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In conjunction with Triathlon Ireland, the boys and girls in fifth and sixth class took part in the Tri-Heroes programme. The programme is designed to help schools introduce triathlon activities. It teaches the basics of lifelong skills in cycling and running in a manner that inspires, motivates and challenges children.

A coach from Triathlon Ireland came into school and worked on our students running and cycling techniques as well as practicing triathlon transitions.

The students completed the week by putting their new skills into practice by taking part in a duathlon around the school grounds. The boys and girls had lots of fun participating.

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Well done to all our boys and girls who competed in the Milford District Primary Schools Cross-Country competition.

It was lovely to see so many smiles arriving back to the school after a fantastic day of athletics in the sun.

Congratulations to our U9 boys and U13 girls teams placing 2nd and our U11 girls placing 3rd in the small schools category.

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Congratulations to all our talented athletes who were fantastic at the LAC Track & Field Event in Letterkenny. It was an exciting day for our athletes as it was their first outing in our brand new athletic vests.

We had many fantastic performances in the sun at the Danny Mc Daid track with children competing in sprints, long distance and field events. The boys & girls did us proud by representing Drumman so well.

We finished the day with some well deserved ice creams. Thank you to Letterkenny Athletic Club for hosting the event. We had a great day out!

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Congratulations to our Sportshall Athletics team who finished second place today in the Sportshall Regional Final qualifying for the County Final.

The boys & girls competed in the standing long jump, the vertical jump, the 1kg chest push, the speed bounce and various relay races. The standard was extremely high in all events  and everyone made a huge effort to contribute to the team’s overall score.

The team was made up of Diarmuid, Kara, Tessa, Cora, Aoife, Chloe, Vlad, Oleg, Pauric, Noah & Zoe. They all did an excellent job representing Drumman and supporting each other throughout the day.

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Well done to our school football team who competed in the SPAR FAI Primary Schools 5s in Ballyare pitch this week.

The SPAR FAI Primary Schools 5s Programme  is one of the largest primary schools’ competition in the country.

Both teams had a great day of competition playing against Downings, Drumfad, Dromoghill & Kerrykeel. The girls team put in a terrific performance and were unbeaten until their last game against Kerrykeel.

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Drumman is taking part in the "Skip Around Europe" Challenge! This fun and active initiative runs for four weeks.

Each class has chosen a different country to "skip" to. Every time a child skips, they cover 1 kilometer. At the end of each week, the distances covered by each class is tallied up as they make their way across Europe. It's a wonderful opportunity for the children to stay active, get moving and learn a little about different countries along the way.

It encourages all of our students to take part, have fun and be as active as possible throughout the challenge. It’s a fantastic way to keep fit while having fun!

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Every class loved taking part in the Run around Ireland challenge. All classes made a special effort to run around the school yard each day. We loved seeing how far we travelled on the map of Ireland. It was an excellent way for children to learn about some of Ireland’s most famous landmarks and ideal for bringing learning outdoors.

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Donegal Primary Schools Cross Country Championships

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Donegal Primary Schools Cross Country Championships

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Congratulations to our six athletes who travelled to Buncrana to take part in the Donegal Primary Schools Cross Country Championships.

Well done to our students for representing the school so well. We had Ruaidhrí who had a great finish in the U-9s, Tessa who had a top 15 finish in the U-11s and the U-13 girls team of Aileen, Aoife, Ciara and Hannah who all put in a terrific performance.

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Local schools who participated in the GAA blitz

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We had great fun putting our Gaelic skills into practice as classes took part in GAA blitz organized by Milford GAA in Milford against other local schools. The blitz took part over a three day period with lots of games played.

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Our school’s cross country team participated in the Primary Schools Cross Country today in Milford. The boys and girls represented our school magnificently with courageous performances.

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We cycled 14km around the grounds of Glenveagh National Park

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What better way to enjoy bike week than to cycle around the grounds of Glenveagh National Park. We teamed up with Donegal Sports Partnership to celebrate Bike Week. The sun shone the entire day as the boys and girls discovered the joy of cycling in nature. They explored the beautiful scenery of Glenveagh as they rode their bikes all the way to the waterfall, cycling 14km in total!

Well done to all the boys and girls on their big cycle!

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Congratulations to the middle room on completing the most laps in the Run Around Ireland Challenge.

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Our school athletics team at the Danny Mc Daid track

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We had lots of great performances by our talented athletes in the Letterkenny AC Sports day. Many of our students qualified for finals and we even came home with a medal! The boys & girls did us proud by representing Drumman so well.

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As part of working towards our Active School Renewal Flag, we are taking part in a Running Challenge for 4 weeks from March 14th-April 8th.

