Our school office closed on Friday 1st July and will reopen on August 29th
If you need to contact the principal: Séamus Grundy, you should email him at : seamusgrundy@stmichaelsns.com
Séamus Grundy, our principal, checks the email once or twice a week and will get back to you.
You can see our calendar for next year here.
If you need to contact the principal: Séamus Grundy, you should email him at : seamusgrundy@stmichaelsns.com
Séamus Grundy, our principal, checks the email once or twice a week and will get back to you.
You can see our calendar for next year here.
Stationery Requirements for both classes are below:
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For copies of our most recent newsletters click here.
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Our Wildflower Meadow.
Many many months ago we planted a wildflower meadow on the area around our new WasteWater Treatment unit. We hoped it would be a success but didn't believe it would be as great as it is. Thank you to all the pupils who stamped around the clay for 30 minutes wondering if they were being pranked. |
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Juggling Workshop We had a wonderful time with 'Johnny the Juggler' and Joanne the artist. Thank you to the Community Centre for the use of the hall. |
Ardaghey Fun Day- June 26th
We will get our summer holidays on Friday 24th of June, just in time for the
Ardaghey Fun Day.
Keep Free – Sunday 26th June at 12 noon at Ardaghey Community Centre.
Ardaghey Fun Day is a mixture of Sports Day Activities and Team Work challenges for all to enjoy such as Blindfolded Pick and Place where the team guide one of their own around an obstacle course blindfolded.
Perhaps a game of Tug O War or Tyre Drag or Ski run.
It is all here at Ardaghey Fun Day for both Children and Adults.
In addition there will be a mini-event for children aged 6 – 12 years.
Registration for events close soon and your team games and information will follow thereafter.
Register now by contacting 087 6445255
We will get our summer holidays on Friday 24th of June, just in time for the
Ardaghey Fun Day.
Keep Free – Sunday 26th June at 12 noon at Ardaghey Community Centre.
Ardaghey Fun Day is a mixture of Sports Day Activities and Team Work challenges for all to enjoy such as Blindfolded Pick and Place where the team guide one of their own around an obstacle course blindfolded.
Perhaps a game of Tug O War or Tyre Drag or Ski run.
It is all here at Ardaghey Fun Day for both Children and Adults.
In addition there will be a mini-event for children aged 6 – 12 years.
Registration for events close soon and your team games and information will follow thereafter.
Register now by contacting 087 6445255
Music Generation
Here is a link to the video of the children's performance in Ardaghey Hall on Monday 30th May 2022.
Thanks to all the parents and grandparents who came to see the performance.
Here is a link to the video of the children's performance in Ardaghey Hall on Monday 30th May 2022.
Thanks to all the parents and grandparents who came to see the performance.
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Sunday 29th May
Cake Sale and Sponsored Walk Thank you to all the parents, pupils, past-pupils, staff and members of the community who made our day such a success. |
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School Photographs.
HUGE thanks to Stella who came in to take photographs of all the children, and staff, in our school today. The three children who were missing don't have to worry as Stella has very kindly offered to come back some day and take photographs of them and of their classes. We will shortly be emailing the photographs out to families and are hoping that families will make a donation to the PTA in return. |
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County Monaghan Primary School Athletics
A HUGE thanks to all the pupils, 20 in all, who represented our school in the
County Monaghan Primary School Athletics on Thursday 26th May.
Our school hasn't taken part in years and it was a lovely occasion when parents and teachers could
cheer on the children of our school.
We came 4th overall but that really was a bonus and both pupils and parents
enjoyed being in each other's company after a long two year gap.
Every single spectator, runner......... and our team manager deserves huge credit.
On a very cold night it was so lovely to meet up again and reconnect with the community of St. Michael's School.
( Mr. Grundy was so busy chatting he forgot to take photos so thank you to the mums and dads who sent in their photographs)
A HUGE thanks to all the pupils, 20 in all, who represented our school in the
County Monaghan Primary School Athletics on Thursday 26th May.
Our school hasn't taken part in years and it was a lovely occasion when parents and teachers could
cheer on the children of our school.
