Sport
Sport is very important in our school. We take part in lots of competitions and blitzes every year. We also learn the basic skills of other sports.
Each year in our school every child from Junior Infants to Sixth class participates in a wide variety of sports and physical activity, for example....
Football:
Our Infants have great fun becoming more physically literate and seeing how their gross and fine motor skills become more developed with each passing week. The older boys and girls get coached by GAA coaches at different times during the year which complements the great work being done at Under-age by our club, Caulry. Ambrose Mc Gowan kindly trains the boys and girls team two evenings a week after school. He is helped by Ms Rooney, Ms Cahalin and Ms Curran.
So whether you are in Junior Infants or in Sixth our school gives everyone a chance to experience football!
Rugby: In September, our 4th class pupils participated in a Tag Rugby Blitz in Athlone. 3rd & 4th classes completed a block of Tag Rugby training with Charlie Cooper from the Buccaneers Club before Hallowe'en. .Every child from 1st class to 6th get the chance to play some form of rugby. Coaches come in from our local rugby clubs and teach the boys and girls the basics of non-contact/tag rugby. The older children (with parental consent) get to learn and experience contact rugby which they really enjoy. Both boys and girls have taken part in many tag-rugby blitzes over the years.
Basketball: Our basketball coach is Ciarán Kiveney, who is a highly qualified and very experienced coach in Athlone. Ciarán coaches basketball for 2 terms every year with all classes. Although we don't take part in competitions the children leave the school with the the experience of top quality coaching which is hugely beneficial for them in Secondary school.
Swimming: Every class group from 2nd to 6th attend swimming classes in Athlone RSC for between 6-8 weeks per year. It is a life skill and it is great fun!
Soccer: For the past 3 years we have taken part in the FAI- organised 5-a-side soccer inter - schools tournament which starts out at local level in Athlone then progresses to County level in Mullingar. The winners in Mullingar progress to a North Leinster tournament in Meath before having a tilt at a Leinster and All-Ireland title. Our boys and girls teams continue to take part successfully and have reached stages 2 & 3 on a regular basis.
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Teachers takes children from all classes for brain gym and/or yoga during the school day. Children from 4th, 5th and 6th have been running up to 10 laps of our playground every day after break and since 2014 we have competed very successfully in the Westmeath Cross Country Schools' Championships. Boys and girls from 1st class to 6th represent our school in this event held in the grounds of Belvedere House Mullingar every September.
Since the London Olympics we have organised an Inter-school athletics meet in the AIT. 7 local schools Ardnagrath NS , Ballybay NS , Baylin NS , Coosan NS , Cornamaddy NS , Scoil na gCeithre Máistrí , Tubberclaire NS and ourselves take part in races ranging from 100m to 800m for boys and girls from 4th, 5th and 6th. The event starts with a pre-race parade of all the competing schools and each child's (competitor's) name and their school is announced on the PA before each race which really adds to the atmosphere.
In 2015 the Taoiseach Enda Keeny opened the Greenway near our school.
This is a cycle track that runs between Mullingar and Athlone and it happens to pass through Moate which is only about 5km from our school .The 6th class pupils along with their teacher and principal and some parents have gone for a 25km cycle twice a year since it opened. They either go east towards Mullingar or west towards Athlone and always have the now traditional ice-cream at journey's end! This has become one of the many highlights of our 6th class' final year with us.