This school year 2021/22 we will be applying for our third Active Flag.
We have a lot of activities going on all year round in Stonehall alongside the PE curriculum to ensure all of the children stay as active and happy as possible!
We have a local hurling GAA coach in school each Friday coaching all children from Junior to Sixth class.
We ran our Stonehall Cross Country competition just before the mid term break in October and ran hurling/camogie and football blitzs for all children on the run up to the Christmas holidays.
The Active school flag team awarded us for our Active efforts during Halloween and we will receive a basketball hoop set in spring. We also got a mention in the Active flag newsletter.
As well as all of that we are taking part in the Fyffes fit squad challenge..we take part in daily exercise and will be in with a chance of winning prizes as we gather our points each week!
Especially in these times..outdoor movement breaks are very important so we fit these into our routines each day and we are very lucky to have so many areas to use in Stonehall …our Active walkway, astro turf, sports field, wall ball area, school yard, our hall and our playground which is a favourite movement break for the infant classes. On wet days we keep the children active indoor with some help from Joe wicks and the Fyffes fit squad.
From the 24th of January we will begin our four week active break challenge where we will be challenged to take an extra active break everyday for four weeks, this can be in the form of any type of exercise including dancing and using our walkway.
Each month as part of our PE curriculum we focus on a key fundamental movement skill and this month is catching..see our Twitter page for lots of photos and updates!
Keep an eye on this page for more updates to our Active flag application process!
Our wonderful playground leaders!
Active school week
We are holding our Active schools week on June 20th-24th. We have lots of exciting activities planned and we are currently putting together a timetable which we will post as soon as it is ready. Activities will include, lots of active walkway hunts and fitness stations, bike/scooter day, skipathon, soccer, hurling, football, basketball, badminton, rounders, crab soccer, dodgeball, dancing, well throwing to mention a few and our annual sports day will also be held during this week which will include lots of novelty races such as the egg and spoon, three legged, wheelbarrow, water and balloon races!
Keep an eye on this page and on twitter for more updates!
Active Walkway!
We have recently added an Active walkway to our school active resources thanks to the team at the Active Flag. We have used the school surroundings and the astro pitch for our walkway and it is already getting lots of use! We have used it for shape and letter hunts and Maths and Geography trails . During active week each class will use the walkway for an activity of their choice. It is a brilliant resource and one we hope to get lots of use out of during the next few weeks!
Partnerships
We have recently ask the Clare sports partnerships for stencils and paint to create new playground markings and we will hopefully have these for September 2022.
The local GAA club Newmarket on Fergus are involved with the school and supply us with coaches all year round, many of these coaches are involved with the children at a club level also so they love to see the familiar faces throughout the year.
The local community games is also very involved with the school, our Senior Infant teacher,Mrs. O Donoghue is local community games secretary and so we are very well informed of all of the events and activities.
Newmarket on Fergus club coach Derek keeping the Junior infants active at hurling and camogie training each week!
Our Dance Focus
In April this year we performed a musical at Glór theatre in Ennis, we had decided early in the year to focus on the dance strand for Physical Education and this opportunity was the perfect way to showcase all that we had learned. The children worked with Choreographer Marcella O Sullivan twice a week from January to April and on the night each child took part in various dances from hip hop to ballet, Irish and contemporary dance! The entire school staff also performed a dance on the night! Well done to everyone!
See link on homepage to watch entire musical!
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In May 2019, in conjuction with active schools week, the local community and the parents council officially launched a defibrillator which was fundrasied for and placed for use on the front on the school building. Throughout the day, the children participated in lots of activities like a skipaton, cpr training, pilates and zumba. A video was made of all the fun below!
Active School Flag!
Get Ireland Active s a great website for ideas on how to stay active all year round!
Here is a link to the website: http://www.getirelandactive.ie/
Well done to all!
We have been awarded our second active flag..keep up the good work everyone!
Active week is in full swing in Stonehall, here are some of our activities so far!
Swimming, playground trips,hurling blitz, athletics with Josephine and Richard, tug of war, dance, relay races, soccer and dodgeball tournaments, beep testing and yoga!
More photos from the rest of the week to follow soon!
Macarena!!
This year we will be applying for our second Active Flag.
We have a lot of different activites going on in school such as yoga, infant buddies, WOW days (part of the Green schools Travel Flag) along with hurling / camogie training during and after school, swimming and tag rugby to mention a few! We will be adding more to this list soon and preparing for Active week 2016 also. Active week will be held from May 16th to May 20th.
Well done to Grainne who competed in the County Championships during the May break!
Third and Fourth tried out a Jigsaw puzzle relay for PE!
We are lucky to have Clare Footballer Mr.Hartnett on teaching practice with us t the moment. He shares his skills with the children. Congratulations to him and all the footballers on their recent success in Croke Park!
More yoga photos:
Infant and 6th Class Buddies!
Olivia Daly from Galway came to see us and talk to us all about tug of war..we learned the rules and 5th and 6th got to pull on the rope also!
Here are some photos of our activities :
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In February 2013 we decided to apply for our first Active school flag.
Along with all of our usual sport activities we held an after school sports hour each Monday evening for children from 1st to 3rd class. This included a variety of sport and games and it was enjoyed by all.
We also set up an Junior/Senior infant and 6th Class buddy system at lunchtime, the 6th class played games in the hall and on the yard and field with the younger children every Tuesday. This worked very well and along with being active, the younger children really enjoyed working with 6th class children.
We organised our PE room and labelled all of our equipment. We replaced any broken items and also purchased a full set of bibs which are proving very valuable.
Along with our usual PE time we set aside an extra half hour a week for activities such as walks, games and bizzy breaks in the classroom.
Josephine and Richard McMahon came in each Thursday and brought lots of different Athletic equipment with them. The set up stations and children from Junior to 6th class participated in different activities each week.
We held a very successful Active School Week in May. We had a packed timetable full of activities including dodgeball tournaments, soccer blitz, skipathon, hula hoopathon, crab soccer, teachers v students match, orienteering, school walk and cycle to mention a few!
The children were very busy all year and were involved in a variety of sporting avtivities such as horse riding, bowling, basketball, Irish dancing, Tae-kwan- do, soccer, hurling, Gaelic football and camogie and cross country running!
We had a visit from the Active School Flag inspector in June and he was very happy with all our work. We were awarded our flag which we raised on the evening of the school 5km fun run/walk. This flag will last until 2016.
We look forward to starting after school sport again in February and plans are already in place for Active week 2014! We will be able to avail of our new astro turf pitch for an even wider range of activities!
Well done to all involved and remember to stay active!!
The Department of Education and Skills wishes to recognise primary schools, special schools and Youthreach centres to apply.
The Active School Flag will be awarded to schools that:
– Adhere to DES guidelines regarding PE timetable provision for all students
– Teach a broad and balanced PE curriculum
– Inform and invite the whole school community to participate in the ASF process
– Self-evaluate current provision in terms of PE, Physical Activity and Community Links
– Plan and implement improvements for each of the aformentioned areas
– Organise an ‘Active School Week’ as part of the annual school calendar
Schools should work to their own time frame in order to implement changes that will have real and tangible benefits. The ASF is a whole school process and schools are encouraged to look towards parents, the local community and outside agencies (HSE, LSPs, NGBs, PDST) for their support.
The Active School Flag is funded by the Teacher Education Section of the Department of Education and Skills and based in Mayo Education Centre. Once awarded the ASF remains valid for a period of 3 years.
Stonehall National School 
