​Physical Education

​Run, Jump, Skip, Play,
Lets excercise everyday!

There are six strands within the Primary School Physical Education Curriculum.  There are athletics, dance, gymnastics, outdoor and adventure activities, games and aquatics.  Here at Killadooley National School the children receive physical education lessons in all these areas. One hour per week is set out for Physical Education in the Primary School Curriculum.  We encourage all pupils to participate in Physical Education.

Teacher Planning

All teachers undertake careful and detailed planning every year for Physical Education within their classes.  All the different strands are covered within these plans.  A variety of resources are used such as PSSI lesson plans and Move Well, Move Often books are used. There are many other resources available in the school for teachers as well as information learned from CPD which can be used as part of teacher planning.  A variety of activities to ensure the children keep physically active are planned as well as warm up and cool down activities for every lesson.

P. E. Resources

We have a large collection and variety of P.E. resources in the school.  These resources are used in P.E. lessons as well as on a daily basis on the yard during break times.  The resources are arranged in the press to ensure ease of use.  Pupils from Fifth and Sixth Class regularly check to ensure everything is kept neat and tidy.  An inventory of the P.E. resources was compiled and can be found on the inside of the press.

Athlectics

As part of our Active School Flag during 2018-2019 we prioritised Athletics as an area for further development.  Our new Active School Walkway has been a great asset in athletic lessons.  We undertook the Mile A Day Challenge or as we adapted it to Run A Kilometre.  Every pupil in class during May and June tried to run and/or walk a kilometre every day.  It was a great way to get the children interested in athletics.  Also after much training in their P.E. lessons pupils in Fifth and Sixth class took part in an track competition in St. Abbans in June 2019.  The pupils took part in short and long distance races as well as the high jump. Pupils from Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Class also took part in the Laois cross country competition in both September 2018 and September 2019.  We are delighted that we came back with medals from each competition. Take a look at some pictures from our athletics over the year.  This has proved to be a very popular strand this year in our school.

​Games

We teach a broad range of games in Killadooley N.S.  The younger classes were taught fundamental movement skills as part of their P.E. lessons.  A wide variety of games and sports are provided as part of our games curriculum.  These include: Hurling/Camogie, Gaelic Football, Basketball, Rounders, Badminton, Golf and Tag Rugby.

​Gymnastics

Teachers focus on developing gymnastic skills such as balance, landing and movement within the gymnastics strand.  The skills are developed and built upon as the pupils progress through the school.

​Dance

We also teach the strand of dance in Killadooley N.S.  The children love getting up and moving.  We even try to incorporate dance into the daily life of the classroom by using GoNoodle and Just Dance as part of our Active Breaks which all classes do on a regular basis.  We were delighted to have a taster session of Hip Hop this year also as part of our Active Week.  Everyone had great fun trying out their new moves.

Third and Fourth Class even did some yoga in their classroom for a few weeks.  It was a great way to stretch and explore different ways in which your body can move.

Outdoor and Adventure Games

We love creating and playing some outdoor and adventure games every year.  Our new Active School Walkway is very useful and have been used as part of orienteering.  The pupils have to collect the letters on the various plaques around the school and figure out can they make any words with the letters.  Everyone always loves some co-operative games and trust activities.  Pupils also took part in activities to develop team work such as Tug of War, with pupils from 3rd and 4th even competing in a Tug of War competition in Rathdowney.

Aquatics

We ensure the children undertake lessons about water safety every year as part of the aquatics strand.  These lessons are so important in teaching the children safety around water.

As part of our Active Flag, during the 2019-2020 school year we have prioritised swimming as an area of development.  We have organised for Third to Sixth Classes to go to swimming lessons in Roscrea Swimming Pool.  The pupils will receive six swimming lessons in the pool.  Developing the pupils skills in the water will be the focus of these lesson.  The children love the lessons and each week their are improving and learning new skills.