We came 4th overall but that really was a bonus and both pupils and parents
enjoyed being in each other's company after a long two year gap.
Every single spectator, runner......... and our team manager deserves huge credit.
On a very cold night it was so lovely to meet up again and reconnect with the community of St. Michael's School.
( Mr. Grundy was so busy chatting he forgot to take photos so thank you to the mums and dads who sent in their photographs)
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Junior Achievers Ireland Thank you to Carmel Clerkin from the EPA who came in to the Senior Room on Wednesday 25th May to give the first in her series of 5 science lessons. The pupils had great fun and got to design a brand new type of reusable, recyclable pen. |
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Our Gardening Heroes.
We have converted to totally organic gardening in St. Michael's. This means that we don't use pesticides or chemicals in our garden or yard. This also means a lot of weeding. On Tuesday the 3rd and 4th challenged the 5th class to see who could pick the most weeds by hand. Unbelievably, both teams filled 3 and a half bags of weeds. So it was a draw. ( check the photos if you don't believe us) |
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Money Makes the World Go Round
This week's Maths Stations were focusing on the topic of money. The children were sorting money, counting money and then got to finishtheir lesson by visiting the shops and spending some of the money on fruit and vegetables. And they were very careful that they got the correctchange. Well done to Mrs. Ferguson and her helpers in 5th &6th who go to such trouble to give the younger pupils some great 'hands on' Maths lessons. |
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Maths Stations
Our Junior and Senior Infants did great work at their Maths Stations today. Junior Infants were experimenting with Heavy and Light. Senior Infants were sorting 'hundreds of coins' and then doing some great coin rubbings. Well done to Mrs. Ferguson and her helpers in the Senior Room for setting up all these fun and educational activities. |
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Minecraft Workshop - Creative Schools Week.
The pupils in the Senior Room were delighted to be invited to a Workshop as part of Creative Schools week. Michael and Grace from Dreamspace spoke to the pupils about the meaning of Creativity and then took them on a tour of Imagination Island in Minecraft. Using their imaginations the pupils drew 'self-portraits' and then discussed books they liked and would like to create in the world of Minecraft. They did great activities such as making a weapon for a knight, putting wings on a dragon and creating their own knight and dragon. It was a terrific workshop. The pupils are hoping to do a workshop on Biodiversity soon. |
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Sacraments
Well done to our Sixth Class who made their Sacrament of Confirmation
on Saturday 30th April.
And our Second Class who made their First Communion
on Sunday 1st May.
Thank you to Mr. Grundy, Ms. King, Dympna and Canon McGinn for all their work and preparation.
Thank you to the parents and the children for the lovely gifts Mr. Grundy and Ms. King received.
Pictured on the left are the pupil who volunteered to sing at the mass enjoying a small treat.
Well done to our Sixth Class who made their Sacrament of Confirmation
on Saturday 30th April.
And our Second Class who made their First Communion
on Sunday 1st May.
Thank you to Mr. Grundy, Ms. King, Dympna and Canon McGinn for all their work and preparation.
Thank you to the parents and the children for the lovely gifts Mr. Grundy and Ms. King received.
Pictured on the left are the pupil who volunteered to sing at the mass enjoying a small treat.
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Plastic Free St. Michael's
Thank you to our Sixth Class Pupils who have organised a campaign to remove plastic from our school. They secured funding from Accenture through ChangeX.org and used the money to send a Beeswax Wrap to each pupil in the school to replace tin foil and cling film. Thank you to Fiona from Ireland's Beeswax Wraps, www.irelandbeeswaxwraps.ie , who gave our Sixth Class a very generous discount on their purchase and made it possible for them to get a wrap for every pupil. |
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Our New Colours
Thank you to Bernard McMahon for his terrific painting job over the Easter Holidays. Our newly painted school is getting 'rave reviews' from the parents and grandparents who drop and collect the children each day. One lady who drives by our school each day called up especially to say how well it looked and to tell us that our new colours 'brightened up the road'. |
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A New Pupil?
