The Irish Heart Foundation is proud to support Active Schools Week 2021 (#ASW21)  which runs all this week from Monday 26th of April to Friday 30th  April.

The Irish Heart Foundation has developed an innovative interactive on line programme  called ‘Bizzy Breaks’, especially for Active Schools Week this year.

Bizzy Breaks is  a collection of activities for primary school pupils designed to help schools integrate physical activity breaks into the school day  and keep kids moving during Active Schools Week 2021 (#ASW21).

All Bizzy Breaks activities are adapted to ensure compliance with the COVID-19 Response Plan for the safe and sustainable reopening of Primary and Special Schools, require minimal space or equipment, and many can be done outdoors.

Bizzy Breaks can be easily incorporated as movement breaks in the classroom and include a range of fun active challenges from animal moves to alphabet action and dancing dice. The programme comes with interactive Bizzy Break visuals including spinning wheels, dice, alphabet boards.  They are sure to add fun to your classroom movement breaks throughout Active School Week and beyond.

Research shows that physically active children find it easier to concentrate and focus and enjoy school more.

As a part of Active School Week, classes are asked to come up with different challenges to do each day. You can find a selection of simple challenge ideas here using balloons and beanbags, as well as a number of activities that don’t need any equipment.

For #ASW21 the Active Every Day Challenge has been developed to encourage both school communities and families to work together to help more children and young people gain more active minutes every day. The challenge for schools is to find three different ways to energise the school day. Teachers are also encouraged to find ways to teach subjects in a more physically active way and, where possible, to bring learning outdoors

As part of #ASW21 schools are asked to replace written homework with Daily Physical Activity Challenges. These challenges could be set by members of staff, sports organisations and/or by local or national role models. Ireland Active continues its support for #ASW by encouraging students to #TakeOnTheTeachers, one of the most popular activities of many #ASW programmes

Parents/guardians are asked to help young people to continue to find ways of being physically active after school. A wide range of Keep Well resources is available to help families get active together. School staff members are also encouraged to build physical activity into their day once school ends.

#ASW21 is part of the Active School Flag (ASF) initiative of the Department of Education, supported by Healthy Ireland and administered through Mayo Education Centre. The aim of the programme is to get ‘More Schools. More Active. More Often’. ASF is awarded to schools that strive to achieve a physically educated and physically active school community.

For more information on fun ways to get active during Active Schools Week with The Irish Heart Foundation’s Bizzy Breaks see here.

All of the #ASW21 resources, ideas and supports are accessible here.