Our school website is regularly updated by the school staff.
If you see a photo of your child you would like; please email us and we'll email the photo back to you.
Our school calendar is available HERE.
If you see a photo of your child you would like; please email us and we'll email the photo back to you.
Our school calendar is available HERE.
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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World International Rubbish-y Car Challenge
Today the Senior Room attempted to build cars. This was part of their STEAM ( Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Maths) work. The challenge was to use the kit ( kindly provided by Monaghan Libraries) to build a car that could travel. The lesson was going well and then the element of competition crept in and a challenge was issued. The naming of the challenge took some time and some imagination. The competition was now on to see whose car would travel the furthest. In the end there was a clear winner, who is pictured with his specially commissioned trophies. The school phone is ringing constantly with calls from Formula One teams offering positions to our engineers. |
Tá an t-Earrach ag teacht - Spring is Coming! |
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Our School Debating Team Well done to our school debating team who beat Corcreagh National School on Friday 19th January. The team worked really well together and the adjudicator and the other school commented on the quality of our team's rebuttals. The result was all the more impressive because one of the speakers had to step in at the last minute and read someone else's speech when they became unwell. Our next debate is on February 2nd against Derevoy. We wish our team lots of luck. |
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Fire Brigade Call Out
On Thursday night our fire alarm went off in the middle of the night and the fire brigade came to answer the call. Dympna very kindly came over to let them in so they could check that it was a false alarm. When they had finished checking the school they had a rest in Ms. King's room and found the chairs very comfortable. We are lucky to have volunteer fire fighters in Monaghan to answer the call and it is comforting to know that if there had been a problem they were on the scene. We are also lucky to have Dympna, Martin and Michael McKenna to keep an eye on our school. I think our midnight visitors look very fresh for 4am. Thank you to all. |
Food Dudes
We love eating all the healthy fruit and vegetables we are getting from Food Dudes this week.
Our school is a 'Healthy Eating School' and Food Dudes are helping us to learn good healthy habits.
We love eating all the healthy fruit and vegetables we are getting from Food Dudes this week.
Our school is a 'Healthy Eating School' and Food Dudes are helping us to learn good healthy habits.
HSE Advice
The latest HSE advice is available here.
If your child is unwell please keep them at home.
More information is available by clicking the link here.
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Here are some of the items of Lost Property in the school. If you are missing any of these items contact us and we'll get them home to you. |
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Grace our Artist Thank you to Grace Hynes who visits us each Monday to do some fantastic Art. This week the senior room were making Christmas Robins. We think they look great. Mr. Grundy thinks they're attracting admirers because so far this week he's had to put a robin out of the school 7 times! |
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Circus Covinni
Circus Covinni is the oldest circus family in Ireland. They stretch back over 100 years and on Tuesday 13th they came to entertain the pupils in St. Michael's Rackwallace. The children were amazed at the juggling, the contortionist and the brilliant balancing. The clown was incredibly funny and the shouts from our pupils were nearly heard in Dublin. They roared with laughter. Thank you to our PTA and to Marie Curley for organising this wonderful treat for our pupils. It was a well deserved way of thanking them for all their hard work this year. |
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Soccer Stars of the Future Well done to two of our Sixth Class who were awarded trophies and medals for the success in the Drogheda League. We are very proud of you and look forward to following your careers over the next few years. |
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Easons Spelling Bee
Well done to our Sixth Class pupil who beat off stiff opposition to become our St. Michael's Rackwallace Spelling Champion. She will go on to represent our school in the next round of the Easons Spelling Bee. She won a prize of a fabulous dictionary. |
Fun Fridays When Friday rolls around, the children know one thing.. It's maths stations day!! The junior and senior infants all but run out to Mrs Ferguson to have fun with their maths. This is a great opportunity for collaboration and creativity. Junior infants are learning all about the number 4 and how to write it. Senior infants spent this week learning all about the 3D shapes. Look at the sky scrapers that were built in the lunchroom! 
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Special Delivery
Mr. Grundy was surprised this morning when the postman knocked on the door. He had a special delivery for the Junior Room and needed Ms. King to sign for it. We couldn't imagine what it was until he told us the sender was a Mr. S. Claus. Jingles is back. Meanwhile in the Senior Room, Mr, Grundy had some help with his correcting. |
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Spórt agus spraoi
We have lots of fun in irish lessons each day. Usually, Miss King calls out the words but today, we decided it was time that the children called out the bingo words. Bingo has become a firm favourite in this class!! |
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ICT Grant
Well done to our deputy principal, Ms. King, who has secured a place for our school on the Learning from the Extremes Pilot Programme.
This EU scheme has provided a grant of €10,000 which our school will use to update our existing ICT infrastructure and to up-skill our staff and pupils to better prepare them for their digital futures.
Ms. King spent a long time preparing our application and together with our staff and the wider community is planning for an exciting project in the new year to make full use of our new resources.
Well done to our deputy principal, Ms. King, who has secured a place for our school on the Learning from the Extremes Pilot Programme.
This EU scheme has provided a grant of €10,000 which our school will use to update our existing ICT infrastructure and to up-skill our staff and pupils to better prepare them for their digital futures.
Ms. King spent a long time preparing our application and together with our staff and the wider community is planning for an exciting project in the new year to make full use of our new resources.
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Visitor To School Thank you to Emma who came to our school to talk to all the pupils and staff about the real meaning of Christmas. Emma went to a lot of trouble to tell the Christmas story in a way the children could follow. She also brought a special gift for each child. Hopefully Emma has helped all our pupils to have a WONDERFUL Christmas. |
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New Running Tops
Our beautiful new running tops arrived today and we can't wait to wear them when we compete in the cross country and track and field in the new year.
