Primary mazes

June is the month for school visits in the SE.

First up was St Marys Ballygunner where Brid and Andrew introduced 3 classes of 4th year to the wonders of counting cones and symbol relays. This was followed by a 20 x 20 m maze exercise in the hall, more frequented by one of the top hurling club sides in the country. Given the heavy showers of rain forcast, it was great to be able to run the training exercises as planned.

The second training event was another St Marys, this time in the county town, Dungarvan. This also took place indoors but using a very tight awkward space. The focus was on 3rd to 6th class but there was even room at the end for some 1st class to do the maze without maps. The instructors were Jack and Andrew.

The third training day was the annual Christchurch NS sports day held at Newtown secondnary school grounds. Here we were back to the full size maze outdoors lead by Angela and Andrew with the assistance of pupils from Newtown. Senior infants were even able to use the maps after trying it without maps last year. The different layout of the maze proved a good challenge for pupils all the way up to 6th class who had experienced maze exercises for the past 3 years as well as taking part in full blown orienteering courses at events during the year.

Adaptabillity with the different age groups and progression of level of difficulty are key elements of the maze and warm up exercises.