When Bobby and Tess were helping Mrs. Ferguson on Friday they came across a new pupil for our school. He wasn't wearing the proper uniform but he was still very welcome. All the pupils in the school came out to have a look and say 'Hello'. Regrettably he couldn't stay for long and headed off back to his family. When Mr. Grundy was putting him in a box to re-home her curled up into a ball just the way we've read about in our books. |
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Our beautiful floral display.
Last Autumn the children planted lots of bulbs which a grandparent donated to our school.
These are blooming and look really well.
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Fun with Water
This weeks Maths topic in the Junior Room was capacity. The children thoroughly enjoyed playing (splashing) with water and using all the toys we could find to measure how much a container could hold. Thankfully, Ms. King remembered to cover the tables or we would still be cleaning up!! |
Writer's workshop
Over the past few weeks, our Junior Infant pupils have enjoyed starting to write sentences with all those new tricky words they have been learning for homework. Have a look at their fabulous writing! We are so proud of their hard work. A special thanks to all the parents and family members that are helping them with their homework. |
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Working With Clay (part 1) As part of the pupils' arts programme the Senior Room have been experimenting with clay. |
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Working With Clay (part 2) Following the brilliant work on our school's waste water treatment system we decided to plant a wild flower meadow at the front of the school. We needed to flatten the ground around the system but couldn't get a machine into the site. Well done to our pupils from the Senior Room who donned their wellies and helped to flatten the site. |
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The Easter Story
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Painting in the Junior Room. Painting can be a messy business. Luckily Ms. King has lots of plastic aprons to keep the paint off our uniforms. |
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Il Ristorante
A short while ago Mrs. King's Junior and Senior Infants opened a restaurant as part of their Aistear programme. Today Mrs. Ferguson opened a Ristorante for the Second Class. They had been learning about Italy in their writing class and Mrs. Ferguson brought in some pasta and pesto for the children to sample. Mr. Grundy has offered to open a Dublin Restaurant but none of the pupils like Coddle. Well done to the Mrs. Ferguson and we can't wait to read the Second Class' recount writing about Italy. |
Ardaghey Camino
Well done to our pupils who have undertaken the Ardaghey Camino '60Km in 60 days' challenge. Pictured are just four of the pupils who have completed the challenge and who received their medals in the Community Centre in Ardaghey. Well done to all and Well done to the organisers of this wonderful initiative. |
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'Second Class Sleepover
Some of the Second Class were so tired after their morning's work that they decided to have a 'sleepover' in school. They all had a good sleep and were fully rested and ready for the afternoon's work. |
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Mad About Monaghan We were delighted to welcome Liz McGuinness from Mad About Monaghan to our school today. Liz wanted to hear all about our Ulster Champion success and is going to celebrate our win on the fabulous Mad About Monaghan webpage and social media. Thank you Liz and we can't wait to have you back again. |
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Tables Competition in Senior Room
Congratulations to our 'Texas Stand-Off' tables champion this week who wins the first ever 'Self Trophy'
Cross County Success
Well done to our pupils from the Senior Room who competed in the Monaghan Athletics Cross Country race in Scotstown on Wednesday 23rd.
The boys came 2nd in the 'Small Boys' School's' race
and Ryan Mc Mahon from 4th class came 1st overall.
All our starters finished the course and it was great to see pupils who a few months ago wouldn't attempt to run 500m finish the 1000m course.
Thank you to the parents and grandparent who came to cheer us on.
And special thanks to parent, Annamarie, who has trained the pupils over the past few weeks. Annamarie also arranged medals for the whole class to mark their great achievement in taking part and training so well.
Well done to our pupils from the Senior Room who competed in the Monaghan Athletics Cross Country race in Scotstown on Wednesday 23rd.
The boys came 2nd in the 'Small Boys' School's' race
and Ryan Mc Mahon from 4th class came 1st overall.
All our starters finished the course and it was great to see pupils who a few months ago wouldn't attempt to run 500m finish the 1000m course.
Thank you to the parents and grandparent who came to cheer us on.
And special thanks to parent, Annamarie, who has trained the pupils over the past few weeks. Annamarie also arranged medals for the whole class to mark their great achievement in taking part and training so well.
Ulster Champions
Our 19 Senior Room pupils had a great day in Dreamscape in Microsoft's HQ.
