Physical Activities
Here at Lucan East ETNS all our classes go to the yard for an outdoor break twice everyday. The children have a 15 minute and a 25 minute break in the yard. Our yards are very active with rotas in place to ensure all classes get play basketball, football, handball on their allocated days. On the request of the Active Schools Committee we have a football area for 5th/6th and 2rd/4th. Our 1st and 2nd classes have the use of our astro turf pitch during their breaks. We also encourage children to be active by encouraging the use of skipping ropes and active yard toys. We have many games printed in our yard such as hop scotch. Our playground leaders do a great job of teaching the children to play different games in the yard.
In our school we discourage children from being inactive by encouraging them to walk while they are chatting. Our new running initiative that started in May 2018 ensures that all children run, jog or walk 1km before going to the yard for their big lunch. The children helped to map out a 500m loop of the school and we started out with everyone from 1st to 6th completing the loop. We then progressed to all the children completing the 2 loops to make 1km. We do this 5 days a week. Many of our teachers and SNAs participate in the 1km loop every day. Our Infants do laps of their own yard and our children in the ASD unit do the 1km loop at a different time every day.
We have Playground Leaders in our school who do a great job encouraging the children to be active and looking after bringing the equipment in and out of the school. Our Playground Leaders also help to keep the children active when they are lined up in the yard by having the lines copy their movements and count along with them. Our Active Schools Committee kept all lines active during Active Schools Week every morning for 10 minutes before the bell.
In Lucan East ETNS we use different resources to keep the children active when they have indoor play times. All classes have Go Noodle accounts and we run competitions during the year to see which classes have the most minutes. Our classes also make use of the Bizzy Breaks resources from the Irish Heart Foundation.
Our Active Schools Committee run the Bike on Wednesday Walk on Wednesday initiative for the whole year. Every Wednesday 2 children from the committee count how many children walk or cycle/scoot in each class. The winning class each week get the golden boot for the week and a certificate which we put on our Active Schools Board. At the end of each term the class who wins BOWWOW the most gets 5 minutes extra playtime in the yard.
Thank you to all the teachers who are running active clubs during lunchtimes and after school.
Colm: boys GAA
Tom: 2nd class GAA
Paula: 4th class girls GAA
Orlagh: gardening
June 2018
We had another active month this month in Lucan East starting with our annual sports day. All children from Junior Infants to Sixth Class walked to the park to take part in a variety of activities. Some of these included obstacle course, mini orienteering, dodgeball, parachute games, races, tag rugby, gaelic football, rounders, shop sea shore and many more. A big thank you to all the parents and past pupils that ran the stations and to all the support teachers for the set up. A great day was had by all.
Many classes enjoyed their school tours this month. Our school tours had a very active theme to them with classes going to playgrounds, walking around farms, inflatable obstacle courses and much more.
We had our first family day in Lucan East this year. Many of the staff came with their families and lots of activities were set up for the children including bouncing castle, penalty shoot out, hula hoops and more. Thank you to Alan for all the hard work he did in setting it up.
May 2018
Santry
After some very close trials we now have our Santry team for 2018. We have representatives in the sprints, relays, hurdles, shot put, long jump and the 600m. Our athletes trained during lunch times and we had a really good training session on the Le Cheile AC running track in Leixlip. A huge well done to all the team who participated over the 2 days. We were very proud of all of you!!
Hurling/Camogie
Our hurling team have been very busy training and playing matches in the Cumann na mBunscol league. It’s great to see such a huge squad of boys taking part.
There’s been a great buzz in the school again this month as our camogie team made it to the final in Croke Park. It was a very exciting game with goals from both teams but the girls narrowly missed out on the trophy with a late goal from the other side. Well done girls on such a wonderful achievement!
Skipping
There was a great buzz in the school on Thursday 31st May and Friday 1st June as each class got to do a skipping workshop with Skippy John. We were all treated to a wonderful skipping show on Friday afternoon where the children displayed the skills they had learned. We were delighted to see that lots of children purchased ropes and our yard is full of children skipping.
Tag Rugby
First Class have started Tag Rugby after school with Jenny.
April 2018
Our school is a hive of activity at the minute with Active Schools Week. Our hall and our outdoor areas are in action almost every minute of the day. See our Active Schools Week section for all the information. We have had a fantastic Active Schools Week in the school this week. There have been sports activities going on from before we start school until the end of every day and everyone has had great fun. Some of the activities the children have been involved in are:
Basketball
Soccer
Hurling
Gaelic Football
Hip Hop
Yoga
Warm-up exercises in the line every morning
The children did plenty Active Homework this week
Hurling/Camogie
A big thank you to Niall and Tom, Orlagh and Caroline who are training the boys and girls in hurling and camogie at the moment. There are training sessions and matches happening during lunchtimes, assembly and after school. It’s great to see the huge number of 5th and 6th class children who are in the squads.
GAA
Our Junior Infants were very excited to begin GAA classes this month with dave from Lucan Sarsfield. They are doing an 8 week block of 30 minute class per week.
Soccer
Well done to the girls 5 a side soccer team that attended the finals of the Spar 5 a side league in Irishtown. What an achievement!
March 2018
We had lots of snow and ice on yard at the beginning of March – as a result we didn’t get out as much as we usually do. But we ensured all children were active in their classroom!
Our Go Noodle competition was in full swing as classes battled to clock up the most minutes.
