‘Walk, Run, Have some fun, Be more active Everyone’
The pupils of Presentation Senior School earned their Active Flag last week after a process that began three years ago.
The school community worked hard on the project after Ms Shaw, Mr Kelly and Ms Dorr decided to seek accreditation for all the sporting endeavours undertaken by the school, in 2018.
Among the coaches that assisted are Deirdre, who is synonymous with all of Presentation Senior’s sporting activities, and Robbie and other coaches also visit regularly to teach classes – the pupils have access to a rich and varied PE curriculum at Presentation.
Mr Kelly set up the Active Schools Committee, and over the last two years each class had advice and guidance from the committee members. He also set up the active schools website during the first lockdown.
Pupils undertook imaginative initiatives such as: running around Ireland; running around Europe; running for 20 consecutive school days; and walking a mile with a smile; and they had active breaks in school, active homework and active lines; and created a school walk.
Their 2020 Active Schools Week was during the first lockdown, which was challenging, and a great success; and there were hundreds of videos and photographs of children, pets and teachers participating in many fun challenges such as the wheelie bin challenge and running a 5k.
There is an achievement wall in school where pupils post photos of their sporting successes.
Their Active School motto is: Walk, Run, Have some fun, Be more active Everyone.
The Active Flag has been a great success for the school; it brought the school community closer and showed that exercise and sport are fun.
School principal Declan Fry said: “We are very proud of all our current pupils and recent past pupils who contributed to all our sporting achievements. We have been accredited with this flag and we are very proud today.”