We had an action packed Active Schools Week from 19th - 23rd June 2023 with a variety of activities for all pupils and teachers to enjoy. Everyone wore tracksuits for the week, and active homework replaced regular written work. Each day also included a 'Daily Challenge' for each class. Regular movement breaks in the classrooms included Yoga, Ten @ Ten, and Go Noodle.
Monday began with a whole school 'Wake Up Shake Up' outdoors with music. Ms McGinley & the Dance Leaders co-ordinated this and led the activity. We liaised with Sligo Sports and Recreation Partnership to have an Orienteering session for every class which they all really enjoyed. The daily challenge was 'Wall Sit and Read', where senior pupils had to do a wall squat for as long as possible! Junior Pupils had a beanbag throwing contest!
Tuesday saw a day of Athletics with Sandra, who is Mum of Naoise in 5th Class, so the children were given a chance to improve their running and jumping skills, and enjoyed a few relays. Today's daily challenge was a 'deck of cards relay'. We also had a Wake Up Shake Up at 9:20 am to start the day.
Wednesday was a particularly enjoyable day as after our whole school Wake Up Shake Up, 3rd and 4th Class went to Rosses Point Beach. There they enjoyed a beach walk, and armed with buckets and spades, we had a sandcastle building competition. Some of the children also worked togather to dig quite a large whole in the sand :-). The daily challenge today was a jigsaw relay - here we discovered that lots of us need to work on our jigsaw skills! This was a busy day as our Girls Gaelic Team was also in the Cumann na mBunscol Shield Final in the GAA Centre of Excellence.
Thursday saw 5th and 6th Class climb Union Rock, which was quite a challenging trek of 8km. After our Wake Up Shake Up, Ms McGinley and 5th Class also organised circuits for all the other classes, and on a seering hot day, it was tough going!
Friday was great fun as we had our Whole School dance activity! During the week, every class learned the 'MilkShake' dance, and then we all performed it together. SNA Carmel even performed it using her moon boots which was great to see. 5th Class Dance leaders led this activity, and did a great job.
Each class was also invited to use the local playground in Abbey Drive today, and Daire the GAA Coach from Owenmore Gaels GAA Club also did Gaelic Football training with all classes.
Active Schools Week is definitely our favourite week of the year in St. John's N.S. - thanks to everyone who helped to make it a great success.
