Witches & Wizards Halloween Walk
On the last day before Halloween, Friday October 25th we had a whole-school Witches & Wizards Walk.
With vampires, dinosaurs, ghostbusters and many more along with our witches and wizards, pupils across all classes had a fantastic morning walking around the school yard. With Halloween music coming from the school speakers not only were pupils walking but we also had plenty of dancing, what a fantastic active way to welcome the Halloween holidays!
Cumann na mBunscol Football
Our boys football team played five fantastic matches on Wednesday the 9th of October in the Eire Og Inis GAA Grounds.
Every game was played in great spirit and the boys really proved how much they’ve come on in such a short space of time. There were scores and tackles coming from all angles and everyone had a great day!
Cross Country Running
The annual East Clare Primary Schools Cross Country Running competition was held in Lees Rd Ennis on the 25th of September.
We had a number of pupils representing the school across all age categories and each and every one of them put in a tremendous effort both in the pre-event training and also on the day.
Well done to all pupils involved and best of luck to George from Willow class who grabbed a medal for his top ten finish and now goes forward to the County Clare finals which will be held back in Lees Rd in November.
Active Schools Committee 2024-2025
Our Active Schools Committee for the 2024-2025 school year has been finalised in the last couple of school weeks.
Our Active School Committee includes pupils from our special classes, includes Junior Infant pupils and goes all the way through to pupils from 6th Class. The committee meet up on a monthly basis to share ideas and discuss ways of making our school even more active than last year!
Like last year, the responsibilities of this year’s Active School Committee include:
1. Making sure that all pupils take part in some activity during or after school.
2. Help pupils be more active, it is recommended that children have at least 60 minutes of activity every day.
3. Make sure pupils have fun while being more active.
Active Schools Week 2024 & Sports Day 2024
We held our annual Active Schools Week for 2024 from the 17th to the 21st of June and thankfully, for the most part, we had fine weather.
A busy week for pupils and school staff kicked-off on Monday with Gaelic Football Coaching from Mark O’Donnell of Clare GAA while later in the afternoon we were fortunate enough to have LIzzy from Clare Sports Partnership visit us and teach us many Athletic games. Monday also saw classes from the junior and middle rooms head to the Active Ennis Leisure Complex for one of their final swimming lessons of the year.
Tuesday saw the team from the Clare Comets/Raptors Basketball Club teach our pupils many new things about basketball such as dribbling, passing and shooting.
Danny from Ennis Tennis Club paid us his first-ever visit on Wednesday afternnon and in glorious sunshine, pupils, with a racquet and tennis ball each, had great fun developing their ball control skills.
Thursday was the highlight of the week, and even year for many, with our annual Sports Day taking place in Glenina field. Dodgeball, Long Puck/Kick, Penalty Shootout, Tag Rugby, Tug of War and Athletics races all formed part of what was a really fun day for all. Later that afternoon, 6th class pupils also took on school staff in our annual match and thankfully school staff once again came out on the right side in a what was keenly contested game.
The week came to a close on Friday with visits from a great number of coaches from both Banner GAA and Ennis Hockey Club.
Many thanks to the visiting coaches, school staff, Active Schools Committee and pupils who helped make such an action-packed, fun-filled week for everyone.
Land PAWS Programme
Pupils from 1st class to 6th class all attended swimming lessons in the Active Ennis Leisure Complex for 6 weeks during Term 3. The lessons took place for 1 hour each Tuesday and provided pupils with both confidence and competence in the water.
Class Teacher’s have also been very busy during Term 3 teaching the Land PAWS programme to support the Aquatics PE strand. Below are some of pupils with the certificates they received on completing the programme.
Go Games Gaelic Football Blitz
On Friday 26th of April members of 3rd and 4th class had a fantastic day in the Fairgreen, Ennis participating in a Clare GAA-run Gaelic Football Blitz.
