Digital Transformation of Young Leaders Playground Programme for Irish Primary Schools

Kilkenny Recreation and Sports Partnership (KRSP) was established in 2004 following a successful bid to Sport Ireland. The key aims of the Local Sports Partnership is to increase participation in sport through coordination, ensuring that local resources are used to best effect. The KRSP vision for Kilkenny is an active vibrant community, vitalised by sports and recreation opportunities that are accessible to all.

KRSP aims to work collaboratively with others to empower people and communities across Kilkenny to create an environment that supports lifelong participation in sports and active recreation for all.

Full details can be found on our website www.krsp.ie BAINISTEOIR BEAG – BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT The Bainisteoir Beag (Young Leader) playground leader’s programme was developed by Kilkenny Recreation and Sports Partnership (KRSP) to support leadership, inclusion, and physical literacy among primary school pupils.

The programme empowers pupils in fifth and sixth class (aged 10–13) to plan and deliver teacher-supervised inclusive activities for younger children (2ND and 3RD class) during playground and class sessions. The current iteration of the programme consists of a folder containing activity cards.

To scale up the programme across Ireland it will be necessary to convert as many of these activities (in line with budget) to digital / animated platform (app or website).

The Bainisteoir Beag programme includes: • 40 playground activities and games • 29 indoor exercises (for wet days, warm-ups, or energisers) • Colourful, child-friendly characters and activity cards with clear instructions • Guidance and leadership materials for pupils and teachers Each activity card includes: • An illustration of how the game looks • Required equipment • Key teaching points and safety considerations • Adaptation tips to make activities easier or harder • Interesting facts for some of the games The programme was successfully piloted in Kilkenny-area schools, with positive feedback from teachers and pupils.

Following this, KRSP tendered for the development of one activity in a digital/animated format. This was then piloted to schools. KRSP monitored the delivery in one school. Extremely positive feedback was received from teachers and pupils. As a result, KRSP now intends to fully digitise and animate the programme by developing an accessible and engaging app or website to host the programme on.

THE PROJECT OBJECTIVES KRSP wishes to select, procure and implement Bainisteoir Beag, a support programme that encourages pupil led inclusive activities in the Primary School playground. The aim of the programme is to enable pupils in fifth and sixth class (10 to 13 years old) to deliver teacher supervised inclusive activities to the pupils in younger classes.

• Based on costs we aim to transfer as many of the 40 activities / games and 29 indoor exercises (for rainy days) from a folder / card-based system to an animated digital system. • The programme will be housed on an app / website which should make the programme easy to disseminate to Primary School throughout Ireland.

• We aim to make this digital version of Bainisteoir Beag user friendly and ready for teachers to use in the classroom – without any need for KRSP to provide trained tutors to deliver the programme. • The app / website will enable teachers in Ireland to register, log in and deliver the programme in their own classroom in either English or Irish.

• The technology, images and feel of the programme should be like what children are experiencing in other areas of their digital lives. The system must be designed to deliver an engaging, reliable and GDPR-compliant experience across all devices and networks. Primary users: Teachers in Primary Schools in Ireland in English or Irish; Pupil leaders aged 10-13.