The Run Around Ireland Challenge is an excellent way for children to get fit and learn about some of Ireland’s most famous landmarks.

Class teachers are given:

A map of Ireland’s famous landmarks.

A Class Challenge Chart where you can tick off each landmark as you run to it.

A Progress Chart where you can record your progress daily and weekly.

We can’t wait to see how many laps the whole school will run by the end of this challenge!

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The children are taking part in the “Climb the Heights” skipping challenge this month. They are climbing the tallest mountains in Europe. Every skip they do makes them one metre closer to the top!

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The school FAI football league finals took place in school this year. The senior classes played 5 a side in a very competitive league. It was a great afternoon of football with the rest of the school spectating. Master Shields returned to school to referee the games.  The active committee were also on hand ensuring the games ran smoothly.

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To build excitement for the up coming upcoming Winter Olympics in Beijing, our classes took part in a colouring competition. We’re looking forward to beginning the Road to Beijing challenge next month.

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Congratulations to our football league winners of 2022. It was a great match and all the students enjoyed watching the games. Big thanks to Master Shields and Christopher for refereeing the games.

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The senior class had great fun taking part in the Santa Dash🎅🏼

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It was fantastic to see a return to our 5k and to see so many smiley faces along the route. The sun was shining bright yesterday for our school 5k and the Drumann community were out in force. It was a great morning of racing with so many brilliant efforts from all the runners and walkers.

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The kids were keeping active in the build up to Christmas with some Santa Squats #hohoho

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The active school flag (ASF) initiative is a Department of Education and Skills initiative supported by Healthy Ireland which aims to get more schools, more active, more often.

The ASF is awarded to schools that strive to achieve a physically educated and physically active school community. It is really important that the health, well-being, and academic benefits of being physically active are reinforced at all levels and by many voices throughout the year.

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The pupils in Drumman NS are given regular updates of upcoming events including training and competitions. We also highlight all the  amazing achievements of our pupils who participate in extra-curricular activities.

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We are busy here in Drumman NS working towards the renewal of our Active School Flag. We will continue to strive to achieve a physically educated and physically active school community during this school year.

Every class is currently doing the Daily Mile challenge, as a whole school initiative.Our school incorporates physical activity into annual calendar events throughout the school year such as our Halloween Parade, St. Patricks Day and Christmas Santa Dash/Santa squats.

Every class has agreed upon a set of 3, or more, actions to decrease sedentary time.

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Active School Slogan: “your only limit is you”

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Active School Slogan: “your only limit is you”

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Our Active School Committee have chosen the slogan “your only limit is you” as our active slogan.

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The Physical Education curriculum allows for an hour of physical activity each week for each class.

We teach all 6 strands each year: Athletics; Dance; Gymnastics; Games; Outdoor and adventure activities; and Aquatics.

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As well as teaching Physical Education lessons in Drumman NS we strive to encourage physical activity throughout the day.

We take regular activity breaks: Daily Mile,  Wake Up/Shake Up and 10@10.

We have active lines. We keep busy when we are lining up and do a variety of exercises such as star jumps, high knees, running on the spot etc.

We encourage staff and pupils take an active approach to all aspects of their day.

Our staff have a walking / running group which takes place every Tuesday evening.

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We have launched the Active School Walkway. The ASF committee gave great guidance on creating the Active School Walkway.

We created a circuit around the school grounds. We have signage marking the route and we are using the walkway in many different ways. The walkway takes in all of the school yards and pathways around the building.

Our walkway is used for mindfulness, walk & talk, walk & teach, meetings on the move,  language route, walkway quiz and orienteering.

Having this walking is great because it allows for exercise for all in a fun learning environment!

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Our school acknowledges physical activity effort and success both during school and outside of school hours and we strongly encourage our students in Drumman NS to get involved in activities outside of school.

Involvement in a local club is most likely to encourage lifelong participation in a sport or activity. Basketball, swimming, GAA, Creative Dance and Athletics are amongst the options locally and our students get a taste for these activities in their PE lessons and during Get Active Week.

This variety of activities allows each child to find something active that suits them and their personal interests.

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We’re taking part in Active Advent in the lead up to Christmas. Everyday there is a new exercise for us to such as star jumps, planks, squats & many many more.

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Active-break challenge is where all classes commit to making an extra effort to take active breaks for a four week duration.

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Check out the middle class taking part in their active break everyday challenge! 

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All classes are really enjoying taking part in the Active Break Everyday Challenge. Our record sheets are jam packed with lots of running, walking, jumping, dancing and so much more.

