Icecream Funday in aid of Down Syndrome Ireland

What a lovely time we had today hosting our annual HB Icecream Funday in aid of Down Syndrome Ireland. All the boys and girls brought in €2 and in exchange they got a yummy treat of ice cream and wafers. There was plenty of help on board as our Chairperson, June Gray, our Special Needs Assistants, teachers and parents  all cut and served the ice-cream to all the classes. Special thanks must go to Yvonne, one of our hardworking SNAs, who organised the whole event.

We hope all everyone enjoyed their Friday treat and thanks to all our families for supporting such a worthy cause. 

For more information on Down Syndrome Ireland and hosting your own HB Icecream Funday visit:

www.downsyndrome.ie

Make Create Innovate Workshop

As part of the  Creative Schools programme we were delighted to take plart in a STEAM (Science Technology Engineering Art and Maths) workshop with two lovely ladies from ‘Make Create Innovate’ today. The children from first class worked together to design and make doodle robots called Scribblebots using craft and recycled materials, batteries and motors. They absolutely loved it.

For more information on Creative Technology Workshops visit:

www.makecreateinnovate.ie

We would like to take this opportunity to thank Anne Cradden, our Creative Schools director for all our work this year and look forward to working with her again next year. 

   

      

    

 

  

Official Opening of our Sensory Corridor

Official Opening of our Sensory Corridor

Over the last few months, we here at SS Peter and Paul JNS have been busy creating a sensory space that can be used and enjoyed by all of our students.

Sensory spaces can improve skills such as balance and hand-eye coordination, but they can also be used purely as a fun treat!

In order to achieve the ideal space that would benefit all our students, one of our talented teachers, Mrs Heffernan, together with our fantastic Student Council, brainstormed ideas. It was decided to transform a plain, white hallway into a jungle themed sensory corridor. Our Student Council, which is comprised of students from Junior Infants up to Second Class, came up with the idea and Mrs Heffernan immediately got to work to make it a reality. They wanted the area to become more colourful and child friendly so, firstly, our caretaker, Pshemeck, painted all the doors in bright, vibrant colours. This enables the children to easily identify the location of the various classrooms.

Sensory equipment was then added such as dome mirrors, a bubble lamp and fine motor wooden games.

Work then started on transforming the bare walls. We were extremely fortunate to have local artist Alison O Grady sketch and paint the jungle scene onto the walls, then both herself and Mrs Heffernan painted lots of jungle creatures to bring the scene to life.

The last task was to create a sensory pathway on the floor. We employed a local company "Retink Graphics" to print and install our design, which beautifully compliments our jungle themed walls. The sensory pathway incorporates a range of gross motor activities which enable the students to get moving whilst also having fun.

Once completed, we had an official opening on Monday 17th June. Representatives from the Local Council, Board of Management, Parents' Association, St Molagas', members of the Student Council and our own staff were all in attendance.The principal, Ms Whelan, thanked everyone for coming and thanked Mrs Heffernan and the Student Council for all their hard work. 

The only thing left to do was for Mrs Heffernan to cut the ribbon, which she gladly did and welcomed everyone in to the Jungle to explore it for themselves!

We look forward to our new Sensory Corridor capturing the imaginations of all current and future students in the years ahead.

 A BIG thank you to all our Student Council members on all their fantastic ideas to make the school a happier place to be.

Ms Whelan (Principal) thanked all the staff for working so hard this year and officially opened the new corridor to everyone.

Mrs Heffernan together with student from SS Peter and Paul JNS got ready to cut the ribbon!

 3, 2, 1...and it's open!!!

L-R: Siobhan Whelan (Principal), Cllr Tony Murphy, Cllr Grainne Maguire, June Gray (Chairperson B.O.M), Veronica Heffernan (Assistant Principal).

 L-R: Laura Bouzzah (Deputy Principal), June Gray (Chairperson B.O.M), Veronica Heffernan (Assistant Principal)

Click on the video below to see the transformation of our 
Sensory Corridor

Active Flag

ACTIVE SCHOOL FLAG
We here at  SS Peter and Paul JNS are striving to achieve a more active school community.

With help from our teachers, students, parents and wider community we hope our school will be recognised as an official ‘Active School’ and be rewarded with an Active School Flag.
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_Fundamental Movement Skills__
Each month we will be concentrating on one Fundamental Movement Skill taken from the Physical Literacy programme-Move Well, Move Often. 

Striking
For our last Fundamental Movement Skill of the school year, we focused on Striking- Striking an object with the hand and Striking an object with an implement. 
Striking an object with the hand involves two key movements, controlling an object in an upward direction (the volley) and controlling an object in a downward direction (the bounce) , this skill is important as it is incorporated into many sporting activities such as basketball, Gaelic Football etc.
Striking with an implement (also referred to as the two handed strike) involves applying force to an object using an implement.  This striking action is found in many sporting contexts such as tennis, hurling, cricket, baseball, rounders, hockey and golf. (PDST)

Striking with an object

  

Tennis

Golf                                                        Croquet

Striking with the Hand

Bounce pass in Basketball 

Fist pass in GAA


Kicking
For the month of May, the classes worked on their kicking skills during P.E lessons. We have a GAA coach called Ellen who comes to our school every Tuesday and she demonstrated the solo kick to the children. 

Catching
In April the classes focused on their catching skills. They practised individually, in pairs and in groups. Have a look at some of the classes displaying their catching skills in games such as Queenie-i-o. 