They were taking part in the Semi-Final of 'Ireland's Future is Mine'
The pupils were beaten by a terrific entry from St. Hugh's in Leitrim.
Thank you to Amanda, Corey and Michael for the fantastic welcome they gave us and for looking after us so well in Dreamspace.
On our way home Dympna treated the pupils to an ice cream to cheer them up.
Below are some photos of a day the pupils will never forget.
And when we arrived back at the school the community welcomed us with banners, balloons and Easter Eggs.
It was a BRILLIANT day!!
St. Patrick's Day Poem
Well done to our Junior Room pupils who recited a lovely poem to get us in the mood for Lá Fhéile Phadraig.
You can listen to it here.
Well done to our Junior Room pupils who recited a lovely poem to get us in the mood for Lá Fhéile Phadraig.
You can listen to it here.
Radio Stars
Click here to hear our Sixth Class telling Northern Sound listeners all about our Minecraft project.
Click here to hear our Sixth Class telling Northern Sound listeners all about our Minecraft project.
Marty Mone Congratulates the Ulster Champions
We couldn't believe when we received a video from Marty Mone. He had recorded a very special greeting for the Senior Room to congratulate them on their success and wishing them well in the Semi Finals.
It was a great surprise and he was so good to think about our children.
You can view Marty's video here.
We couldn't believe when we received a video from Marty Mone. He had recorded a very special greeting for the Senior Room to congratulate them on their success and wishing them well in the Semi Finals.
It was a great surprise and he was so good to think about our children.
You can view Marty's video here.
We're ready to Garden.
Woodies very kindly gave us a voucher for €75 and Evie's daddy volunteered to drive to Woodies and get us some gardening equipment. Now we can get busy and get planting.
Woodies very kindly gave us a voucher for €75 and Evie's daddy volunteered to drive to Woodies and get us some gardening equipment. Now we can get busy and get planting.
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Pancake Tuesday The pupils had a treat in school today as the staff brought them in pancakes to enjoy with their lunch. Thank you to the teachers who took on the role as servers and to Dympna who cooked all the pancakes. As you can see in the photos the pupils really enjoyed their treat. ( Although the staff still don't know what to make of the 'nutella and lemon' topping which was so popular) |
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Farm Visit
5th class pupil Zoe kindly invited us to visit her family farm as part of the school's Farm Safety initiative. Zoe and her family had gone to a lot of trouble and the children got to see the cows being milked, calves being fed and also got to see some other cows in their barns. Zoe gave us a great talk on milking and how the milk is filtered and collected before being collected by the milk lorry. We got to have a picnic in a barn and Zoe's family had even arranged for us all to have a pint of milk. She had also packed a bag of goodies for each pupil. All in all it was a great day. Thanks to Zoe, her daddy and mammy, her brother, sister and cousin ( all past pupils of our school) who gave up so much time to look after us as well. |
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Texaco Art Competition
Well done to our Senior Room pupils who took part in this year's competition.
The entries are below.
Well done to our Senior Room pupils who took part in this year's competition.
The entries are below.
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Morning Games
The Junior Room love to start their day off with some fun (yet educational) games. Some children in Junior Infants have even shown great creativity in making up new ways of using Ms King's board games. |
The Weekly Shop
As if opening a restaurant wasn't enough, the Junior Room decided this week to try their hand at becoming shopkeepers.
From butchers to deli and checkout counter workers, we had it all. We used coins, credit cards and even cheques to pay for the food!
We did end up with some interesting shopping lists. Have a look at our shopping trip.
As if opening a restaurant wasn't enough, the Junior Room decided this week to try their hand at becoming shopkeepers.
From butchers to deli and checkout counter workers, we had it all. We used coins, credit cards and even cheques to pay for the food!
We did end up with some interesting shopping lists. Have a look at our shopping trip.
Athletics Training.
One of our parents has volunteered to help our pupils get fitter and is doing Athletics Training
with our Senior Room and 'Keep Fit' with the Junior Room on Thursday afternoons.
We are very grateful to the Aradaghey Development Association for the use of their wonderful facilities.
