Thirteen schools gathered at the Helix in Dublin for the Active Schools Awards, writes Catherine Foley.
THE GIRLS of Our Lady's Abbey National School in Adare, Co Limerick, step in time to the beat, their arms stretching to the right, then to the left. "Lámha suas, reach! Lámha suas, reach," instructs Vincent Mulvey, of the Primary Curriculum Support Programme, as he puts primary school students through their paces at an aerobics class in Dublin last week.
The girls were one of the 13 schools from around the State who gathered at the Helix in Dublin for the presentation of the Active School Awards in recognition of the various programmes of activity and levels of fitness achieved in their schools throughout the year.
As the teachers of Our Lady's Abbey look on, sixth and fifth class get energised and into the spirit of the day.
"We did a number of things during the year - an A to Z of sport, based on the letters of the alphabet," explains Mary Lavin, the school's principal, listing archery, blanket volleyball, croquet, dance, egg and spoon and elastic games to start with.
The girls went all the way through to games of ultimate frisbee and witches waddle until they reached the final letter z when they slept.
"It's exhausting but they loved it," says Lavin, watching the girls stamp the floor to the disco beat. The teachers at the little school in Adare village, with support from parents, organised all kinds of events to encourage activity and an awareness of fitness in their school.
They had walking buses and visits from sporting heroes in the community. "The reaction to it is fantastic," says Lavin.
The initiative to focus attention on sport and physical education in schools began four years ago during the European Year of Education through Sport (Eyes). It is one of the developments that supports the new primary school curriculum, which was introduced in 1999.
Funded directly by the Department of Education and Science with about €200,000 each year, this year the programme includes a cash prize of €4,000 for each school. The scheme aims to encourage young people to engage in more physical activity in a fun environment, to raise the profile of PE and co-curricular physical activity and to help promote the PE syllabuses at primary and post-primary level.
The awards were presented to each of the delighted recipients by the new Minister for Education and Science, Batt O'Keeffe TD, at the Helix.
He praised the schools' range of colourful presentations at the Helix, which featured photographic, DVD, written, art and printed material.
"The reason they [the 13 schools] are chosen as winners is because they've displayed a serious commitment to quality provision of PE in their schools," explains Michael Quealy, national co-ordinator of the Active School Awards, and one of the department's 120 curriculum advisers, who is working on the Primary Curriculum Support Programme.
"Today is a celebration day and we want more teachers, parents and decision-makers to support this initiative and give our students this head start in life," he says.
There were more than two dozen bicycles parked in the school's racks on any given day when John Michael Porter, deputy principal and PE teacher at the co-ed CBS Secondary School in New Ross, Co Wexford, began teaching there 20 years ago. Things change but he was upbeat about his winning students last week in the Helix. "There was a strong emphasis on hurling and football in the school before," he says.
"Students would be doing anything if they didn't play those games but with our PE programme, you have games, dance, aquatics . . . they have more opportunities to get involved now," he says.
The school's programme of activities included getting the staff involved in a healthy lunch drive as part of a drive "to change the attitudes of teachers"; first years' induction day was an activity day of team challenges; and transition year students spent a survival night camping under the stars in nearby Lacken Wood.
"It was hard to put up the tent in the dark," recalls transition year student Tony Conway (16). "It was a really good experience," he says.
The students went ice skating and bowling, says Porter. "We encourage them to use local facilities," he adds.
The students of another winning school, Catherine McAuley School in Limerick, were equally positive about their PE and sporting activities. Kennedy O'Brien (14) loves tag rugby, horse riding and swimming. Richard Murphy (16) says his favourite activity is soccer while Shane Kelliher (16) says PE is his second favourite subject - after maths.
At this special school "we would have been doing a lot of PE already", explains their PE teacher, Joe McCarthy. "But in the children's eyes this has focused their attention on PE as a life skill, a life-long learning opportunity," he adds.
Next year, the focus will shift to a less competitive award system, says Quealy, pleased that Minister O'Keeffe pledged his support to the proposed Active School Flag scheme, which is already in the pipeline for the coming academic year.
Comparing it with the Blue Flag scheme, he says schools would apply for a flag and be awarded accordingly.
"The recent State of the Nation's Children's Report found that children in Ireland are doing well on physical activity, ranking second across the 32 WHO countries in being physically active for at least four hours per week," the Minister said at the award ceremony.
"Being active improves students' interpersonal skills with those around them while increasing their own levels of motivation and pride in what they do."
Listening in the audience, best friends Amy Perrott (12) and Nicole Byrnes (12) of Limerick's Catherine McAuley School, arms wrapped around each other, were the living embodiment of what the Minister was saying. Their favourite PE activities, they agree, are hip hop, basketball and horse-riding.