a wet day, if pupils cannot go outside at break time, extra time will be given to movement breaks in the classroom.

Lunchtime Leagues - we run various lunchtime leagues throughout the school year in Soccer, Football and Basketball. Teams are made up of boys and girls from different classes and matches are played during lunchtime.

Tour of Europe Challenge - Each class chooses a European landmark to ‘run’ to e.g. the Eiffel Tower is 778km away.  We use our Active Walkway to clock up the kilometres, 4 laps of the yard equals 1 kilometre. We collect a lollipop stick every time we complete a lap to keep track. We can't wait for the completion of our all weather pitch and use the running track around the perimeter as part of our Active Walkway!

‘Do your Talking as You’re Walking’ - we have introduced this into our playground to encourage pupils who, even if they just want to chat, they can do so while walking to make sure they are keeping active.

Active Calendar Events - We celebrate different active events throughout the school year – Halloween Witches Walk, Christmas Santa run, Happy Heart Day, Operation Transformation, Lá Glas, Easter Egg Hunts and lots more – the children really look forward to such events with great anticipation.

6o minutes physical activity challenge - All classes complete at least 60 minutes of physical activity per day and record the information for a minimum of one week per school year. Senior classes can track their physical activity for longer if they wish. We enjoy sharing our new and exciting ideas for keeping fit and healthy.

Active Flag Committee – Our Active Flag Committee have been working diligently to promote a love for physical activity and healthy lifestyles. Pupils are given various roles and tasks to carry out throughout the school year such as making announcements at assembly, giving messages to the classrooms on various initiatives, designing posters for the school, carrying out surveys and checking the suggestion box.  Our pupils play a very important role in organising and delivering our Active Flag initiatives.

Achievement Wall – A ‘Wall of Fame’ is celebrated on the main corridor in Firies N.S. This wall contains pictures of children and displays their achievements outside of school in the many and varied activities they get up to as well as achievements, both sporting and otherwise made in school.

Active School Commitment Poster – All staff and students of Firies N.S. proudly signed the Active School Commitment Poster and displayed it for the school and wider community to view. Every class was adamant that they would be dedicated to achieving a physically active school community.

Each year Firies N.S. place a special focus on one strand in particular. For the 2019/20 school year we were shining a light on the strand of Games. Our aim throughout the year was to expose the children to a wide variety of activities in line with the Fundamental Movement Skills.

For the 2020/2021 school year we put a greater emphasis on Outdoor and Adventure Activities. During the current pandemic we are advised to spend more time outdoors getting fresh air so we felt it was most suitable to zone in on this strand, in particular Orienteering. We created various maps of the school grounds that would be accessible to all age groups and used these when exploring Orienteering skills. It has been a huge hit so far this school year. With brighter days approaching we hope to spend more time improving these skills. 

Our PE Programme is constantly being updated to make sure we are always providing best practice PE delivery in our school. Our targeting of the Active School Flag has required an audit of our PE programme. This examination has helped us improve our provision of Physical Education. Here are some key elements we focus on: