It’s the Olympic Movement Breaks.
This month we are taking part in the Olympic Challenge. We are watching some of our favourite Irish athletes teaching us skills of speed reaction, direction and dodging.
pour fundamental movement skill for these next few weeks is Dosging which works really well for us.
We have filled in our Active School Application!!!
We are awaiting our school visit and hopefully we will achieve our 2nd Active Flag.
October 2023
Basketball with Bernie Returns
This year we are beginning lessons with Bernie from Mulroy hoops again on Wednesday mornings. We hope to complete our lessons outside but if the weather is no co0operating we will remain inside in small groups.
September 2023
A new year is upon us here in Drumfad National School.
We have a new active Committee. This year it is made up from Senior Room pupils.
We are working very hard to make this the best active year yet.
Cross Country Athletics – Milford
In September we travelled to Milford training grounds to complete in the district cross country races for under 11 and under 13 races. We trained very hard each morning in school completing laps of our grounds and working on our technique.
We came home with two medals for our school which we were delighted with. Also we had each one of our senior members complete a race. They did amazing!
June 2023
To finish off our fantastic year, we as an active committee booked a bouncy castle for our school.
We had a super day to finish off the year with an obstacle course bouncy castle on our own school yard.
It was amazing!!! Even the teachers had a go!
May 2023
Our School Tour to Gartan Adventure Centre
This year we chose to go altogether as whole school to Gartan Adventure Centre for our school tour.
It was incredible.
We were having a great time orienteering and rock climbing.
The orienteering was outside. There were points all around the centre and they made a pattern on our sheet when we stamped them. We have to find certain numbers all around the centre using a map. It was confusing at the start. In the Junior room we had a relay race using points around the centre. It was super fun and everyone was able to run really quick and get the right pattern.
Rock climbing was inside in a very tall room. The ceiling was very high. We each got a turn on 3 walls and one turn going backwards from up high. It was so high, we did not like the heights but we were very brave. Some people in the school were super super quick. Some of the teachers even had a go! They were scared but very brave.
Church hill Park
On the way home from our school tour we decided to surprise the children with a trip into Church hill park.
The whole school had a great time around the parks equipment which is very different to what we have in school.
Active Walkaway
Our school as part of Active fortnight got outside to complete the Active Walkaway. They had great fun completing their fundamental movement skills by moving from point to point. They loved it! Each group got all the letter also for the literacy challenge at the end.
Bike Week Cycle to Warden Beach
On Monday 15th of May as part of our Active Fortnight we had a very exciting day.
We cycled to warden beach along with many new friends.
Our teacher phoned the Gardaí to come help us to get to the beach safely. Aengus came from Green Schools and Karen from Donegal Sports Partnership as well as our local Councillor Liam Blaney to celebrate the launch of National Bike Week. It was super cool to have a photographer and all at our school.
Pictures were in the paper so loads of our Mum’s and Dad’s and grandparents were able to see our pictures.
Here is the link to 2 online articles which we feature in. Others can be seen in our school hall. We are very proud of everyone.
We cycled to the beach, had a beach clean up and cycled back. The Gardaí were really good and helped us cross onto the main road and helped us with our clean up.
We say a huge thank you to our teachers and all who helped us.
Its Active fortnight in Drumfad National School! Its action packed and full of fun-filled activities.
Week 2 Activities
Cycling trip for Seniors to Warden Beach with Beach Clean up.
GAA training with Manus
Golf in Portsalon Golf Club
Free Choice PE
Active Movement Breaks (each day)
Week 1 Activities
Basketball with Bernie
GAA with Manus
Free Choice PE
Active Movement breaks (each day)
Obstacle course with Seniors
Bike Safety Checks with Ciaran (Friday)
March 2023
Aengus Returns for Scooter Week (Integration with Scoot to School Week Green Schools)
On Monday 27th March Aengus returned to Drumfad for a scooter day.
First it was onto helmet safety. Each of the children took out their helmets. Aengus talked to us about his experiences of helmet safety and how important it is to always wear our helmets when on our bikes as well as our scooters. Each of the children were fitted for their helmet and straps tightened correctly.
Afterwards it was time to get scooting outside. We were taught the correct way to put your feet on the scooter. We practised taking off and our emergency stops. We began following cones to make right hand turns and then left hand turns before picking up the pace, getting faster and faster.
Each of the children had a fantastic day and we thank Aengus for coming to show us his scooter skills.
Swimming Finishes
On Monday 20th March we finished our swimming lessons at Magherabeg Leisure Centre.
We throughly enjoyed the experience of getting into the pool and learning to swim.
We practised our floating, stroke development as well as water safety at the pool.
Well done to all the pupils.
Súgradh le Chéile
Along with Donegal Sports Partnership we had a fantastic afternoon playing with our Mums and Dads on Monday 13th March.
We travelled to our local Kerrykeel Church Hall so that we could have some extra space as the weather was not very good.
We played on our own, in groups and with everyone.
Afterwards we got to have some fruit, diluted juice, as well as some tea.
Thank you Donegal Sports Partnership for an amazing afternoon.
Active Fortnight
A dates for the diary – May 8th – 19th will be our Active Fortnight with Golf, gymnastic, Gaelic football just a number of the activities planned.
FAI 5 a side Competition
Our Senior room girls and boys took part in the FAI small schools 5 a side competition.
Our girls and boys travelled to Ballyare astroturf pitch.
While it was wet and windy everyone had a great time. Our skills were put to the test.
Here is pictures of our teams.
Well done to all involved.
Gymnastics Lessons
On Thursday 9th March we will begin our gymnastics lessons from Citadel. They will be coming to our school each Thursday for a number of weeks.
Walkaway Around our school
This month our fantastic caretaker put up our walkaway boards.
All of the children have been busy exploring the boards to find all the numbers. We look forward to using them soon as a whole school integrating into lots of different subjects.
Run Around Ireland Challenge
This month we are taking part in the run around Ireland challenge.
Each morning we are running laps around our school to see some spectacular sights of Ireland.
On our first morning we completed over 150 laps with all students taking part. Amazing!
We cannot wait to see all the places we will explore.
Garda Station Visit
On March 2nd we travelled to Milford Garda Station.
Here we met local Gardaí who allowed us to visit inside the station.
We examined the interview rooms, sat down in the cells, hopped in the Garda van and modelled all the Garda uniform and equipment.
We were delighted to be able to see how active the Gardaí are in our local area.
We talked and discussed together Road Safety on our farms as well as walking and travelling to school.
February 2023
Big Travel Challenge
Integrating with our Green School Travel Flag we completed the Big Travel Challenge for 10 school days in February.
For 10 days we travelled to school by walking, cycling, scooting, taking the bus and park ‘n’ stride as much as we could.
In the beginning only 1 / 2 students in our school occasionally came to school without their car. We wanted to have our children as active as possible.
Over the course of the two weeks we had on average 5 students a day cycling.
We are so proud of everyone and thank all the parents for their support.
January 2023
We have started swimming!
We are all very excited here in Drumfad as we begin our swimming lessons again for the whole school.
Each Friday we are travelling to Downings to complete our lessons.
We have been learning new skills as well as practising our skills from last year.
Snow Days
We really enjoyed having the snowy weather come to our area.
We spent time outside walking, travelling and sliding across the ice and snow.
It was amazing to take active breaks outside and enjoy it while it was here. We took inspiration from this and created our own Active Snow day stories as a whole school, linking the senior and junior rooms together.
December 2022
Gymnastics – Citadel Letterkenny
On December 8th we travelled together to Citadel gymnastics in Letterkenny.
It was amazing!
We had so much fun completing skills which we have never done before.
We practised a lot of our fundamental movement skills as well as others.
Both classrooms joined together and encouraged each other to try new things.
November 2022
This Month we have our new active committee meeting together to discuss changes and activities which they would like to see come to Drumfad.
During the week 21st November the Junior Room held a poster competition for our school active slogan and active activities our school does really well.
We had many amazing entries.
The winner of the week was ” We are fit and we have fun!”
We have also been practising our orienteering skills. We went outside with our partners and practised looking for each of the points we had on pictures and writing down the number we found. It was really fun! Some were really hard to find.
During November we have also been working on our travel flag and we completed our walkability study. This integrated with our active flag as we looked into our local area on ways we can get more exercise coming to school.
Aengus Kennedy aided us as we walked and wrote down all the items which we need to change.
It was great to get walking together as a whole school and practise our fundamental movement skill.
October 2022
This month we are very delighted to have our girls cross country team(Clara, Alice, Eimear and Cassie) head to Buncrana to compete for our school. Our girls team qualified after their scores were counted together following their cross country running in Milford during September. We wish the girls the very best of luck.
Here they are with their medals which they were presented with during our Monthly assembly.
This month we have been focusing on the fundamental movement skill of Running.
The Junior Room has been focused on the standing start for running and running technique.
The Senior Room has been training for the cross country focusing on endurance and running for a specific distance. They have been looking at breathing techniques and the skill.
September 2022
Welcome back to our Active School Page.
We are all back at school and have settled in very well.
We have been very busy fitting in as much active activities into our school lives as well as at home.
In the Junior Room we have had active homework each week focusing on a new skill which we are completing in school.
Our fundamental movement skill for this month has been throwing (Junior Room) and running (Senior Room).
We are investigating how we move using all parts of our body and how we throw our tennis balls for distance and for height.
Friday 29th of September is European Sports Day. We are very excited to try many new activities with our friends and teachers.
Congratulations to all the pupils in the Senior room following their performance at the cross country races in September. Each of the pupils did very well and we are very proud of them.
During our monthly assembly, there were 4 active star awards given out. Well done to all!
November 2021
Welcome back to the Active School page! We will be enjoying lots of lovely activities as part of our work towards the Active School Flag this year. We can’t wait to increase our fitness levels together and in a fun way at school! We will keep you posted on different events throughout the year …..
On 11th November the Junior Room and the Senior Room visited the Citadel Gymnastics centre in Letterkenny. We had so much fun on the balance boards, doing front flips, bouncing, balancing etc. We worked so hard and needed lots of water and snacks to keep us going! We had so much fun 😊
5 a Side Football League 2019
Well done to our girls who got through to the area final of the Spar 5 a Side football league. They came 2nd in the area final in Ballyare. We are super proud of you girls, huge congratulations!
Check out our photo gallery to see more photographs of our Active Week.
Here in Drumfad, we are very proud of our Active School status, and work very hard to keep it! Since we were awarded our Active School Flag, we have made some additions to our playground; our lovely sandpit is enjoyed by all, (the infants in particular!). We also have a fantastic playhouse, and let’s not forget our wonderful vegetable garden! Our playground really is a fun place to be.
During the year, we have lots of sporting events and classes to keep us active; dance classes, Jujitsu, gymnastics, GAA, basketball are just some of the activities we take part in.
We also join up with other local schools regularly for fun sports days and activities.
