This article is from page 9 of the 2006-05-09 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 9 JPG
STUDENTS from one of Clare’s smallest schools will be in the Helix in Dublin today bidding to win the Irish Active School Award for 2006. Fanore National School has reached the final shortlist of just eight schools in the entire country for the award which will be judged by the Minister for Education and Science, Mary Hanafin.
The awards, which were established by the Department of Education and Science and the Irish Sports Council, recognise physical education and activity programmes in schools.
Fanore School took an innovative approach to their project by trying to incorporate their physical activity with regular school subjects.
“We walked to Cathair Dún Irghus which is 10 kilometres away from the school and learned all about the history of the ring fort,” said principal, Bríd Queally.
“We also timed how fast each of the children were at sprints and built graphs representing how they did, as well as which sports were the most popular for the students.”
Interestingly, the children have designed a six-foot wide stand for today’s presentation which has been specially designed to represent the physical surroundings of Fanore.
The students also came up with a computer game entitled ‘Who wants to be a Sports Millionaire?’ which they will challenge Minister Hanafin to play at the Helix today.
“Each child came up with one question each for the game and they are challenging,” continued Ms Queally.
“It was a really great week with the children getting involved in every activity possible from hurling and football to basketball and gymnastics.”
The school will be represented at today’s event by students Phoebe Prince, Niamh Currucan and Katie O’Donoghue. The three young students will answer the minister’s questions while the rest of the school will be entertained in the Helix.
“The kids did great, they came up with all the ideas themselves and put in load of work.
“It was a really great experience for all of the children whether they were good at the sports or not,” concluded Ms Queally.
The schools competing against Fanore National School for today’s award are St. Joseph’s National School, in Ballinrobe, Ballyraine National School from Letterkenny, St. Joseph’s Boys National School and St. Peter the Apostle National School, both from Dublin, Meenkilly National School, Limerick, St. Martin’s Special School, Waterford and Triest National School in Cork.