  

  

Throwing
The F.M.S for the month of March was Throwing. 
Here are some of the classes practising the underarm and overarm throw in their PE lessons. 

 

Rolling
For the month of February, our F.M.S was Rolling. We kept the gymnastic mats out from the month before and the children practised various types of rolls on these mats. They practised rolling on their back with their knees to their chest, the pencil roll, where they have their hands straight out in front and their legs straight and the circle roll where they had their legs apart and rolled to the side. They all thoroughly enjoyed these activities. 

Balancing
It a brand new year and as part of our New Years Resolution we are going to strive to be even more healthier and active in 2019 than we were in 2018. To begin the year we have been focusing on the Fundamental Movement Skill of Balancing for the month of January. In the hall our caretaker set up the gymnastic equipment for the class to use as part of their P.E lessons. These activities including lots of various balancing techniques. 

  

 

The children have also been practising their balancing skills outside as well as in the classroom. 

Jumping Skills

The FMS for December was developing the children's Jumping skills.
 Jumping is the transfer of weight from one or two feet. It is sub-divided into two categories.
1) Jumping for height and 2) Jumping for distance (PDST).

Take a look at Ms O Regan's class below trying to master this skill. 


Dodging Skills
The Fundamental Movement Skill covered this month was Dodging. Here's Ms McNamee's class playing a game of Sunshine and Snowballs. To play the game a few children are appointed  the "snowballs" and some are appointed "sunshine". If the rest of the class are caught by a "snowball" they must freeze and wait until they are melted by the "sunshine". For more games like this visit
https://www.scoilnet.ie/pdst/physlit/fms-activities/dodging/

Running Skills 
For the month of October, our Fundamental Movement Skill that we focused on was Running. The Daily Mile is a great initiative that we continue to participate in and we have seen a notable increase in the level of fitness of all students (and teachers) who participate. For P.E all classes have been incorporating running activities into their lessons.

 








Our Active Flag noticeboard in the school hall is filled with pictures of famous athletes and there are also suggestions for running activities the classes can participate in during their P.E lessons. Each month this noticeboard will be changed to showcase a new Fundamental Movement Skill. 

October	Running
November	Dodging
December	Jumping
January	Balancing
February	Rolling
March	Throwing
April	Catching
May	Kicking
June	Striking

 

Outdoor & Adventure activities

‘Our school prioritises a different PE strand for further development each year’

After careful deliberation during a staff meeting we voted to prioritise the Outdoor and Adventure Strand. We had several meetings to discuss how we could enhance this strand for all classes. Each month we will incorporate Outdoor and Adventure activities into our P.E lessons as well as linking this strand into other curricular areas.

June
For the last month of the school year, the Outdoor and Adventure activity we decided to partake in was a Blindfold Walk. The children practised following directions, using control cards and following a path using a map with a partner.

  


May
This month the children put all the Outdoor and Adventure skills they have been learning over the past year to the test by partaking in an Orienteering exercise. They had great fun finding the letters around the school and working out the code. 

April
It was the last month of the term and what better way to practice
 our Outdoor and Adventure Skills than to go on an Easter Egg hunt around the school. The children had great fun trying to find the eggs hidden around the school and then complete the exercise that was inside. 

March
To tie in with St Patrick's Day, our Outdoor and Adventure activity for the month of March was to go on a Snake Hunt around the school. 
The children from Junior Infants had to find the snakes numbered 1-5 and Senior Infants the snakes numbered 1-10. They then matched the colour of the snake to the corresponding box on their worksheets
1st and 2nd classes had to find the snakes numbered 1-15 and record the letter above their class level to spell out a sentence. 

All the classes had such a great time doing this activity. 

First classes found out that the jumbled sentence was "St Patrick's Day" and Second classes' sentence was "Lá Fhéile Pádraig"!!

February
For the month of February we integrated English into our Outdoor and Adventure Strand and carried out Literacy trails around the school. Mr Donovan did a great job coming up with some cryptic clues for the children to solve. 

The children had to find things on the yard that began with certain letters and make new words out of words they found on signs on the yard.

They examined the staff cars and wrote down on their worksheets any words they found on the cars. 

 As they children walked from one side of the yard to the next, they said the alphabet. They had to count how many times they got through the full alphabet and what letter they landed on when they reached the end.

And finally the children had to find codes on the school windows and match them to a letter on their code sheet. Once they found all the codes they had to figure out what words the letters spelt out. 

January
As part of our Outdoor and Adventure Strand this month we played cone and picture games where the children had to find their friends who had the matching pictures and words. They had so much fun doing this activity. 

December
Needless to say as part of our Outdoor and Adventure activities for the month of December we decided to keep it festive and play a Santa Search game. The children had to turn over the cones and hunt for Saint Nick himself. They had lots of fun doing this. 

November

For the month of November the classes participated in Outdoor and Adventure Games, though since the weather was so wet, most of these games had to be "Inside and Adventure Games!"

October

 For Maths Week in October, all class teachers took their classes out around the school grounds to find Maths answers to Maths Trails around the school. 

September

In September the children were exploring their new classrooms and the environment around them by going out on Nature Trails. 

__Golf Taster Session with Maria Dunne__
We were delighted to welcome former Ireland lady golfer and Curtis Cup winner Maria Dunne from Skerries for a taster session with four of our classes. The children had a fantastic time and perhaps may join their local golf club from this experience.