All involved had a great time, playing on mixed teams with boys and girls from other schools in our area. Each team got to play three full games affording all boys and girls involved to, not only practice their football skills, but more importantly meet other pupils and have great fun in the process.
New Basketball Court Markings
There was a lovely surprise waiting for all pupils on their return from our Easter Break last Monday, as our basketball court markings had been repainted.
Many thanks to all the team at the Clare Comets Basketball Club in Ennis for re-lining a full court and half court which will undoubtedly lead to all pupils being even more active.
Eire Og GAA Coaching
For the second half of Term 2, on Friday’s, pupils have been fortunate enough to have Eire Og GAA coach Tomas Barry coming to help them progress their GAA skills.
Each class has really enjoyed their weekly session with Tomas and we have seen great progress being made with regard to movement, agility, fitness and all the skills of Gaelic Football in particular.
We thank Tomas for hard work and for giving his time and Eire Og Inis GAA Club for facilitating the sessions.
New PE Equipment
Many thanks to our hard-working Active Schools Committee who not only assisted with the purchase of new PE equipment for the school but also tidied and placed new labels around and on our PE Equipment storage area.
Active Schools Easter Egg Hunt
Our Active Schools Committee had great fun organising and running an Easter Egg Hunt for the whole school which was held on Thursday the 21st of March.
The committee members did a great job composing clues for everybody and throughout the day each class was split in half and pupils got to complete the hunt in small groups. Having found the tenth and final clue, each group were rewarded for their efforts with a small Easter Egg.
It was brilliant to see all pupils not only being very active but also displaying very good teamwork skills to find all of the hidden clues.
Well done to all involved.
Marion Keane Basketball Tournament
Our boys and girls had a great day at the Marion Keane basketball competition on Friday the 23rd of February. Thanks to Clare Comets Basketball Club and the Clare Local Development Company, they looked the part in our lovely new kit. They backed the style up with amazing performances throughout the day for both sides. We were very proud of them. All games were played in fantastic spirit with Scoil Chríost Rí, Holy Family, and Cbs Ennis…the future of Ennis basketball is bright!
Valentine’s Day Heart Hunt
The hard-working members of our Active Schools Committee put on a Valentine’s Day Heart Hunt in Ennis ETNS on Wednesday February.
The members of the Active Schools Committee hid over 120 small hearts around the school yard/grounds on the day and each class was afforded a slot to head outside and find as many hearts as possible.
The activity served as a great reminder to all pupils and staff to make an effort to keep their ‘hearts’ healthy by doing lots of physical activity even on Valentine’s Day.
Active Schools Slogan Competition
As part of our Active Schools efforts, our Active Schools Committee organised, promoted and adjudicated on a whole-school Active Schools Slogan Competition.
There were fantatsic entries all across the school, and, as judged by our Active Schools Commitee members, and the following are are our winning slogans:
- We like to move move it!
- Exercise is the prize!
The winning slogans were announced at our December whole-school assembly and our winners were presented with a small prize for their efforts!
Active Break Every Day Challenge
Since the 13th of November, pupils across the school have been undertaking the Active Break Everyday Challenge.
Organised by Dare To Believe and the Active School Flag programme, the short videos each day have not only allowed pupils to become familiar with Ireland’s top Olympic Athletes but also afforded the pupils fun, engaging and active movement breaks each day.
Pupils and teachers alike have seen huge benefits to both the teaching and learning processes as a result of the school’s engagement with the programme.
Keep it up everyone!
Halloween – Witches Walk
On the 27th of October, following our Halloween parade earlier in the day, the whole school engaged in a fun-filled and very scary Halloween walk and run around our school yard. All pupils from junior infants up to sixth class enjoyed getting some extra active minutes whilst dressed up in their wonderful costumes.
10@10
As part of our efforts to get our school as active as possible, last Friday the 20th of October, we held a whole-school 10@10 workout.
Many thanks to the pupils of Oak class (5th & 6th) and their teacher Denis for leading all the excellent activities.
Wake Up – Shake Up
Recently our Active Schools Committee came up with the idea of making our mornings at school more active.
