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. Hurling 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 County 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 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 Gaelic Football 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, Rounders 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.