Chess
in Holy Family N.S.
.JPG)
Year
1: September 2022- June 2023
·
Introduced chess to 5th and 6th
class.
·
We engaged with Ficheall beginner
lessons on Ficheall website – a fantastic resource and support to schools
·
We registered to participate in a Ficheall
tournament and in February we took two teams of 8 children from 5th
and 6th to Fossa community hall. It was a fantastic experience and
our teams did brilliantly, exceeding all our expectations.
Year
2: September 2023 – June 2024
·
This year we extended chess to 3rd
to 6th classes. The 6th class pupils from this year played
an extremely important role is helping us to mentor and tutor the pupils from 3rd
to 5th.
·
September is the month where Ms
Fitzgerald and Mr Moynihan take time to go through the chess rules with the classes, particularly
the classes who haven’t played chess before.
·
October is the month for mentoring and
pairing classes together.
·
November: We registered and played in
our first Ficheall/Lichess online tournament. This was hugely successful and
the pupils loved playing other children from all over the country. Pupils
played online at home at a certain time with a secured link. After each session
the teams were ranked. Other days the pupils played online in school. We ranked
3rd in the leader tables for our 5th and 6th
pupils, which was an amazing achievement. These online tournaments led to a
celebration of chess on Lá Ficheall where all of our pupils and pupils from
around Ireland celebrated chess.
·
January: Our own in school tournament to
rank our pupils and create our chess teams for tournament.
·
February: we again attended Fossa for a
Ficheall face to face tournament.
·
May: Munster Championships: A pupil from
3rd class came joint 2nd in a Munster Chess competition
in Limerick.
Year
3: September 2024-2025
·
Chess for 3rd to 6th
classes.
·
Again September is the month where Ms
Fitzgerald and Mr Moynihan take time to go through the chess rules with the classes, particularly
the classes who haven’t played chess before i.e. 3rd class.
·
October is the month for mentoring and
pairing classes together.
·
November: We registered and played in
our second Ficheall/Lichess online tournament. Again another hugely successful
tournament for our pupils.
·
January: Our own in school tournament.
·
February: We hosted a Ficheall tournament
for the first time. We had 120 pupils approx from several schools. It was a wonderful
day and our 4 teams were so proud to have the opportunity to host a tournament.
·
March: Our 5th and 6th
teams were invited to another tournament in Tralee.
·
May: We entered our first ever Ficheall podcast
competition. Whilst we didn’t win the outdoor chess tables we were so proud of
our podcast team talking all things chess. Their podcast can be listened back to
on our blog. We decided to invest in the outdoor chess tables and we currently
have four, which are used on every break.
Year
4: September 2025-to date
·
Chess for 3rd to 6th
classes.
·
Again September is the month where Ms
Fitzgerald and Mr Moynihan take time to go through the chess rules with the classes, particularly
the classes who haven’t played chess before i.e. 3rd class.
·
October is the month for mentoring and
pairing classes together.
Yearly
Schedule
|
Month |
Events |
|
September |
·
Teach the chess rules to 3rd class- 50
minutes per week x 4 weeks ·
Register for Ficheall Tournament |
|
October |
·
Pair up classes: 6th & 4th,
5th & 3rd. Pupils from 5th and 6th
mentor/tutor the pupils from 3rd and 4th. ·
Register for Ficheall/Lichess Online November Tournaments.
·
Set up two teams, Google docs & send information
home on how to register for online tournaments and Lá Ficheall. ·
Begin Chess Club |
|
November |
·
Engage in online chess tournaments at school and
at home. Tournaments run by Ficheall. ·
Celebrate Lá Ficheall by playing chess on the day. |
|
December |
·
Set up online chess games that our own pupils can
play over the Christmas holidays and share links to access on blog. |
|
January |
· Hold our own
in school chess tournament to select players for two Master Teams and two Bud
Teams. |
|
February |
·
Host/attend a Ficheall Tournament |
|
March |
·
Possible invitation to attend another Ficheall tournament
|
|
May |
·
Enter Ficheall Podcast competition/other
competition. |