An Active School Flag is awarded to schools that are striving to achieve a physically educated and physically active school community. The aim of the Active School Flag is to get more schools in Ireland more active more often.
Research shows that all children require 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity every day. It is the shared duty of parents and schools to encourage children to be active. Research shows that 80% of Irish children do not reach this daily target. As a result the Department of Education and Skills supported by Healthy Ireland have established the Active School Flag initiative.
In St. Oliver’s we incorporate a lot of active activities which helps us maintain our Active School Flag status. Some activities include:
- Active breaks
- Active playgrounds
- Active wet breaks
- Active travel to and from school
- Danceathons
- Annual Active School Week
Active School Week
An Active School Week means we include fun physical activities to get the children moving during the school day. The aim is to encourage and promote physical activity to children. Active School Week is also an opportunity for children to experience activities that they might not have before.
Please see the Active Flag Posts link below to see posts from Active School Week.
Active School Slogan
The Active Flag Committee came up with a number of Active School Slogans. They carried out an entire school survey to determine the most popular slogan. The most popular slogan with all the students in St. Oliver’s was:
‘Don’t Delay, Get out and Play’
Partnership
Please read our PE Policy available on our Policies page, which we as a staff created for the pupils in our school.
We identified our vision for all the children ‘to support the children in our school to achieve their potential, to the best of their ability, through an engaging and enjoyable teaching environment. Through our school’s Physical Education programme, we aim to help pupils take an interest in physical activity during their free time, at home, in the community and at school. We recognise the role of Physical Education in providing children with a truly balanced and child-centered active education.’
We also established key aims:
- to promote the physical, social, emotional and intellectual development of the child
- to develop positive personal qualities
- to help in the acquisition of an appropriate range of movement skills in a variety of contexts
- to promote understanding and knowledge of the various aspects of movement
- to develop an appreciation of movement and the use of the body as an instrument of expression and creativity
- to promote enjoyment of, and positive attitudes towards, physical activity and its contribution to lifelong health-related fitness, thus preparing the child for the active and purposeful use of leisure time.
