Physical Education

Here at Saint Fintan's B.N.S., all classes are taught five out of the six strands of the Physical Education curriculum (Games, Athletics, Outdoor and Adventure, Gymnastics and Aquatics). Our teachers teach 60 minutes of Physical Education per week. Any discretionary time that our teachers may have on their own classroom timetables is designated to physical activities.   

Strand: Games

At the start of the year our boys from Third to Sixth Class engaged in football training with our SET teacher. The boys were preparing for their Cumann na mBunscol football matches. The boys were learning different skills such as ball-handling, sending and retrieving a ball, kicking and hand-passing a ball.

The boys in our school have hurling training every Thursday (for a set amount of block weeks) from Junior Infants to Sixth Class with our local hurling club player Dan Russell. The boys love hurling!

Also, all the classes have half an hour of rugby training every Wednesday morning (for a set amount of block weeks) throughout the year. There is always full attendance on Wednesdays and Thursdays when we have these block weeks! We even had our rugby trainer, Paul, bring in the Heineken Cup and Pro-14 Cup to the boys afterwards. 

The boys have also done soccer and tag rugby with their class teachers.

Strand: Athletics

Our boys from Junior Infants to Second Class went to Ballyfin Hall for four weeks of Athletics while our boys from Third Class to Sixth Class completed Athletics in the school playground. Here is some pictures to show the boys keeping fit and healthy! Some were going too fast to keep up with the photography!!!

Junior Infants - Second Class

Third - Sixth Class

Strand: Outdoor and Adventure

The boys in Fifth and Sixth Class have the wonderful opportunity to take part in Outdoor and Adventure in our local park in Mountrath every Thursday from 2.30pm to 4.30pm with Scoil Bhríde Girls School. They really enjoy it!

5th and 6th also completed some orienteering on the school playground in the month of May. Their resources used are prepared for other classes to use on the run up to summer holidays. Our last strand to teach this year in the lovely weather!

The boys in Junior Infants went on a Nature Walk this year. They explored living things and non-living things. A cross curricular approach between PE and SESE. Ms. Coleman, Sharon and the boys had a great time.

With our new Active Walkway Route, we plan to use these markers for orienteering!

Strand: Gymnastics 

Here at Mountrath we are so lucky to have such great facilities in the community for Physical Education and Activities. We are attending Gymnastics with a qualified gymnastics instructor every Tuesday for six weeks at the Brigidine Convent which was recently renovated with state of the art built-in gymnastics mats. We are hoping to raise funds to invest in our own gymnastics mats but for now the children are learning the key skills to gymnastics such as rolling (forward, backward), balance, landing, flexibility and strength. Even the teachers are learning a lot from the instructor on the key teaching points of Gymnastics as well. 

Strand: Aquatics 

The boys from 3rd to 6th class attended swimming lessons over six weeks at Portlaoise Leisure Centre. These boys have also received Land Primary Aquatics Water Safety (PAWS) training from two lifeguards at the school which goes through basic Survival Skills to Rescue Skills. They practiced basic CPR also. Skills that are vital to know in case of emergencies. Our boys from Junior Infants to Second Class were taught the Land PAWS lessons by their class teachers also this year while the older boys are off on swimming lessons. 

Strand: Dance

As an extra strand that we have included in Physical Education this year, we had two dance instructors in to do some taster sessions in hip hop dance lessons.

PE Equipment

We do a PE equipment check every year and dump any broken equipment. Every year we replace new equipment. This year we invested in storage boxes to store away our equipment properly. We also invested in 28 soccer balls, footballs, rugby balls, hurls and helmets. Next year, we are hoping to invest in gymnastics mats for our soon to be renovated PE hall. All our equipment is labelled to make it easily accesible for our playground leaders and our teachers to teach PE.