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Dare to Believe Olympic Schools Challenge

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Dare to Believe Olympic Schools Challenge

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We joined Team Ireland on a virtual journey to Tokyo. By logging our activities, we watched a tracker bring us across the world on the road to Tokyo.

There were four stopovers en route, where we learned about the Olympic values, the history of the games and got some insights and tips from elite Irish athletes.

To top it all off we received a personal message from Irish international hurdler Sarah Lavin congratulating us on reaching Tokyo!

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Pupils from all classes are encouraged to complete their daily mile by walking, jogging or running.

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We competed the 30 for 30 challenge organised by the Donegal Sports Partnership. We did 30 minutes of exercise or movement for 30 days in the run up to Christmas.

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Christopher Barrett from Milford GAA club comes into our school every Friday to do Gaelic football with all the students. We also have Manus from Donegal GAA joining us every Thursday for Gaelic.

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The Drumman Football League Final 2021 refereed by Master Shiels.

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Our cross country team competing in the schools cross country in Milford.

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Drumman NS competed in the Donegal County Sportshall Final 2020.

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Every year we have an active schools week – including lots of activities throughout the week and a whole day dedicated to sports and fun!

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Our active committee have also been appointed the job as leaders for the junior, middle and senior classes. They have been given the responsibility of setting up equipment and collecting it at the end of each break. Their job is to monitor activities and assist pupils. They also enforce active lines.

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Our Active School Committee members conducted a survey to find out what clubs our pupils are affiliated with. The results found that our students are involved with a huge variety of clubs in our locality such as Milford GAA, Milford Athletic Club, Kilmacrennan Soccer Club, Tonnta Swim School, Citadel Gymnastics, PineHill Dance Studio and Mulroy Hoops.

The active committee carried out a survey on our 68 pupils.

The results of the survey were as follows:

Milford GAA: 18

Milford Athletic Club: 16

Kilmacrennan Soccer Club: 12

Tonnta Swim School: 10

Citadel Gymnastics: 6

PineHill Dance Studio: 4

Mulroy Hoops: 2

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Our Active School committee is working hard to get all staff and pupils in Drumman NS moving and enjoying physical activity in many different ways.

What do the Active School Flag Committee do?

•Attend ASF meetings.

•Encourage everyone to become active.

•Set up equipment for whole school activities,

•Organise competitions like the slogan and poster competitions.

•Come up with ideas throughout the year by speaking to their classes and bringing the ideas to ASF committee meetings.

•Lead initiatives like the ‘Daily Mile’ and ‘Santa Dash’.

•Share announcements in school newsletter .

•Keeping the P.E. equipment room tidied and organised.

•Inform the whole school of what we will be focusing on in the next month during the monthly school assembly.

Our Active School Committee is made up of the following students:

•Cormac D

•Ellie

•Chloe D

•Lucy

•Conor F

•Laura

•Michaela

•Hollie

•Jayden

Our Active School Staff Member is:

•Miss Mc Geehan

Within the Committee, we have ASF leadership roles such as playground leaders, PE equipment monitors, playground equipment monitors, event organisers and class visits announcers.

Our school knows that Physical Activity helps us to:

•Stay healthy

•Have Fun

•Concentrate and focus

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We follow a PE timetable for the school year.

The plan highlights the PSSI lesson plans to guide teachers in their planning of PE.

The school plan ensures that PE homework is given on Wellness Wednesdays.

PE is discussed with parents at PT meetings and is included in the annual school report.

PE is allocated 1 hour per week of overall teaching time.

Our active committee ensured that every class has 60 minutes in their timetable.

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All teachers use the Move Well Move Often Resources 

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All of the classes in our school are taught six PE strands.

The strands are:
• aquatics
• athletics
• games
• dance
• gymnastics
• outdoor & adventure

We have decided to teach the the FMS of running, walking, throwing, hopping, balancing, landing, skipping, side-stepping, catching/throwing.

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Our playground has been zoned to incorporate different activities at break and lunch time. This gives the students an opportunity to use the sports equipment for each activity. The playground leaders ensure students are mindful of the different activities taking part in each zone.

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The Active Committee introduced 3 new ball games: Donkey, Pass and Catch, Soccer Rounders to work on the movement skills of throwing, catching and running.
They introduced 2 sports equipment activities-Hula hoops and skipping ropes with the aim of developing aerobic fitness levels.
A games station has been introduced in the shelter which has a giant Connect 4 with the aim of developing social interaction among the students.

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Physical activity is integrated with other subject areas such as maths and SESE such as scavenger hunts and using maths in the environment (hopscotch).

