Active School Flag

• Our Active School’s Slogan:

“Jump, Run and Have Some Fun!” (L. Gilmartin, 4th class, 2024)

Our Active School’s student Committee:

Ranging from 3rd to 6th class, each committee member was nominated and elected as a representative from their class this year. This committee help organise events and promote our School as being an Active School! St. Pius X BNS are lucky to have such a fantastic Active Schools student committee!

If you’re not sure what an ‘Active School’ is, please scroll to the bottom of this page for an explanation.

In the meantime, enjoy looking at all of our Active School activities and events through our photos. This will also give you a better idea of our school being an ‘Active’ community.

• ‘Run Around Europe’ Challenge:

All of our classes in St Pius X BNS from Junior Infants to 6th class are currently taking part in the ‘Run Around Europe’ Challenge. The challenge started in February and is ‘running’ for 4 weeks! Every child’s lap count is taken and added to their class overall laps each day (1 lap = 1 km). The most fun part of it is, each class combines their kilometres to bring them to many capitals across Europe!

At the end of the challenge, we will see how many combined kilometres our entire school ran!

• ‘Active Break Every Day’ Challenge:

Earlier this year, all classes from Junior Infants to 6th class took part in the ‘Active Break Every Day’ challenge. This involved every child having a ‘bizzy break’ throughout their school day.

The Active School’s student committee organised it by giving each class a new ‘Active Break’ challenge every week. The student committee checked that each class ticked off their challenge on their classroom door when it was complete. Everyone had so much fun, with many classes continuing to use their active challenges as movement breaks throughout the year.

• Playground Equipment:

We have lots of sports equipment in our school which we can access and play with everyday in PE, during yard time and sometimes during class time if we need a movement break. Here are some photos of what we have! 3rd – 6th class also enjoy playing football in the Back Yard everyday during lunchtime and each child can bring in their own football!

• Active School’s Student Survey:

We conducted our own Student Survey to find out ‘What sports club students from 2nd class – 6th class are in right now’.

Check out the results in the school corridor next to our Active Schools Noticeboard!

‘What Club Are You In?’ : Our Student Survey from 2nd – 6th class

• Active Walkway:

We have an Active Walkway around our school which we often use for different activities such as Orienteering in PE, Addition and Subtraction challenges and shape and space challenges during Maths Week. Our Active Walkway is used throughout the year for different events and also for everyday activities. Here are some photos below!

• Circuits for Infants:

Junior Infants and Senior Infants were shown by the Playground Leaders and Active Schools Committee how to exercise in circuits. As you can see everyone had lots of fun!

• ‘Dance-Off’ St Pius X Boys National School vs St Pius X Girls National School

During Active Week in June, we had a enormous ‘Dance-Off’ between and the infant classes in Boys school and the infant classes in the Girls school. Everyone danced their best moves.. even the teachers!! It was a draw in the end because both schools did their best!

• ‘Fit Minute’

All classes took part in ‘Fit Minute’ which is one minute of exercise when the first whistle is blown and then when the second whistle blows, children walk back to their classroom. It was usually done at the end of yard time before everyone returns to their classroom.

• Our Weekly Gaelic Football and Hurling Training with Kevin and Tommy:

Every week we have Gaelic football training with Kevin, our GPO from Templeogue Synge Street and with Tommy, our GPO from Faughs. Here are some photos of one of our end-of-year blitzes.

• Parachute Games

We did parachute games during Active Week. The infant classes thoroughly enjoyed it – as you can see from the photos below. Smiles all around!

• Soccer Blitz (1st class)

1st class (currently 2nd class) took part in a soccer blitz. Each team had a country name and a lot of time went into preparing for the matches. The teams worked well together showing lots of ‘team-talk’ and passing the ball to one another.

• Soccer Blitz (5th & 6th class)

5th and 6th class enjoyed a soccer blitz in Bushy Park as part Active Week.

• Teachers from Girls National School vs Teachers from Boys National School

We had a whole school FUN event which was a basketball shootout between the two schools during Active Week. It was so fun and there was plenty of cheering as you can hear in the videos below!

• Tennis for Infants

We’ve had plenty of tennis training from Coach Stephen for many classes throughout the school over the past number of years. Here are some photos of the boys displaying their wonderful balancing skills!

• Guest Speaker

We had ‘Mick Dowling’ as our guest speaker during Active Week. We teamed up with the Girls School and had a big discussion (with Q&A) in our GP room. Mick was very inspirational and motivated lots of children to persevere with sport if they want to succeed. The main message was to have fun while working hard at a sport! Thanks to Mick Dowling for visiting and sharing your wisdom with us.

• Sports Day: June 2024

Sports Day was a hit this year thanks to the one and only, Ms Goddard, our PE teacher. She is fantastic at keeping time of every station with a very LOUD loud-speaker! It was such a fun day for our students, parents and all the community involved. Special thanks to Bushy Park for lending us the space and to Bernie Anderson, for always supplying everyone with plenty of tea and sweet treats!

• Teachers vs 6th class Obstacle Course

We had a whole school FUN event in our Back Yard with teachers vs students. It was very fun and it was a close call! The cheering on the sidelines was one of the best parts of the whole day!

• Tug of War 5th class Girls School vs Boys School

5th class Boys had a tug of war against 5th class girls. Many classes were invited out from both school to show support.

• Wake Up Shake Up

We teamed up with the Girls School again to have another whole school FUN event. We performed a few dances so all parents, students and teachers watching, could follow the amazing dance moves and try ‘Wake Up and Shake Up’!

• So, what is an ACTIVE school? It is a school where physical activity is valued, promoted and enjoyed by all.

At St. Pius X BNS we are passionate about all things ACTIVE.
In 2023/2024 we decided to apply for the Active School Flag (ASF).

As part of this process we had to meet criteria set out by ASF, a Department of Education and Skills initiative supported by Healthy Ireland.

​The Active School Flag (ASF) is awarded to schools that strive to achieve a physically educated and physically active school community. The process aims to get more schools, more active, more often.

Next an inspector will come to our school (likely in 2024/2025) to view our progress and make a decision on our flag!

PHYSICAL EDUCATION

• Confirmation that all classes receive 60 minutes of timetabled PE every week.
• Confirmation that at least 5 different PE strands (Athletics, Aquatics, Dance, Games, Gymnastics, Outdoor and Adventure) are taught at every class level every year.
• Visual evidence of the work undertaken in the priority PE strand/Activity of the Month (our Active Schools noticeboard).

PHYSICAL ACTIVITY

• Active Playgrounds (yard leaders – also known as our Yardaí, yard equipment etc. )
• Signposted Active School WALKWAY (used for active breaks).
• Run a Day challenge (4 weeks).
• Active Break Everyday challenge (4 weeks).

• ASF committee (staff and pupils).
• ASF school slogan.
• What Clubs are You In? survey results.
• Links with local clubs.

#ASW programme.

• Whole school FUN event.
• ​Cross-curricular activities.
• Physical activity as homework.
• Taster sessions of NEW activities.

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