One of our parents has volunteered to help our pupils get fitter and is doing Athletics Training
with our Senior Room and 'Keep Fit' with the Junior Room on Thursday afternoons.
We are very grateful to the Aradaghey Development Association for the use of their wonderful facilities.
Restaurant in the Junior Room.
The pupils in the Junior Room were delighted to hear that restrictions on hospitality had been lifted and immediately opened a restaurant.
Well done to the maitre d', waiting staff, cooks, dish washers and guests who took part in this exciting Oral Language initiative.
And well done to the owner, manager, landlord, and catering supplier: Ms. King.
The pupils in the Junior Room were delighted to hear that restrictions on hospitality had been lifted and immediately opened a restaurant.
Well done to the maitre d', waiting staff, cooks, dish washers and guests who took part in this exciting Oral Language initiative.
And well done to the owner, manager, landlord, and catering supplier: Ms. King.
Beautiful Art Work from Our Junior Room Artists.
Thanks to one of our parents for the useful information below.
Photos on our website.
In order to keep our website current we regularly delete articles and photographs.
Remember if you would like a copy of any photo of your child that featured on our website simply contact the office.
Plastic Free St. Michael's
Our Fifth and Sixth Classes have undertaken a project to try to reduce plastic in our school.
This initiative is sponsored by Accenture.
We are asking parents to click on the link below and then hit the join button and fill in some details.
If we can create a 'Plastic Free Team' we will be able to access funding to reduce plastic in our school.
Plastic Free link.
Our Fifth and Sixth Classes have undertaken a project to try to reduce plastic in our school.
This initiative is sponsored by Accenture.
We are asking parents to click on the link below and then hit the join button and fill in some details.
If we can create a 'Plastic Free Team' we will be able to access funding to reduce plastic in our school.
Plastic Free link.
Maths Stations
Each Thursday Mrs. Ferguson and Ms. King set up Maths Stations for the Junior and Senior Infant classes.
Congratulations to our pupils from 5th and 6th classes who this week successfully completed some of the activities the Infants were due to complete.
Each Thursday Mrs. Ferguson and Ms. King set up Maths Stations for the Junior and Senior Infant classes.
Congratulations to our pupils from 5th and 6th classes who this week successfully completed some of the activities the Infants were due to complete.
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Maths Stations with Mrs Ferguson Who wouldn't love maths when it's this fun?? The children were learning all about the numbers 3 and 7. |
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I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house down...
This week the Junior Infants read the story of the 'Three Little Pigs', which gave all the pupils in the junior classroom lots to think about. How could I build a house that a wolf couldn't blow down? So we put it to the test in our STEM project for Science Week!! Have a look at the fabulous 'straw', 'stick' and 'brick' houses built by the Junior and Senior Infants. Second Class took on the challenge of building the tallest, free-standing tower made out of 25 pieces of spaghetti. The twist: it had to hold the weight of a marshmallow. We had great fun being 'engineers' for the day 😊 Did someone say spring?
Can you believe that the pupils in St. Michael's are already planning for the spring. Some of our 5th and 6th class pupils brought old clothes to school and spent 45 minutes planting over 100 spring bulbs and then moved on to weeding the front yard. Thank you to Rosemary Coyle who so generously donated the bulbs the children planted. We look forward to seeing the results of your hard work in March or April. |
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First Communion
Congratulations to our pupils who made their First Holy Communion on October 6th
in St. Michael's Church, Ardaghey.
Special thanks to Canon McGinn who went to such trouble to make the ceremony
very meaningful and very intimate.
Mrs. Donnelly and Dympna provided the beautiful music and added so much to the lovely occasion.
Marie Curley had decorated the church so beautifully that it would have been fit for a royal wedding.
This was, once again, a chance for the community of Ardaghey to come together and the community gave
these four children an evening and a memory that they will never forget.
Congratulations to our pupils who made their First Holy Communion on October 6th
in St. Michael's Church, Ardaghey.
Special thanks to Canon McGinn who went to such trouble to make the ceremony
very meaningful and very intimate.
Mrs. Donnelly and Dympna provided the beautiful music and added so much to the lovely occasion.