During well-being week we incorporate an activity into each day and integrate physical activity into our green schools programme e.g. Walk on Wednesday/Cycle to school/Park and Stride. Students participate in school gardening and embark on nature walks as part of SESE.

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Every class has agreed upon a set of 3 or more actions to decrease sedentary time in the class. Each teacher has instructions on their chosen activities.

Our movement break activities include:

•Chair Aerobics: Straight Leg Raisers, Squats, Tummy Crunchers, Punching Arms

•Chair Sports: Swimming, Cycling, Paddling

•Standing activities: Marching On The Spot, Jog On The Spot, High Knees, Jumping Jacks or Half Jacks, Squat Jump, Squat Hold, Criss Cross Crunches, Hops/air skips, Wall push up, Wall sit, Lunges

•Seated and Standing: Chair push up, Bicep curls (with textbooks), Tricep Push backs, Twists, Over head lifts

•Yoga movements: Easy sitting pose, child’s pose, cobra, wide-angle seated forward bend, seated forward bend, butterfly pose, tree pose.

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We had lots of great coaches throughout the week. Everyone got so active trying out different sports.

The children enjoyed healthy exercise classes with Rinka on Monday, boot camp with Russell Porter on Tuesday, dance with Katriona McNamee on Wednesday, swimming on Thursday and for our whole school FUN event we had a Sports Day in the Community Centre on Friday.

What a fun filled week of activities we had!

Click on the links below to see all our active week activities:

https://drummanns.wordpress.com/2022/05/26/dancing-with-katriona-mcnamee/

https://drummanns.wordpress.com/2022/05/25/bootcamp/

https://drummanns.wordpress.com/2022/05/24/rinka/

https://drummanns.wordpress.com/2022/05/27/sports-day-2022/

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Our students (3rd-6th Class) attended swimming lesson in the Aura Leisure Centre in Letterkenny for a 6 week block of swimming lessons after Easter. The children really loved it.

The swimming programme taught in Aura uses the follows a progressive syllabus with each child earning certificates as they move upwards through the levels.

In Drumman NS we believe it’s important for every child learn to swim, especially to be water-safe and learn a skill for their whole life. Swimming helps improve their overall physical and mental health an hopefully our students will fall in love with the sport and lap it up for years.

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Our new chalk boards have been a huge success. They have been great for improving our fine and gross motor skills.

The chalk has been used for many creative games such as:
•hopscotch (working on body control and hopping)
•avoid the shark (working on hopping, throwing, balance, coordination)
•chalk bullseye (working on throwing)
•Four square (working on throwing)•
alphabet hop (working on hopping)
•corners (working on skipping)

The boards have also been great for keeping scores of games and including children of all abilities. Our playground leaders have been doing an amazing job at showing the younger students new creative games with the chalk.

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We had a great week of Gaelic football in Milford with all kids getting game time and mixing it up with the other children in the locality. All students thoroughly enjoyed it and got to put their Gaelic skills that Coach Christopher had been teaching them all year into action.

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The Junior Class took part in Ag Sugradh le Chéile. Ag Sugradh le Chéile, or ‘Playing Together’ is a workshop to encourage active play between parents and children. The parents and children took part in a variety of activities including ball games, parachute games and traditional games, and finished off with some healthy snacks.

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Our active leaders keep our lines active!

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Junior Room

1.    March on the spot

2.   Reach or the sky, touch your shoulders, reach for the sky

3.   Weight lifts

4.   Shoulder circles

5.   Heel touch

6.   Toe touch

7.   Jumping jacks

Middle & Senior Rooms

1.    March on the spot

2.   High knees

3.   Jumping Jacks

4.   Reach for the sky-to shoulders-to sky

5.   Arms out wide-circle forwards, then back

6.   Two steps to the left-clap/Two steps to the right-clap x10

7.   Split  jumps

Do each exercise for 10 seconds, then start at number 1 again.

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The classes took part in the run around Ireland challenge.  Every class loved the challenge. Everyone made a special effort to run around the school yard each day. We loved seeing how far we travelled on the map of Ireland. It was a great way for the pupils to learn about Ireland’s most famous landmarks, and it brought learning outdoors.

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Walk on Wednesdays (W.O.W.) is an initiative to encourage Drumman students to walk, cycle, scoot, skate or take public transport to/from school every Wednesday.

Drumman NS is both an Active and Green school, so W.O.W. reduces the school’s carbon footprint by decreasing car usage and will also make students healthier by increasing activity before and after school.
Everybody is a winner!

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The senior classes cycled in Glenveagh for Bike week, cycling 4km to the castle & 4km back again. They had a great day cycling.