Cumann Pheadair Naofa

St. Peter’s GAA Club, Warrenpoint

CUMANN PHEADAIR NAOFA C.L.G. OIFIGEACH IDIRCHAIDRIMH SCOILE

(SCHOOL LIAISON OFFICER)

REPORT TO CLUB AGM - 13 OCTOBER 2015

4 October 2015

1. INTRODUCTION Cumann Pheadair Naofa Club School Links continued to develop throughout the academic year 2014/2015 .The main focus of the Cumann Pheadair Naofa Club School Link was with the well-established partnership between Cumann Pheadair Naofa and St. Dallan’s Primary School. Principal Una Farrell and GAA Co-ordinator Brendan Rice are very committed to the partnership and the development of a strong Club School Link.

In addition contact was maintained throughout the academic year with Dromore Road School with coaching opportunities offered and students who attend Dromore Road participating in the Cumann Pheadair Naofa annual Kellogg’s Cul Camp. coaching took place in Carrick Primary School to support the work of Cumann Pheadair Naofa Hurling section in their commitment to underage hurling in Cumann Pheadair Naofa. The report outlines the key activities and successes of the Club/School Link during the past academic year.

2. IRISH NEWS – GAA PRIMARY SCHOOL OF THE YEAR. The past academic year was particularly successful year for St. Dallan’s / Cumann Pheadair Naofa in the development and progression of the Club School Link. This was evidenced by the fact that St. Dallan’s were the recipient of the prestigious Irish News Ulster GAA School’s Award for their contribution to Gaelic Games on Friday 8 May 2015. In acknowledgment of St. Dallan’s as the winners, the Irish News citation stated the outstanding quality of the inclusive and holistic approach to delivering GAA activities in the school incorporating all five GAA codes and the significant partnership the school enjoys with its local GAA club, Cumann Pheadair Naofa and the promotion of Gaelic Games, Health & Wellbeing and community activities

In addition to a Certificate and School Signage St. Dallan’s received a £500 cheque and a £500 gift voucher for O’Neill’s Sportswear. St. Dallan’s Primary School carries the Irish News recognition logo on the school stationary.

3. DOWN GAA CLUBS SCHOOL DRAW St. Dallan’s Primary School performed extremely well in the Down GAA Schools’ Draw in 2014 when they exceeded their target in selling raffle tickets. The money from this raffle was used by the Down GAA Board to pay for the Down GAA Coaches who visited St. Dallan’s throughout the academic year. Well done to St. Dallan’s on raising the profile of Gaelic Games with their pupils and thus securing the services of Down GAA Coaches for the academic year.

4. IRISH NEWS COACHING DAY St. Dallan’s Primary School were the winners of an Irish News Coaching Day as a result of the tremendous effort by the school, parish and club in collecting the Irish News tokens to secure the largest amount of tokens. Primary 6 and Primary 7 boys and girls enjoyed an Irish News Coaching Day in June.

5. COACHING Cumann Pheadair Naofa continued to assist St. Dallan’s with their coaching needs in after school programmes. Excellent progress has been made during this academic year.

5.1 Hurling Hurling coaching took place throughout the academic year from October through to June. This was co-ordinated by Declan Doyle and assisted by three coaches from Cumann Pheadair Naofa namely Chris Rooney, Conan O’Neill and Conor Keenan. In the first term P4 and P5 had access to Hurling while from January to March P6 and P7 participated in the Hurling Programme. From March through to May P4 and P5 were the recipients of the Hurling Programme. In third term the focus was on P6 and P7 pupils in preparation for Cumann na mBunscol competitions. The numbers attending were disappointing and following a meeting with Club/School Liaison Officer Anne McCormack, Declan Doyle, Principal Una Farrell, Vice Principal Kirsti McDonald and GAA Coordinator Brendan Rice on Wednesday 10 June, it was agreed to implement an alternative week hurling/football programme from 2015 to increase numbers participating in Gaelic Games.

As Cumann Pheadair Naofa offers hurling to members from other clubs notably Burren, Declan Doyle and Damien McConville co-ordinated an after school Hurling Programme in Carrick for 6 weeks, in term 2 overlapping into term 3. The culmination of the after school Hurling coaching was an inter school Hurling Blitz which was hosted by Cumann Pheadair Naofa at St. Mark’s on Friday 5 June with participants from St. Dallan’s and Carrick Primary School.

