Physical Education

Department Members 

Aileen Teeling and Eoin Power 

Department Co-ordinator 

Eoin Power 

Provision of Physical Education in School 

Physical Education is compulsory for every student in the school. From first year to third year all students follow the Junior Cycle PE Curriculum as recommended by the Department of Education and Skills. Each PE class is a double class (1hr 20mins) and all classes have this once a week. Transition Year students also have a double class once a week and they follow the new senior cycle syllabus and also have some off-site trips. The senior cycle consists of a double class once a week and the programme follows the new senior cycle syllabus where the needs of each individual class are met to encourage participation and lifelong skills. 

All classes in the school are mixed ability and co-educational. Each child with special educational needs is catered for on an individual basis and has full access to the curriculum. All students in the school are greatly encouraged to participate in extra-curricular clubs, classes and our end of year sports day. There are a wide range of activities available for all students regardless of ability levels and participation is our main aim as a PE Dept. There are normally clubs operating four days a week at OCC and they all generally run for one hour after school. Some extracurricular activities in the school include Basketball, Gaelic Football, Soccer, Badminton, Hurling, Rugby and Athletics. Some of the PE initiatives we are very proud of this year were the Beat the Bleep and Fitness Challenges and also TY students took part in the GAA’s Future Leaders Programme. We also had 3rd year students completing a CBA, where students created a program design for a physical activity program. This will be recognised on each student’s junior cycle profile of achievement.  

Students are required to wear a PE uniform in all year groups and this consists of a black and red crested half zip top, a crested black and red dry fit t-shirt, black crested track-suit bottoms and runners. This uniform must also be worn when representing the school at matches or on sporting trips. 

Planning, Preparation and Resources 

All planning of the PE programme is closely in line with recommendations of the Junior Cycle PE Programme by the Department of Education and Skills. 

Schemes of work were put in place for all the different sports and activities that we do at OCC for each year group. However, the way these schemes of work are taught each year change with every class depending on the overall ability of the class. Differentiation of each child and each class group happens throughout the year and the programme is planned out to suit their overall ability to maximise learning and enjoyment. These plans are reviewed at the end of the year and suggestions are made for improvements for the following year. Departmental Meetings happen every term to discuss any issues arising with regard to curriculum content, facilities and equipment, uniform, health and safety or individual classes. 

The PE Department have a notice board in the gym which alerts all students of upcoming sporting events and matches. Information for students involved in school clubs are put up here giving information about what time they are leaving for a game, what to bring etc. The notice board also celebrates achievements of various teams or individuals by putting up match reports and photographs. The school website, Instagram and our X (formerly twitter) accounts are used also in the same way to promote PE initiatives, trips and extra-curricular success throughout the year. This is a great way to promote PE and sport and enthuse the students. 

The Physical Education Dept has access to facilities and resources within the school and is building on new equipment every year to extend and engage students. We as a Dept are really looking forward to the new sports hall promised to us in the coming years and feel this will bring sport and PE to a new level in the school.  

Aileen Teeling and Eoin Power are members of the PEAI which is the main Physical Education Association of Ireland which is helpful as it keeps all PE professionals up to speed on the latest sports equipment and new innovative ways to teach certain areas of the curriculum. This year we attended several workshops in relation to JCT PE and Wellbeing and Senior Cycle PE Curriculum. As PE teachers we feel wellbeing is something students need more knowledge about and we are developing ways to incorporate this into our classes.  

Teaching and Learning 

Our PE Dept aims to offer a broad and balanced PE Programme, catering for the needs of all pupils and delivered in a safe and fun environment. Through the enhancement of the students’ physical, social, emotional and moral development, the programme aims to empower all students to sustain regular, lifelong physical activity as a foundation for a healthy, productive and fulfilling life. 

In First Year and Second Year we introduce the basics and fundamental skills of all sports. This will include invasion games (basketball, soccer, GAA, Olympic handball, multi-sport etc). It will also include some net and wall games such as badminton, volleyball, rounders. Students will experience a module in dance, gymnastics and athletics. 

In Third year, we aim to develop their skills in each of the above sports and develop coaching, organising matches and refereeing. We also try to develop their evaluation skills in dance, gymnastics and all invasion games. They will also get to try some new types of games such sports acrobatics, outdoor adventure activities, archery and team building activities. 

All year groups will do a health and fitness module which will include how to warm up / cool down / stretch / fitness testing for cardiovascular fitness, flexibility, muscular strength, power, balance etc. They will also learn about how to tone/ strengthen up muscles through circuit training and building their own circuits.  

In September 2018 we introduced the New Senior Cycle PE Framework. This is the first time Irish PE teachers will have a curriculum to go by for senior cycle PE. This framework will cover six curriculum models which are: Health-Related Physical Activity, Sport Education, Contemporary Issues in Physical Activity, Adventure Education, Personal and Social Responsibility and Teaching Games for Understanding. 

In September 2024, we are looking forward to our first LCPE class. This will be the first time PE will run in OCC as a leaving certificate examinable subject. Hopefully here for good and we look to running a great programme in our new state of the art gym and facilities. 

Transition Year Programme 

Transition Year is a great year for trying out new activities and discovering new skills about yourself that you didn’t know existed!! We offer an exciting, fun and educational programme that will bring the class together as a tight unit and will develop their physical and social needs.  

Some of the other activities that happen in this programme include – dance, adventure activities, archery. The PE Dept are involved in organising a Sports Leader UK certificate and a Disability and Inclusion in Sport certificate for all TYs and helping with the TY GAISCE award. This year for their GAISCE walk they went overnight to Colaiste Uisce in Belmullet Co. Mayo. Here they completed their 25k hike over two days. This was a unique experience whereby we walked, danced and had fun on the water bodyboarding and pier-jumping. This developed student’s resilience and challenged them physically and mentally. 

The TY class get to participate in regular PE activities also throughout the year such as soccer, basketball, gymnastics, rounders, volleyball, athletics, tug of war etc. For volleyball this year we used the sport education model and it worked well. Students had many different roles within the five weeks- coaches, managers, equipment manager, referees, stats. person etc.  

Fitness Testing 2023/24 

Every year all students in the school engage in a module on Health-related activities- which is becoming more and more important now more than ever. As part of this, students engage in a range of fitness testing across all areas of fitness including cardiovascular endurance, muscular endurance, strength, flexibility and body composition.  

As a reward for all the hard work students put in- both in learning how to conduct the test as well as actually testing their own fitness and trying their best- the P.E. department record and collate all the data to produce an overall leader board of all fitness testing, showing class averages, year averages, some male/female top performers and national averages to allow students to gain an understanding of their own fitness and consequently how to care for your own health.  

Some of the tests included hand grip strength tests, back strength tests, bleep tests, agility runs, and flexibility exercises among others. O’ Carolan College, as a whole is a very active school and it is fantastic to see such a high percentage of students taking ownership of their own fitness levels. 

Beat the Bleep 2023/24 

Each class in the school participated in a Bleep Test, during PE classes which tests cardiovascular endurance. Huge efforts were made by most people in each class and an average of each class’s results were taken and graphs were made plotting their progress. The overall winners were Oisin Reilly, Cathal Walsh and Sarah Duff. Well done to all of them!