We continued on with our annual 'Take on the Teachers' challenge in school today. With the forecast giving for cool but dry conditions Miss Falls along with the Student Council put the wheels in motion to get it sorted.
Our first challengers were the P1's who challenged us to Farmers and Lumberjacks. This event is a favourite of P1 children and after today, it was clear to see why. We set a timer for 1 minute and the aim of the 13 children was to turn the cones to plant trees and the teachers had to fell the trees. After the minute the whistle sounded, and two volunteers counted the cones. The teachers managed 31 and thought they had it in the bag. They had tactics of halving the workforce into the two halves of the pitch, the school's Eco-Coordinator, Mrs Hegarty, turning to chopping trees rather than planting them, only gave half her effort and the P1's ran in 43 trees to take the win.
Children 1 - 0 Teachers
Challenge two was set by the P2's and this was star jumps. The timer was set to 30 seconds and the aim was to try and do as many as possible. Last year the Teachers set 60 seconds and thought they would tire the pupils out, but it was in fact the opposite. More tactics this year. The target set was 43 by Grace with several classmates also around 40. The teachers were already resigned to being 2-0 down, but they had to try. After 30 seconds for the teachers the scores were counted and it turned out that Mr Rouse had 51, with a heartrate of 150BPM to match. A point on the board!
Children 1 - 1 Teachers
Challenge three was from the P3's and this was a capture the flag game. The aim was simple, put your flag at the back of your clothes and chase down the opposition to catch theirs. Being vastly outnumbered the staff didn't think this would favour them. However, someone forgot to pass this memo on to Miss Falls and Miss Dillon. Like a pair of Gazelles they danced and hopped around the opposition capturing flags at will. With the rest of the teachers dispatched in seconds, Miss Falls and Miss Dillon took it upon themselves to zip around merciliessly until it was two on one. Peter in P3 fought valiantly, like a whippet he moved, until eventually being caught by Miss Dillon. Elation for the staff again!
Children 1 - 2 Teachers
Challenge four was from the P4's and this was a bean bag toss. The aim was simple, the closer to the bullseye, the greater the score. P4 went first, each pupil getting two throws, and had a very respectable score of 40 from 22 shots between them. The teachers stood up next and with only 6 members of staff they were to have 3 throws each to give them 18 throws, a clear advantage to the pupils. It only took 4 members of staff to equal the total and in quite emphatic style. The feathers had well and truly been ruffled and the teachers were down to business. Was an unlikely win finally on the cards for them?
Children 1 - 3 Teachers
Challenge 5 now and the pupils were actually under severe pressure. The gauntlet for P5 was dodgeball. The children were doing well and able to get off to a flier, helped by the depletion of staff numbers due Miss Falls taking a phonecall right before the match, such was her confidence. 5 brave souls took to the field for the staff, but they were knocked off their perches quite quickly. Only the brave and heroic Mrs Maguire was left to try and field for the teachers, but as she stood arguing over the validity of one hit to the leg another came her way and caught her fair for all to see. A welcome point for the children.
Children 2 - 3 Teachers
Challenge 6, the penultimate challenge, and it was the turn of the P6 class. This saw the introduction of a new game, the Rock, Paper, Scissors skip. Having 7 pupils in P6 should have seen the teachers feeling more than confident, and they were right. The P6 class knew the game well, very well, but so did Mr Rouse. After a quick recap of the rules for the spectators, he set to work. Hopping along he dispatched James, then Sarah, next Róise and finally Cathal. He'd made it across and won the game on his own. Boos rang out as children didn't even get their turn. The teachers taught a lesson in fair play when declaring they would have another game so everyone could play. The pupils won, shouts of "Best of three!" echoed around, and again the teachers agreed. Wrongly. The pupils won this and left it tied...
Children 3 - 3 Teachers
The final challenge. The make-or-break. The winners would be.... This final challenge saw only 9 P7's face off in a game of 'Shoot the Hoop'. There had been such elation from the crowd with the current points won by P5 and 6. The teachers watched on as P7 only managed 2 hoops in one minute, they thought their moment had come and stepped up nervously to get going, albeit from a metre further away. The helpers behind the net had conspired to return the ball slowly to the shooters to lessen their chances, but Fiachra had just arrived and made sure of fair play. After 30 seconds the staff hit 3 baskets, but Mr Rouse shouted to play on. He witnessed a foul shot from Miss Falls which went in, but to avoid chants of "Cheater!" he told the staff to keep throwing. After a minute, they scored four, disallowed the first hoop for a foot fault, but still emerged victorius.
The final result...
A WIN FOR THE TEACHERS!
CHILDREN 3 - 4 TEACHERS
A special word of thanks must again go out to Annie, our independent adjudicator on the day who was exceptional at keeping the scores.
Until next year!
