Oaklands Community College in Edenderry in Co. Offaly has been named the fittest school in Ireland.
The Aviva Health School Fitness Challenge invited all secondary schools throughout the country to join in making physical fitness a national priority, by assessing the fitness levels of 1st and 2nd year school children.
The programme, developed by Professor Niall Moyna in Dublin City University and the Wellness Economic Initiative Alliance, invited all secondary schools throughout the country to join in making physical fitness a national priority, by assessing the fitness levels of 1st and 2ndyear school children over a six week period and advocating for improvements in their overall health.
The challenge showed large improvements in fitness among students after just six weeks of exercise intervention with the winning boy’s school increasing fitness by 60% and the winning girl's school increasing fitness by 133%.
Oaklands Community College completed an average of 89 shuttle runs to be named the Ireland’s Fittest School while Abbey C.B.S, Tipperary, were named as the Most Improved School, completing an average of 51 shuttle runs pre-training and 82 shuttle runs post-training.
Recent studies show that 25% of school-going children have risk factors for heart disease, while 86% spend more than two hours a day, sitting, viewing TV, videos or playing on the computer.
