Active School Flag

Sports at Merlin Woods

31/3/2020

Here at Merlin Woods we have lots of different sports teams for everybody to participate!

Scroll down to see the different teams in action!

We have a Hurling and Gaelic team who train all year round during and after school. The boys and girls on these teams participate in the Cumann na mBunscoil games.

We also have an Athletics team who have participated in the Cross Country, Diversity Games and City Sports!

There is a girls and boys soccer team in the school that have participated in a number of tournaments around Galway.

Active Schools Week

9/12/2019

Due to all of the schools in Ireland being shut because of CoVid19, we decided we would do our Active Schools Week at home!

Each day, the boys and girls carried out different challenges and got their 60 minutes of physical activity each day. It was great fun and an exciting way to keep our bodies moving!

Here was our timetable for Junior Infants - 1st Class!

Here was our timetable for 2nd - 6th class!

Active Schools Week 2021
Despite COVID restrictions we wanted to complete our Active Schools week this year and we had great fun doing it. It was an Active Schools week like no other as we couldn’t do some of favourite events due to the restrictions. As a result this year each class were set daily challenges, the daily mile challenge, the alphabet, challenge, active break times and physical activity homework. We were so lucky with the weather we had this week and each class really enjoyed each and every challenge. We really loved getting our 60 minutes of exercise each day during active schools week. Take a look at the pictures below.

Partnerships

9/12/2019

Here at Merlin Woods we are very lucky that there are lots of people who help us move and learn new and exciting things.

This year our senior classes were taught rugby skills by a coach at Connacht Rugby.

The boys and girls at Merlin Woods also learnt some invaluable skills about bike safety and how we can use our bikes everyday to get around.

We are lucky that we have some amazing facilities to use in the local area. We use Merlin Woods and the local playground for nature walks and rewards and use the local pitches, astro turfs and walk way regularly for our sports and P.E lessons.

5th class Maths project-' What clubs are you in'.
Our 5th class completed a very interesting maths project in partnership
with our Active Schools committee.
They worked really hard on their 'what clubs are you in' survey and illustrated the results on a chart which we displayed on our 'Active Schools' notice board.
Take a look.
Well done on all your hard work 5th class!

Active School Flag pupil and parent questionnaire.
Our school distributed the ASF pupil questionnaire amongst some our pupils and parents. We listened to what the children and parents had to say and acted upon it.

Working in Partnership with Connaught GAA

In April 2021 3rd class (M. Pádraig's) and 4th class (M. Emma) began virtual GAA coaching sessions in association with Connaught GAA. The completed sessions with county stars Darragh Cox and Johnny Heaney. First of all, the trainers teach the skill via video link. Then the children go outside to practice the skill. Finally, the children return to the room and recap on what they have learned. It is great fun. We are improving as GAA players and we are learning skills that are transferable to many other sports.

Physical Education

9/12/2019

PE Timetable
We love PE here in Merlin Woods Primary school and we ensure that all of the children have 60 minutes timetabled physical education each and every week. Take a look at our PE hall timetable.

Move well, move oftern resources.
Our teachers are dedicated to developing the children's
fundamental movement skills within their PE programme every year. This year our focus was on:

Dance- undertanding and appreciation of dance; exploration, creation and performance of dance.
Athletics- Running and walking.
Gymnastics- Jumping for height.

PAWS water safety programme
Our 3rd class completed the PAWS water safety programme. They learned safety tips connected to the following topics: baths, paddling pools, emergency services, beaches, sign posts, lifejackets and calling for help.
Children completed interactive online tasks at home and in school. They also prepared posters to promote aquatic and water safety.

PE facilities, resouces and store room
We are so lucky to have fantastic facilities and resources in our school. Our PE store room is full of fun filled PE equipment.

Our Outdoor Gym Equipment
We are so lucky to have outdoor gym equpiment in our yard. All classes use it everyday during our active breaks, movement breaks and during outdoor PE lessons.

PE timetable
We are ensuring that all our students are getting their 60 minutes of timetables PE per week.

Curriculum

As part of the Active School Flag process, the staff at Merlin Woods Primary School are currently reviewing status of Physical Education across the school. We have ensured that all pupils are provided with a minimum of 60 minutes of timetabled PE per week and that all classes are taught at least 5 different PE strands each year, using the PSSI and PDST lesson plans and resources.

PE has always been considered a vital element of the curriculum taught in our school and is discussed in PT meetings, and included in all annual school reports alongside other taught subjects.

Below is an outline of the strands and fundamental movement skills we have chosen to focus on throughout the course of the year for each month.

PDST Training
Our teachers attended yearly PDST webinars and training events to further develop their ability to deliver the PE curriculum. Our focus strand is dance, some of our teachers attended a 'Dance workshop' with the PDST. We really enjoyed learning the new dances, the games and much more from our teachers.

Games

Gymnastics

Dance

We even learnt a dance at home while the schools were shut! Thanks to Múinteoir Grace for putting this together for us! Check it out at this link

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wu6NMjuSnLrbrPukq2cWw4kvyhoWwO2s/view

St. Patrick's Day performance by our talented pupils and staff
Due to the COVID restrictions this year we were unable to celebrate St. Patrick's Day in the way we hoped. This year our extremely talented pupils and staff created a video of them showcasing their talents, each class watched the performance in their classrooms. The talented pupils and staff encouraged many of our pupils to dance along with them and celebrate our national day.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dwXZJrTOMHI8lHqZeNOG9Y4YVx4t7Z9V/view

Activity Challenge During School Closure

The school building was closed at the beginning of 2021 but we did not use that as an excuse to be inactive. Children from 3rd to 6th classes took part in "The Merlin Woods Activity Challenge" over a period of 4 weeks. Children submitted videos of themselves trying the challenge. Some found it easy and were able to complete more complex movements. If it was difficult, we enjoyed working towards a goal and we were happy to try out new things.

Check out screenshots from some of our winning videos below.
We worked on our coordination. It was tricky!

We improved our mobility and flexibility.

We practiced throwing and catching, with a twist!

December 09th, 2019

9/12/2019

Active School Committee.

Welcome to our Active School's Flag page! Here at Merlin Woods we are trying to get our second flag.

We started off the year by electing a dedicated committee of enthusiastic students. Our committee is made up of 1 representative from each class from 3rd to 6th class. We have lots of very exciting activities and events lined up for the coming year! We are really enjoying getting active and love having an input on how we can make our school a more active environment.

Take a look at our exciting active calendar for 2019-2020!

Keep an eye on our page to see all the great activities we are getting up to!

The Active School Flag initiative is a Department of Education and Skills initiative supported by Healthy Ireland aiming to encourage schools to be more active, more often! For more information about this initiative check out the details on the website http://www.activeschoolflag.ie .

Physical Activity:

9/12/2019

Active School Walkway
We have a designated walkway around our school. The 6th class of 2021 kindly offered to help to plan and map out the walkway which is a 1km in lenght. We like to use our walkway throughout the school day and week.

Keeping Active on our way to and from school.
Walking, scooting and cycling to school.
We love to keep active on our way to and from school. Many of the children in Merlin Woods walk, scoot and cycle to school and from school everyday. Here is a picture of our bike shed, as you can see we love keeping 'active' on our way to and from school.

Active Break Every Day.

We love getting active throughout our school day. We enjoy both indoor and outdoor physical activity during break. Active breaktimes are a great way of getting our 60 minutes of exercise each day, we really enjoy playing yard games with our friends, using our outdoor gym equipment in our yard and playing in our cool playgrounds during our breaks from schoolwork.