Our Active Schools Committee met to plan Active Schools Week and run surveys in the classes to find out what tournaments and activities the children wanted. All committee members volunteered for jobs to help ASW run smoothly. The survey showed football as the most popular tournament with basketball a close second. Tug of war was also in the running with a lot of children asking to get to do it again this year.
New sports equipment was ordered for the school including basketball posts for the hall, springboard and horse, gymnastics mats, basketballs and more.
Our 5th and 6th class girls’ soccer team made it through to the finals in the Dublin Spar 5’s soccer tournament this week. We are very proud of their achievement. Comhghairdeachas libh!
Seachtain na Gaeilge
A big thank you to Elaine who did some Irish Dancing with all the classes in the school and put on a wonderful Seó Gaeilge. Céilí and Íoga were some other active activities for the children to enjoy this week.
Tháinig Dave isteach leis an ‘Sam Maguire’ agus chuaigh sé timpeall na ranganna ag freagairt ceisteanna faoi. Tá gach rud le feiceáil ar https://twitter.com/lucaneastet.
February 2018
Cross Country
50 children from the school represented us in the first of the South Dublin County Council cross country races this month. We were very proud of the huge effort that each child put into their races. As a result of our Marathon Challenge and our athletics training there is a huge improvement in our level of fitness this year in comparison to last year. Well done everyone!
Cycling
This month our 5th classes began learning to cycle safely on the roads. Some children cycled a bike for the first time ever. The children practised taking turns, looking over their shoulders, braking safely and much more.
GAA
Senior Infants have been making great progress and having great fun in their GAA classes. The children’s catching skills are improving immensely.
Athletics
3rd Class have been enjoying athletics training this month with each class getting a 30 minute slot per week.
Maths Trail
All classes have been getting active for Maths Week with a Maths Trail around the school. Speed was of the essence to be first group back with the answers.
Soccer
The 4th and 5th class girls took part in the Soccer Sisters initiative for 6 weeks. The girls learned some soccer skills and played some matches with Stephen Rice from the FAI for 30 minutes every week.
14/02/18
Today our boys soccer team played a friendly match with our near neighbours Adamstown Educate Together.
The boys put in a great display of passing, team-play and skill to run out 7-2 winners.
The game was played in a great spirit and everyone really enjoyed it.
Well done to all.
January 2018
GAA
Dave Moran from Lucan sarsfield begins an 8 week block of GAA with the Senior Infant classes. All the children experience some fun activities and some fundamental movement skill practice.
Athletics
Gerry from Lucan Harriers AC begin athletics training with the 3rd and 4th classes for 8 weeks. Each class gets a 30 minute slot weekly. The children work on improving their fitness, learning to warm up and stretch safely, cross country and relay skills.
Cross Country
Classes from 3rd to 6th have been out running 600 metres a few times a week in preparation for the cross country races coming up. It’s great to see everyone making a big effort and going at their own pace.
December 2017
Swimming
The Second Class children are making great progress with their swimming lessons in Clondalkin and our children from the Outreach Classes, Ghana and Ireland Class, are enjoying their trip to the swimming pool every week.
Marathon Challenge
Our 5th and 6th classes went to Griffeen Park to do the final mile of their marathon. Alison Casserly from South Dublin County Council was there to give the children their marathon medals and t-shirts.
November 2017
On Monday 20th November our 6th classes participated in a tag rugby tournament. Our Second classes were swimming every Tuesday.5th and 6th class have been developing their fitness and athletics skills with Gerry from Lucan Harriers.
October 2017
Throughout September and October Colm and Simon brought the boys to the park during lunch time and assembly for G.A.A training and Paula and Orlagh brought the girls.
Gerry for Lucan Harriers running club has started his coaching with 3rd-6th classes.
The Marathon Challenge
This process took weeks to complete and we were lucky to have former Olympian David Gillick in to run with the children. He spoke to the children about his training and the benefits of healthy eating. @EuroAthletics @irishathletics
On the 19th of October the girls had huge win in the semi final to book their place in the finals in Croke Park. The school was turned blue and gold as all staff and students got behind the team creating posters and banners. On the 26th of October the first ever Lucan East team took the field in Croke Park. We had fantastic support from the school. Three bus loads of children cheered them on from the stands but unfortunately they lost out by a point at the final whistle.
Tag Rugby
The children from 1st to 3rd class had great fun learning to play tag rugby with coaches from the Leinster Rugby squad. Each class had a 30 minute slot each week. Our 6th Class attended the Metro Tag Rugby Tournament in Irishtown Stadium on the 16th October.
FAI
Our 6th Class had a talk from the FAI to encourage them to participate in sports outside of school and to inform them of clubs and training in their locality.
September 2017
We had a busy start to the new school year between G.A.A, health and wellbeing week and the start of the Marathon challenge. Lucan East had teams participating in the cumman na mbunscoil games. We had boys competing in the u11 and u13 football competitions and narrowly missed out on final spots. The girls football team were fantastic this year and reached the finals in Croke Park. 5th and 6th classes started the Marathon challenge where the children will run between 600m-1200m a day until they reached 42 km in total. We had students track the distance covered each day and displayed it on our active schools board.
Paula invited children from 3rd-6th to come and support the Dublin Ladies footballers v Mayo in Croke park.
Active Schools Committee members got ready for the launch of the Health and Well-being Week in Tallaght stadium. 18/9/17
Well done to all the boys and girls in the school who completed the Sponsored Walk to raise funds for our new sport equipment.