Welcome to the Road to Paris, Olympic Schools Challenge!
TUESDAY, MARCH 5TH: This year all eyes will be on Paris for the 2024 Olympic Games, an extra special event for Team Ireland, who celebrate 100 years of Olympic competition this summer. The Olympic Federation of Ireland, together with PTSB, invites schools around Ireland to join the team on their ‘Road to Paris’ through the Dare to Believe programme.
Rolling out from 15 April to 10 May, the Dare to Believe ‘Road to Paris’ is a free 4-week challenge which encourages schools to get more active, whilst learning fun and engaging facts about the Olympics, French culture, and Team Ireland.
Over the four weeks schools log their activities which in turn convert to distances on a map that brings them around Ireland and across the sea to Paris. The journey includes five stops where videos and classroom challenges are unlocked, revealing messages and insights from some of Ireland’s top athletes like Olympic Champion boxer Kellie Harrington, Olympic medallist in rowing Aifric Keogh, and World Champion gymnast Rhys McClenaghan and World finalist, Olympian Sarah Lavin.
Join us on an interactive journey all around Ireland then across the water to Paris, while learning about Team Ireland, Olympic sports, and incredible facts about the French culture!
What teachers get, all for FREE:
✅ Online Activity Tracker platform that converts the exercise your students do into a distance on the journey to Paris.
✅ Inspirational & Educational Videos from 5 of Ireland’s top athletes
- Olympic Champion boxer Kellie Harrington, Dublin
- Olympian & 2x World Champion gymnast Rhys McClenaghan, Belfast
- Olympic bronze medallist rower Aifric Keogh, Galway
- Olympian & Irish record holder hurdler Sarah Lavin, Limerick
- Olympian & Irish Rugby 7’s captain Harry McNulty, Paris.
✅ Olympic Themed Classroom Activities at each stop designed for teachers by teachers. In addition each stop has it’s own colouring pages, quizzes and more.
✅ School Leaderboard will keep track of how each class is progressing on the journey to Paris & create some fun competition between classes.
✅ BONUS EXCLUSIVE! Road to Paris Olympic School Challenge Map Poster– The first 2000 teachers that sign up will get a A1 challenge map poster sent to their school. These maps have been beautifully illustrated by award winning Irish artist Fatti Burke .
Annie Colquhoun, Teacher at Christchurch National School Waterford, stated,
“ This is an invaluable resource for any teacher. The website is extremely easy to navigate and each stop is bursting with exciting free lesson plans, fun competitions and engaging ready to go resources. Being able to bring the Olympics into the classroom in such a fun and interactive way will enrich the learning in any classroom and act as a huge inspiration to the children taking part. The current, up to date interviews with Ireland’s elite athletes are engaging and they allow schools to share in the excitement in the build up to the Olympics in July. The activities promote cross-curricular learning and are adaptable for any age group. They are all free and ready to download at the click of a button.
Taking part as a whole school will promote physical activity across the school as everyone will be excited to log their exercise as the move from stop to stop. It will allow children to set goals for themselves and show them that they too can follow their own dreams.”
Simply head to https://olympicschoolschallenge.daretobelieve.ie/ to register your school, assemble your team, and join us on a memorable trip to the Paris Olympics with Team Ireland.
