What is the Active School Flag?
The Active School Flag (ASF) is a Department of Education and Skills initiative supported by Healthy Ireland, and is part of the National Physical Activity Plan. The ASF initiative provides schools with a framework to guide, support and incentivise them to work towards achieving a physically educated and physically active school community.
See below the ASF activities for 2021 - 2022.
Be Active Walkway Day
We kicked off our ASF calendar for this year with the BeActive Walkway Day on Friday, 24th September. Classes enjoyed the lovely autumnal weather by completing the Active Walkway trail in both the Junior and Senior buildings.
Active Student of the Month Awards
An award is given out to one student in every class who has been particularly active during that month. Well done to those students...an active body means an active mind!
September Active Students
October Active Students
Doing a spooky walk to show off Halloween costumes, making use of our Active Walkway from the Junior to Senior building....
'Active Break Every Day' Challenge, November 8th - December 3rd.
As part of the 'Active Break Every Day' Challenge classes are encouraged to take indoor/outdoor movement breaks everyday. These breaks are a great way to restore concentration/focus not to mention get everyone active, and should form part of the school day every day for everyone. We've got some great resources to help us along the way such as Cosmic Kids Yoga, The Irish Heart Foundation Bizzy Breaks, Movement in the Classroom from the PDST and RTE's 10@10 videos. This year we also signed up to Fyffes Fit Squad. Have a look at some of the things our classes got up to....
GAA 5 Star Centre Flag
Garrett Doyle, our GDA, presented KPS with its GAA 5 Star Centre flag, well earned in a school that is proud of it's history with the GAA and Cumann na mBunscol. Thanks to Garrett for all that he does in developing the fitness and skill levels of our pupils in KPS.
November Active Students
Santa Dash
We got fit and festive on 17th December when we had our Santa Dash. We used our Active Walkway while listening to some Christmas tunes and a lovely atmosphere was created.
December Active Students
January Active Students
February Active Students
Spórt agus Spraoi i rith Seachtain na Gaeilge
During Seachtain na Gaelige the children in the Junior Building proudly wore their green, white and orange and did a St. Patrick’s Day parade around the Active Walkway on both sides of the road. Irish music was played as they walked and a lively beat was kept. In the Senior Building classes took part in céilí dancing, which not only is a great form of exercise but is also great craic!
March Active Students
Run Around Ireland Challenge
Classes have been involved in the ‘Run Around Ireland Challenge’ which took place in schools across the country between March 14th and April 8th. It was great to see classes doing laps of the field and each child progressing at their own level and making improvements every day. This quick ventilation break allows the mind to clear and the body to stay fit and healthy.
April Active Students
May Active Students
Playground Leaders
Well done to 2nd class Active School representatives for co-ordinating all the members of 2nd class to be playground leaders for our Junior Infant classes; and to the 6th class for doing likewise with 3rd class. It was lovely to see the senior classes in both buildings taking leadership roles in teaching the younger boys and girls playground games during lunchtimes on the Wednesdays in May. Some of the games the Junior Infants played were Duck Duck Goose, Traffic Lights, What time is it Mr. Wolf? and Crocodile, Crocodile may we Cross Your Golden River? The 3rd class played Stuck in the Mud, Sea Ship Shore, Frost and Sun and for the final week they participated in a skipathon.
Active School Flag (ASF) and Cumann na mBunscol Week
We celebrated both ASF week and Cumann na mBunscol week this year from 13th to the 17th June. Classes were assigned active homework and took part in a Cumann na mBunscol Art competition where the winners were the Artists of the Month for June. County footballers, hurlers, camogie players, handballers and rounder players from all over the country set the children daily challenges which they enjoyed attempting.
Each day all classes participated in sports activities. Some of the activities in the junior building included: yoga, dancing, parachute games, obstacle course, water relay, javelin/frisbee throwing, gaelic football, tennis, skipping, 3-legged/egg and spoon/sack races, pool noodle games, hula hoop/co-operative games, relays with hurdles. In the senior building activities included: basketball, obstacle course, egg and spoon/3-legged races, benchball, swissball dodgeball, X and O’s, skipping, No Man’s Land, parachute games, penalty shots, Shark Attack, Rock/Paper/Scissors, volleyball, hurling, dodgeball and tag games.
Thank you to the Active Assistants from each class who set up and cleared away the activities each day.
3rd Class: Conor Stanley, Alan Zumeras, Aoibhe O’Toole, Sofia McIlveen, Saoirse O’Brien and Alex Finnegan.
4th Class: Joseph Carstairs, Patrick Parker, Karlos McGarrity, Amelia Cowap, Danni Murphy and Shobal Palavila Alex.
5th Class: Millie Dunne, Ornagh McDermott, Lucy Ferrick, Alexandra Gudumac and Tyler McElvaney.
6th Class: Seán Massey, Isla Shannon, Dafydd Davies, Jack Prendergast, Jude Meenan and Ruby Devlin
On Friday, each class held a class race day. Thanks to Mr Harrington who set up three race courses for us including a 100m sprint, a 200m sprint and a long distance race. Well done to all pupils for participating and giving it their best effort!
The Active Walkway got great use during the week, as it does throughout the year, and it was lovely to see classes out being active and chatting to each other as they walked. Thanks to 6th class yellow for revamping our active fairy doors, they look like as good as new! Some classes also went on walks around the village and along the mass path.
Undoubtedly all children did their recommended daily hour of physical activity this week (and much more!) but most importantly all the children had great fun while being active too.
Mini All-Ireland
As part of Cumann na mBunscol week we had the KPS Mini All Ireland. The first round matches saw some exciting encounters where Wicklow overcame Dublin (hopefully a good omen for the future!), Monaghan beat Donegal, Mayo were the winners against Galway and Clare were victorious against Kerry. In the first semi-final a strong Wicklow team overcame Monaghan and in the second semi-final a skilful Clare came out on top.
An exciting final saw Wicklow take on Clare which many classes attended as spectators. The two teams were very evenly matched and the game was end to end. Skills were top notch and there were some fantastic scores taken. Both Wicklow and Clare worked well as teams and the atmosphere was one of sportsmanship and joy in playing a great game of Gaelic football. An incredibly nail biting finish saw Clare emerging as winners by a single point over a gallant Wicklow team. The players should be very proud of themselves for putting on a great display. The final score was Clare 8-06 and Wicklow 7-08. Both teams deservedly received medals. The future of the GAA in Kilcoole is bright!
Teams on the day were Clare: D. Kelly, M. Finnerty, J. Lockhart, E. Kelly, I. Kerley, C. Keating, A. Fitzgerald Lucey, O. Kelly and Wicklow: N. McCoy, L. O’Toole, R. Shannon, A. McLeavey, J. Dutton, D. Shannon, G. Finnegan and S. Keville.
June Active Students
