We as a staff aimed to: Promote the development of physically literate children Enable children to enjoy physical activities Improve the overall fitness and overall well being of every child in the school Develop the children’s understanding of the importance of continuing participation in physical activity throughout their lives. Expanding exposure to different physical activities so that they might find one which they would be motivated to continue long term. Collaborate with teachers in other countries to build on our previous knowledge and practice. As a result of this, we would hope to be able to deliver lessons to the best standards, with the ultimate aim of increasing enjoyment and participation in physical activity
We identified a long term goal of supporting our pupils to move with competence and confidence in a wide variety of activities in a safe and enjoyable environment. Physical literacy can be described as the motivation, confidence, physical competence, knowledge and understanding to value and take responsibility for engagement in physical activities for life. A recent study by Dublin City University highlighted the level of inactivity that exists among Irish children in the present day. They found that 25% of children were unable to run properly, while 50% of children could not kick a ball. Unfortunately we found this trend mirrored in our school community. We conducted an assessment of fundamental movement skills in a cross-section of classes and found that many children were physically illiterate, or were not reaching mastery of basic movement skills at the expected age. Our long term goal is not just to bridge this gap, but to motivate children to WANT to move more and to develop a love of being active. We believe every child has the potential to achieve success and enjoy some sort of physical movement. Our goal was to increase the exposure to a wider variety of physical activities so that children might find their niche.