Physical Activity

Santa Dash 2023

Olympic Movement Breaks

The Olympic Movement Breaks are a series of 20 short videos led by Olympians and High-Performance athletes demonstrating fun exercises and activities that students of all abilities can do. The short videos, across a variety of different sports including athletics, boxing, rugby sevens, swimming, breakdancing, and para powerlifting, will help generate classroom-based movement opportunities.

On Friday the 10th of November, St. Luke’s had the honour of helping to launch this new Olympic Movement break programme for primary students in collaboration with the Olympic Federation of Ireland’s Dare to Believe programme and RTE’s children’s News2Day.

5th and 6th class had a ball getting active with Irish Olympic Athletes Leon Dwyer (Break-Dancer) and Shane o Donoghue (Hockey Player) in the hall.

Have a look at the video below to see how much fun we had:

All the children in St. Luke’s are enjoying these daily movement breaks as part of our Active Schools Active Break Every Day challenge from Monday November 13th. The challenge lasts for 4 weeks.

Have a look below to see how much fun we are having.

Active Schools Table Tennis Takeover

3rd to 6th class took part in an Active Schools Table Tennis Takeover over the last few weeks of April where each day different classrooms were transformed into Table Tennis Arenas. It was the first time for many children to try out table tennis and lots of fun was had developing new skills while also spending lots of time chasing ping pong balls around the classroom. A big thank you to Active Schools who sent us five new table tennis sets as prizes to our school.

St Patrick’s Day Céilí

All the children thoroughly enjoyed the dancing festivities in the hall for our St Patrick’s Day Céilí on Thursday the 16th of March. The children had been practising their dances, An Damhsa Mór and Ballaí Luimní, all through the month of March during their P.E sessions.

Not only is Irish dancing a great fun group activity but it also has fantastic health and fitness benefits. It is a fast- paced cardiovascular exercise that improves overall heart and lung health while also building stronger bones and muscles.

Our Céilí was a wonderful way to join together as a school to celebrate St Patrick and all things Irish.

Run Around Ireland

All the children in St. Luke’s took part in the Active Schools 4 week Run around Ireland Challenge from January 16th to February 10th. All classes got out on the yard to do their laps each day. Each lap counted as 1 km. They added their total laps together to “visit” different famous landmarks around Ireland such as the Spire, The Cliffs of Moher, Kilkenny Castle and many more.

As well as having fun during their active break and improving their fitness over the 4 weeks, the children enjoyed challenging themselves to beat their lap record each day and choosing what destination to visit next. At the end of every week a special intercom announcement was made to celebrate some classes who had impressed the Active Schools Committee with their efforts. We have all got off to a very healthy and fit start to 2023!

Santa Dash December 2022

Active Break Challenge

The children enjoyed the Active Break Every Day Challenge over a 4 week period in the months of November and December 2022. The aim of the challenge is to try and bring in more physical activity into the school day. They are enjoying a variety of workout exercises, games and dancing.

If you would like to revisit some of the activities at home, have a look at the below documents with links to fun workouts, dances and games.

Active Halloween 2022

St. Luke’s had a fantastic frightful week during our Active Halloween. Our Active Walkway got spookified by some of our creative reps and there were lots of shuddersome surprises to discover along the route.

The children found Halloween themed quiz questions at every supernatural station and stopped along the way to enjoy some ghastly games such as Zombie Relay, Creepy Corners, Witch Tag, Candy Snatchers and Goblins, Ghosts and Ghouls.

A terrific time was had by all.

Maths Week

The children tried out some more of the Maths Active Walkway challenges during Maths week 2022. Here are some photos of 5th class working out the 24hour clock challenge questions.

Well Being Week

Physical activity is so important for our well being. As well as keeping us physically fit it can lift our mood, reduce stress and help us to connect with others and with nature. The children enjoyed a variety of physical activities during Well Being Week in September 2022. They practiced yoga in class and during their PE time. They enjoyed a well being walk in the local park and connected with their classmates in some fun cooperative games.

Walkway Activities

Since our opening in March many classes have completed several different walkway challenges such as the Active Challenge, Mindfulness Challenge, Clocks Challenge, Flags Challenge, Shapes Challenge and Colours Challenge. The Active Reps for each class have taught their class how to use the Walkway as well as supporting the junior classes during their challenges. During Active week in June many classes enjoyed trying out new challenges or revisiting old favourites.

Active Schools Walkway Opening

The Active Schools representatives from each class unveiled the Active Schools Walkway on the 25th of March. This Walkway will help support the orienteering strand of the Physical Education curriculum. The children designed the walkway themselves and they did a fantastic job. Well done everyone!