Active Schools Week | St Margarets NS

The Department of Education and Skills and Healthy Ireland encourage ALL schools to organise an Active School Week (ASW) as part of their annual school calendar.

The ASW initiative is about providing FUN and INCLUSIVE physical activity opportunities for ALL members of the school community. It allows schools to reinforce the message that not only is physical activity good for you but it also very enjoyable. It provides schools with an excellent opportunity to raise awareness about the physical activity opportunities that are available in their locality and to work collaboratively with students, parents and members of the community.

At St Margaret’s N.S. we hold our Active Schools Week in June to run in conjunction with our annual school walk and sports day. Take a look below to see what we got up to this year!

Active Week 2025

Active Week 2025 was a great success and is always a week eagerly anticipated by the children in our school. There was great excitement throughout the week, especially as the Tug of War and Dodgeball tournaments kicked off. The playoffs against the teachers were a definite highlight, much to the children’s delight!

On Wednesday, 5th June, we held our annual sponsored school walk in Malahide Gardens, followed by a picnic and time to explore the playground. On Thursday, 6th June, we held our whole-school Sports Day in St. Margaret’s GAA Club, where pupils took part in various races, GAA, soccer tournaments, dancing, and obstacle courses. Thank you also to St. Margaret’s GAA Club for hosting us, to Keith for the fantastic dance sessions, and to Damien and Linda Crosby for their generosity and keeping everyone well-fed once again. We are very grateful for the wonderful support from our local community.

Active Week 2024

This was a short Active week due to the bank holiday. The children enjoyed the school walk, picnic and exploring the playground at the end of the day. On sports day, pupils participated in various races, dancing, GAA, soccer tournaments, obstacle course and parachute activities for the younger classes. Thank you to St. Margaret’s GAA club for allowing us to use their facilities and to our dance instructor Keith and GAA coach Nigel, for keeping us super fit. A big thank you also to Damien and Linda Crosby for fueling us with delicious food year in year out. We are so lucky to have such generosity in our local community.

Active Week 2023

Our challenge and theme for this years Active Week was to promote good sportsmanship. As a whole school initiative each class and sports team were awarded tokens for showing good sportsmanship on and off the playing field and during yard times. This ran over a 4-week block and the tokens received for each team which contributed to our Sports day which took place in St Margarets GAA club. This was in collaboration with each child engaging in a minimum of 60 minutes of physical activity each day. The children took part in physical activities throughout the week including GAA, dancing, skipping, tennis, orienteering, relay races, circuits, obstacle course and yoga. Instead of our usual homework, some familiar faces assigned active challenges for pupils to complete each evening.

Active Week 2022

We were awarded our third Active Flag in 2022. In 2022 we were delighted to be able to return to our annual events such as our Sponsored School Walk in Malahide Gardens, Sports Day in St. Margaret’s GAA complex and swimming lessons for 2nd – 6th class. Our challenge for Active Week 2022 as always, was to get everyone moving. The children took part in physical activities throughout the week including GAA, dancing, taekwondo, tug-of-war, orienteering, relay races, circuits, obstacle courses, pool noodle activities and much more. Instead of our usual homework, some familiar faces assigned active challenges for pupils to complete each evening.

Active Week 2021

Our challenge for Active Week was to get everyone moving. All children in St. Margaret’s N.S. were asked to engage in a minimum of 60 minutes of physical activity each day. The children took part in physical activities throughout the week including GAA, dancing, tennis, orienteering, relay races, circuits, obstacle course and yoga. Instead of our usual homework, the Active Squad assigned active challenges for pupils to complete each evening. Click here to see our active challenge videos and slideshows.

Active Home Week 2020

Due to the Covid-19 school closure, Active Week 2020 was a little different. The children participated in a virtual Active Home Week Challenge. Our challenge like always, was to get everyone moving. To take part in the challenge the children had to engage in a minimum of 60 minutes of physical activity each day at home. See below for one of our school’s challenge charts or click here to view more details about our Active Home Week 2020.