In addition St. Dallan’s availed of the coaching provided by Ulster GAA Hurling Development Coach Ryan Gaffney who provided a 6 week coaching programme for P6 and P7 boys at St. Dallan’s in April and in May 2015. To further develop the hurling coaching programmes offered by Ulster GAA Council, it is intention of Cumann Pheadair Naofa Hurling Section to invite Ryan Gaffney to complete a 6 week Hurling Coaching Programme in Dromore Road School in 2016.

5.2 Camogie was offered in St. Dallan’s in third term and this was delivered by Katrina Fegan, Rebecca Fegan and Roisin O’Hare who were assisted by the Cumann Pheadair Naofa Hurling coaches.

5.3 Football Brendan Rice continued to take Football in St. Dallan’s and on behalf of Cumann Pheadair Naofa congratulations were extended to St. Dallan’s Team on winning the Down Schools’ GAA Canon Esler Shield.

A specially designed six week GAA Football Coaching Programme was delivered to P2 and P3 children by Cumann Pheadair Naofa Football Chairman Liam Howlett, Darren Rice and Conrad Madden. The purpose of the Coaching Programme was to encourage younger boys to become involved in Gaelic Games in School and at Club level. The benefit to the club from this programme was the large increase in U-6 and U-8 boys joining Cumann Pheadair Naofa for the 2015 football season.

5.4 Ladies Gaelic Football Ladies Gaelic Football Coaching continued to be delivered in St. Dallan’s by Helena Johnston and Catherine Rafferty. This has been a highly successful programme with school coaches and club working in partnership to promote Ladies Gaelic Football through ongoing communication. St. Dallan’s pupils entered the Cumann na mBunscol Ladies Gaelic Football competitions.

Thanks was expressed to Helena Johnston for her very valuable assistance to Cumann Pheadair Naofa U-12 team and their manager Paula Howlett. Appreciation was also expressed to Noreen Kelly for her enthusiasm in encouraging pupils to join Cumann Pheadair Naofa ladies football U-12 coaching sessions.

5.5 Handball GAA Co-ordinator Brendan Rice undertook a project on the promotion of Handball in St. Dallan’s. Cumann Pheadair Naofa sponsored the registration of St. Dallan’s with the National GAA Handball Association and in return, the school received handball equipment. The pupils continue to use the Handball wall at break time and lunch time. Whilst the handball wall has been a good addition to St. Dallan’s playground, a structure is required to prevent the loss of handballs behind the wall.

6 ST. DALLAN’S WINS ULSTER GAA COUNCIL LIVE TO PLAY COMPETITION St. Dallan’s enjoyed success in the Ulster GAA Council Live to Play Oscars competition with a video promoting road safety which was prepared by Noreen Kelly’s Primary 6 class. The Primary 6 class enjoyed a great day out to the Tyrone GAA Centre of Excellence for the Live to Play Oscars event on 12 March. Cumann Pheadair Naofa were delighted and privileged to have been invited to attend the event and were represented by Anne McCormack at the event.

7. ANNUAL GAA HEALTH AND WELLBEING DAY The Annual GAA Health and Wellbeing Day took place on Friday 27 March 2015. The theme of the GAA Health & Wellbeing Day focused on Road Safety / Live to Play Campaign and the promotion of healthy lifestyles. During the day the pupils had an opportunity to view all the schools’ winning entries in the GAA Oscars Live to Play campaign. Fionntan O’Dowd Ulster GAA Council delivered very informative road safety messages to the P7 pupils. Cumann Pheadair Naofa’s Ross McGarry addressed the pupils on the benefits of leading a healthy lifestyle and enjoying sport. Coaching was a major focus of the GAA Day with pupils receiving coaching in Football, Camogie, Hurling, Handball, and Ladies Gaelic Football. Thanks to Down Games Development Officer Conor O’Toole and Cumann Pheadair Naofa football Chairman Liam Howlett for coordinating the coaching.