Last Friday, in our lines after the morning bell had sounded, we commenced the day with a whole school Wake Up – Shake Up activity. We started last week with the Cha Cha Slide and hope to change songs each week.
Why not have a look at our moves below!
Cumann Na mBunscol Gaelic Football
On Thursday the 12th of October, our boys Gaelic Football team made the short journey to Eire Og GAA grounds to partake in the Cumann Na mBunscol Gaelic Football blitz.
On a fine day, the boys hard work during after school training in the weeks leading up to the blitz, really paid off as our youthful team displayed great skill, fitness and enthusiasm throughout their games against Scoil Chríost Rí, Broadford NS, St. Aidan’s NS and Holy Family NS. It was great to see the team return to school with smiles on their faces after a most enjoyable day’s sport.
Many thanks to Mandy & Alan for taking the team’s training sessions in preparation for the blitz.
Active Schools Committee
Our Active Schools Committee for the 2023-2024 was recently elected.
Our Active School Committee is made up of boys and girls from Juniors to 6th Class. The committee met on the last Friday of September and plan to meet on the last Friday of each month to discuss the best ways of making our school more active.
The responsibilities of our Active School Committee include:
1. Making sure that all pupils take part in some activity during or after school.
2. Help pupils be more active, it is recommended that children have at least 60 minutes of activity every day.
3. Make sure pupils have fun while being more active.
East Clare Primary Schools Cross Country
Over 20 pupils from Ennis E.T.N.S represented the school with distinction in the East Clare Primary Schools Cross Country event held at Lees Road on Thursday 28th of September.
In tough conditions, the boys and girls took part in races from u8 right through to u12. In spite of the persistent rain and wind, pupils had smiles on their faces throughout the day and really enjoyed their races.
A special word of thanks to Geraldine and Alan for preparing the athletes so well in advance of the event.
Active Schools Week 2023
EETNS held our annual Active Schools Week from the 19th of June to the 23rd of June and as usual it was a fun-filled week.
Proceedings kicked-off on Monday with hurling coaching for all classes by provided by Peter Casey of Clare GAA while Tuesday saw the school welcome Irish Rugby International Ailsa Hughes for some Tag Rugby Fun. A hugely enjoyable and active Sports Day was held in Glenina on Wednesday whilst the final two days were jam-packed with pupils undertaking Football with Banner GAA, circuit training with David from Spartan Fitness, Basketball with the Clare Comets, Soccer with the FAI coaches and Hockey with the gang from Ennis Hockey Club.
To compliment the above activities, each school day started with some shake and wake activities. The week drew to a close with the eagerly anticipated 6th Class pupils vs Teachers basketball game which saw, the teachers, thankfully, secure a narrow victory. This was followed by a certificate presentation ceremony which brought the curtain down on Active Schools Week 2023.
Many thanks to the pupils, school staff and visiting coaches who helped to make Active Schools Week 2023 so enjoyable for all.
Sports Day
We held our annual Sports Day in Glenina on Wednesday the 21st of June and as usual it proved a most enjoyable day.
After a couple of early showers to wake us all up, pupils and teachers were quickly into their stride at the 5 stations which had been set up all over the field.
The stations included:
1. Running Races
2. Long Puck/Long Kick
3. Rounders
4. Penalty Shootout
5. Tug Of War
6. Dodgeball
After nearly half an hour at each station and the odd drop of rain, a school full of weary and red faced children walked back to school having had an action-packed and fun-filled day. To round off proceedings, a medal presentation followed. Well done to all!
Swimming Classes
Since their return after the Easter break, both Willow and Oak classes have commenced swimming lessons in the Active Ennis Leisure Complex. Lessons take place on Tuesday’s for the next number of weeks and all pupils have already made great progress. The instructors for each group are very helpful and also provide pupils with some free time at the beginning end of each lesson to have even more fun in the water!