Marie Curley had decorated the church so beautifully that it would have been fit for a royal wedding.
This was, once again, a chance for the community of Ardaghey to come together and the community gave
these four children an evening and a memory that they will never forget.
Is there a doctor in the house?
Appropriately enough, given the poster at the top of the page, Senior Infants loved playing 'doctors' in school this month.
Just have a look at the receptionists and doctors we have working in our school.
( although thankfully none of the patients look too sick!)
Appropriately enough, given the poster at the top of the page, Senior Infants loved playing 'doctors' in school this month.
Just have a look at the receptionists and doctors we have working in our school.
( although thankfully none of the patients look too sick!)
STEM Project.
For those who don't know STEM stands for Science Technology Engineering and Maths.
Over the past week the pupils in the Senior Room have been engaged with a very exciting STEM project with Ireland's Future Is Mine.
Using the platform Minecraft they will find out about sustainability, design, ecology and maths.
This wonderful project is organised by Microsoft Ireland who generously gave our pupils a Minecraft Education Edition Account free for the duration of the project.
The children will have access to these resources for the rest of the year.
For those who don't know STEM stands for Science Technology Engineering and Maths.
Over the past week the pupils in the Senior Room have been engaged with a very exciting STEM project with Ireland's Future Is Mine.
Using the platform Minecraft they will find out about sustainability, design, ecology and maths.
This wonderful project is organised by Microsoft Ireland who generously gave our pupils a Minecraft Education Edition Account free for the duration of the project.
The children will have access to these resources for the rest of the year.
Junior Room
Below are some photos of our Junior Room pupils who are hard at work.
With all the games in Ms. King's room Maths really is a lot of fun.
The children also love Aistear.
Below are some photos of our Junior Room pupils who are hard at work.
With all the games in Ms. King's room Maths really is a lot of fun.
The children also love Aistear.
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Our Hard Working Senior Room Pupils.
The pupils in the Junior Room need lots of 'hands on' resources and lots of concrete materials. All these resources have to be laminated and cut up to useable sizes. |
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Some of our hard working senior room pupils volunteer their own time before school
to help prepare the resources that Ms. King will use with the younger pupils.
This is just one of the many ways that the pupils in the Senior Room show their kindness and their helpfulness.
to help prepare the resources that Ms. King will use with the younger pupils.
This is just one of the many ways that the pupils in the Senior Room show their kindness and their helpfulness.
Second Class- Hard at Work
Our pupils in Second Class were hard at work today, just like everyday! Keep up the good work boys and girls! |
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The Children in Ms. King's Junior Room never miss a chance to read. Well done!
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Maths Stations
Our Junior Room do their Maths stations once a week with Ms King and Mrs. Ferguson. It is great to see the children having such fun while they learn. |
Air Purifiers
Thanks to our Board of Management and our PTA, our school received air purifiers for each room. Hopefully these will help in our efforts to keep our school safe.
Thanks to our Board of Management and our PTA, our school received air purifiers for each room. Hopefully these will help in our efforts to keep our school safe.
Admissions Policy.
Our school's Admissions Policy and Annual Admissions Notice are available in our School Information above.
( or if you click the highlighted words they will bring you to the documents.
Our school's Admissions Policy and Annual Admissions Notice are available in our School Information above.
( or if you click the highlighted words they will bring you to the documents.
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Return to School Form.
As part of our Covid 19 response all parents must fill out the Return to Educational Facility Parental Declaration Form if their child has been off school for any reason.
A copy of this form is here.
Or if you would prefer a hard copy just ring or email us and we'll get one out to you.
As part of our Covid 19 response all parents must fill out the Return to Educational Facility Parental Declaration Form if their child has been off school for any reason.
A copy of this form is here.
Or if you would prefer a hard copy just ring or email us and we'll get one out to you.
Our Board of Management updated our Health and Safety Policy and our Code of Behaviour in the light of Covid 19 and our school's response. These and other policies are available to read here.
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Batteries
We have been collecting used batteries all year. This week a man came to collect the hundreds of batteries we'd gathered. All the batteries are going to be recycled and the money raised will go to help sick children have holidays in Barrettstown. |
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