8. COMMUNICATION Communication has been central to the development of the Cumann Pheadair Naofa / St. Dallan’s Club School Link. In this regard Cumann Pheadair Naofa wish to acknowledge the excellent support from St. Dallan’s Primary School and in particular Noreen Kelly who is responsible for communications in St. Dallan’s. The following areas continue to be developed. They are as follows:

 St. Dallan’s website linked to Club website.  Club recently launched a new website and a link to St. Dallan’s website is already on the new website.  St. Dallan’s Primary School and Cumann Pheadair Naofa Fact Sheet is distributed to all P1 pupils at St. Dallan’s Induction Day in May 2015.  St. Dallan’s and Cumann Pheadair Naofa share good news stories through promotion on both school and club website. There is excellent co-operation between St. Dallan’s and Cumann Pheadair Naofa in acknowledging success of pupils in Gaelic Games.  Cumann Pheadair Naofa frequently carry stories in club notes in relation to successes in St. Dallan’s Primary School.  At the request of Cumann Pheadair Naofa, St.Dallan’s staff frequently distribute notes to the pupils on club activities.  St. Dallan’s/Cumann Pheadair Naofa GAA Noticeboard is frequently updated.

9. KELLOGGS CUL CAMP Kelloggs Cúl Camp is actively promoted in St. Dallan’s. The majority of participants at the club’s Cúl Camp were from St. Dallan’s Primary School and Cumann Pheadair Naofa expressed their appreciation to St. Dallan’s for actively promoting the Kelloggs Cúl Camp. In total, 110 participants took part in the Cúl Camp which took place from 10-14 August 2015.

10. CLUB’S PARTICIPATION IN ST. DALLAN’S EVENTS Cumann Pheadair Naofa were privileged to have been invited to a number of significant events during the St. Dallan’s academic year and the club was represented on those occasions by the Club / School Liaison Officer Anne McCormack. The Club were invited to attend the launch of the C2K Newsdesk which was launched by the Minister for Education, John O’Dowd on 21 January 2015. The club was also represented at the Famine Commemoration event which was a live video conference broadcast from St. Dallan’s Primary School with special guest children’s author Marita Conlon- McKenna and live video link to former United States Ambassador to Ireland Mr Dan Rooney on Thursday 24 September. The end of year P7 school production, Grease was also a very pleasant and enjoyable occasion.

11. PREPARATIONS FOR ACADEMIC YEAR 2015/2016 A draft Coaching Programme for the academic year has been drawn up with GAA Co-ordinator Brendan Rice. An innovative Hurling / Football coaching programme has been developed for P4 and P5 boys in term 1 and this programme has already commenced. It is being delivered by Chris Rooney and Conor Keenan. Darren Rice and Ross McGarry are delivering the Football aspect of the project.

The club and school believe that this is an ideal opportunity to give all boys an opportunity to participate in both sports. It was agreed that it was particularly relevant in St. Dallan’s as there are quite a number of players who are dual players in Cumann Pheadair Naofa. To date 36 boys are participating in the Programme.

12. ADMINISTRATION OF THE CLUB / SCHOOL LINK WITH ST. DALLAN’S Principal Una Farrell has put in place an arrangement whereby Cumann Pheadair Naofa Club /School Liaison Officer will meet with GAA Co- ordinator Brendan Rice on a monthly basis to ascertain how the partnership is progressing and to look at ways of enhancing the Cumann Pheadair Naofa / St. Dallan’s Club School Link. Copies of the minutes of these meetings are available on request.

13. CONCLUSION Good progress continues to be made in Club / School links. I would like to thank the Club Senior Management Committee and the various sub sections within the Club for their support in my role as Club / School Liaison Officer. In particular the Hurling and Football sections for their input to after school coaching. Thanks to Miss Catherine Rafferty and Miss Helena Johnston for their significant input into Ladies Gaelic Football. I would also like to record special thanks to Principal Una Farrell, GAA Co-ordinator Brendan Rice and St. Dallan’s Communication Coordinator Noreen Kelly for their support and professionalism in delivering GAA activities in St. Dallan’s Primary School.

Anne McCormack (Club / School Liaison Officer) 1 October 2015