Spar FAI Primary School 5s
On Friday, the 24th of March, our soccer team had a great day in Lees Road participating in the FAI 5-a-side soccer tournament. Local primary schools competed against each other in very windy and wet conditions! We played against St. Tola’s N.S., Connolly N.S., Toonagh N.S. and Ballynacally N.S. All pupils represented our school so well. Well done to all involved!
Feel Good Friday’s
As our #FeelGoodFriday Active Schools initiative for February, we started to play music in the yard during breaktimes. It was a fantastic way to get pupils moving even more during break times. The Active Schools Committee enjoyed being responsible for the playlist from the IPPEA and also for the movement of our school’s portable sound system. We hope to keep the music pumping every Friday in March too!
St. Patrick’s Day Parade and Céilí
EETNS celebrated St. Patrick’s Day in style on Thursday the 16th of March.
Proceedings kicked off with a a very active parade of all classes around the school yard. Teachers and pupils showed off as much of the colour green as possible.
Following the parade, each class took part in a Céilí to finish the celebrations. From a few weeks previously each class had been practicing “An Dreoilín” with dance moves included so it was a wonderful opportunity for all pupils to show off their great learning in a very active and fun way.
Marion Keane Basketball Tournament
On Tuesday, our boys’ basketball team travelled to Scoil Chríost Rí to compete in the Marion Keane Basketball Tournament. All of the boys played superbly and represented our school so well. We played our first game on the indoor court and the following three on the outdoor court. We played against Holy Family N.S., C.B.S., Scoil Chríost Rí and Inch N.S. It was such an enjoyable day. The games were competitive and we had great fun
Clare GAA Coaching
For Term 2, on Tuesday’s, pupils have been fortunate enough to have Clare GAA coach Peter Casey coming to help them hone their hurling skills.
Each class really enjoys their weekly session with Peter and we have seen great progress being made with regard to movement, catching and all the skills of hurling. Pupils really enjoy getting out into the fresh air and getting moving and love getting a break from in-class work.
We thank Peter for giving his time and look forward to having coaches Ollie (Banner GAA) and Cian (Eire Og GAA) visit us in Term 3.
Festive 4km
On the 20th of December, our Active Schools Committee organised for the whole-school to take part in a Festive 4km.
Pupils were given the option to wear festive Santa hats and/or Christmas jumpers if they desired. Each member of each class completed a total of 1km on the day by running and walking around the school basketball court. Meaning that between all the classes in the school, well in excess of 4km was covered on the day.
Most importantly, it was a really enjoyable experience for all the children and pupils and teachers alike got their festive celebrations off to a healthy and active start.
Yoga Classes
Prior to our Christmas Holidays, we were very fortunate to have qualified yoga instructor Eimer McCarthy come to the school for six Thursdays, to provide yoga classes throughout the school.
Pupils really enjoyed acquiring and performing new yoga poses and found the classes each week really enjoyable and relaxing. We hope to continue to use some of our poses for the rest of the school year as movement breaks and would love to have Eimer back again next year.
Active Schools Flag
Ennis Educate Together National School is currently working towards the Active Schools Flag. The Active School Flag (ASF) is awarded to schools that strive to achieve a physically educated and physically active school community.
Why not keep up to date on progress by checking in here, to read about all our active initiatives and activities.
The much anticipated annual EETNS Sports Day took place on Wednesday 14th of June in Glenina Field.
On arrival, pupils found 5 stations. Each class spent a good deal of time at each station before moving onto the next station. The following were the stations:
1. Running Races
2. Long Puck/Long Kick
3. Last One Standing
4. Penalty Shootout
5. Tug Of War
There was great sport at each station with pupils taking turns, being helpful towards each other and showcasing their great skills against each other and even competing against teachers at times!
A sports day medal presentation followed that afternoon. Many thanks to the teachers who acted as starters, race result recorders and finishing line assistants, especially Julie who made a video review of the day which accompanies this.
There were many red faces and tired bodies at home time but overall a great day was had by all!
