IONAD TACAÍOCHTA OIDEACHAIS IARTHAR CHORCAÍ AGUS IONAD TACAÍOCHTA OIDEACHAIS CHORCAÍ
Ficheall.ie is the national network of primary teachers promoting chess in their schools for the social and cognitive benefits it has for primary school students. Ficheall teachers use chess as a tool to teach through and an opportunity for their students to develop new skills and values, as well as representing their school at Ficheall tournaments called Féile Fichille (chess festival).
The Ficheall.ie website contains many excellent resources created by fellow primary school teachers such as:
- A series of 10 beginner chess lessons (with optional integration to the SPHE curriculum)
- List of CPD chess courses for teachers (summer, evening and online courses)
- Chess numeracy puzzles
- Ficheall newsletters with chess updates
- Online Teacher Chess Club
Ficheall Summer Course
Ionad Tacaíochta Oideachais Iarthar Chorcaí / West Cork Education Support Centre has hosted the Chess for Social Skills summer course previously with great success. Upon completion of this course teachers can play chess (most attend the course having never played chess before) and can teach the basics of chess to students in their class while also teaching key SPHE curriculum objectives from 1st to 6th class (all of this without worksheets).
Féile Fichille Chess Tournaments
Féile Fichille tournaments are non-competitive chess tournaments organised annually in Term 2. No medals, prizes or trophies are presented. Instead, the day is a celebration of the students learning chess and social skills as well as their teachers’ leadership skills to introduce the initiative in their school. For many students it is their first opportunity to wear their school jersey and represent their school. More details about Féile Fichille Tournaments can be found here (including a checklist to ensure students are ready for the Féile Fichille)
Féile Fichille Timeline
- September: Registrations Open
- October: Registrations Close
- November: Schools informed of tournament date and venue
- January/ February/ March: Féile Fichille tournament will be scheduled in term 2. Registered schools will be allocated one Féile Fichille tournament to attend. Schools are required to be at the venue at 9.30am with the event concluded by 2pm
Contact Us
Ficheall 2024 in West Cork
On March 20th in the BEDA Hall in Ballineen, a final celebration Chess Tournament took place.
116 children gathered from 11 West Cork schools and after many intense games of Chess,
the two participating teams from Scoil na mBuachaillí in Clonakilty emerged on top with the team from Scoil Naomh Eltin in Kinsale taking a close 3rd place.
Well done to all schools who participated on the day as well as the schools who took part in all the previous tournaments during the year.
We hope to see all schools back for the 2024/2025 Ficheall Chess project.
No. of tournaments: 7
No. of schools: 43
No. of students: 896