Thank you to our generous sponsor. Tommy Martin.
Brothers in Arms
Well Done to two of our pupils who had great success at the weekend.
The boys were part of a winning choir and a winning swim team.
It is great to see our pupils being active at the weekend.
Team Hope Shoe Box Appeal
Well done to our amazing 46 pupils and their friends in Ardaghey ICA who gathered a staggering 55 shoe boxes today. Hannah and Ryan organised the collection and were ably assisted by Niamh and Daithí. Our children can be very proud of themselves. It's beginning to feel a lot like Ch******s! |
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Science Week Update Many thanks to Monaghan Libraries for arranging a visit from Artist Mary Scott on Thursday 17th. The children got to do some fabulous 'scientific art'. |
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Work of Our Hands We all have gifts and talents. In St. Michael's we like to give the pupils a chance to show their abilities. Each year we run a 'Work of Our Hands' display where pupils get to make something that interests them. This year we had a painting, some musical tunes, and so many more. Rather than name them have a look at our slide show. |
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Science Week As part of Science Week Monaghan Libraries arranged for scientist, Catherine MacGuinness, to come to both classes today and conduct some rather brilliant experiments. She spoke to our senior room about 'accidental discoveries' and 'women scientists' and to the junior room about 'scientific me'. Both classes loved Catherine's lively exciting talks. Thank you to Monaghan Libraries for organising this terrific event for our school. |
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Gardeners for Hire. We had a lovely planting day on Tuesday 8th November. Each of our pupils came to school in old clothes and we worked together to plant hundreds and hundreds of tulip, daffodil and snowdrop bulbs. The two classes mixed together so the older pupils could assist the younger pupils. Thank you to Val Mohan from Greenfingers who provided so many of the bulbs and thanks also to Rosemary Coyle, Kassie's nanny, who provided the rest. |
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Our Garden of Remembrance:
If are visiting Ardaghey Chapel during the month of November you’ll see we have a ‘Garden of Remembrance’ in the foyer. The children coloured flowers and wrote the names of those they wished to remember on them. They also coloured blank flowers which members of the community are invited to fill. We will be praying for all those in our Garden of Remembrance over the month of November. |
Frightening Friday
Just before we went on our Halloween holidays, the children and staff decided to have a fun dress up day in aid of Trick or Treat for Temple Street. From the youngest child in junior infants to the oldest child in 6th class,
a lot of 'spórt agus spraoi' was had.
Our school raised €216.40 for the Children's Hospital Foundation.
Just before we went on our Halloween holidays, the children and staff decided to have a fun dress up day in aid of Trick or Treat for Temple Street. From the youngest child in junior infants to the oldest child in 6th class,
a lot of 'spórt agus spraoi' was had.
Our school raised €216.40 for the Children's Hospital Foundation.
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Spreading the Eco-Message
Our Sixth Class pupils were contacted by St. Louis Secondary School in Monaghan town. The girls in St. Louis were looking for advice on establishing a wildflower meadow and were also interested in learning about our school's 'plastic free' initiative. Our Sixth Class were delighted to share their knowledge and experience with their new friends in St. Louis school. It was a great experience for our pupils and showed us just how far we have travelled on our ecology journey. |
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Our Artist Friend, Grace.
Grace comes to our school each Monday to show the children fun artistic techniques. The children look forward to seeing her each week and are producing wonderful masterpieces under her watchful eye. Thank you Grace. |
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Our Successful Student
Congratulations to our brilliant Sixth Class student on winning a national title in the 40th National Dairy Show in Cork this weekend. She beat off stiff competition to come 1st in the YMA young showmanship league class in calf-walking. Her sister, a past pupil, won a 1st in her age group as well. We are all very proud of you. |
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Artist in Residence
One of our very talented 1st class pupils brought this masterpiece
into school today to show us.
Well done!
Grace's Art lessons are having a great impact on our students.
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Our Greenfingered Pupils. On Thursday some of our pupils came to school in their gardening clothes and spent a few minutes weeding our school yard. Previously, some of our pupils planted Yellow Rattle in our school's wildflower meadow to keep the grass down and to give our wildflowers a chance to grow. Well done to all our gardening pupils. |
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Famous Author (virtually) visits St. Michael's N.S.
The pupils in the Senior Room had a 'virtual' visit from a world famous author, Robert Muchmore. Robert has sold over 15 million books but still found time to chat to us about his inspiration and the amount of hard work that goes into writing and publishing a best selling book. The visit was arranged by Karen McCague from Monaghan Library. Thanks Karen. |
Our New Furniture.
Thank you to our parents and our grandparents we installed our new furniture on Saturday afternoon. The children are already making good use of it and were a lot more comfortable at lunch today. |
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Start of Year Mass
Huge thanks to Canon McGinn who celebrated a really beautiful mass with our pupils and their families on Friday 30th September.
Canon McGinn and the school had decided to have 'Community' as the theme for the mass and this was certainly well demonstrated in the large number of parents and grandparents who turned out to pray with us. Thank you especially to Mrs. Donnelly who, in addition to playing at the mass, had come to the school to help prepare our singers. The children sang and read beautifully and were a credit to their families and their school.
Community was also evident in the celebration afterwards in the Community Centre. The children and adults enjoyed a feast provided by the parents and grandparents who had been baking scones and buns.
Following the mass one of our grandparents presented the school with a large donation which she had raised at her birthday. Marie Curley, pictured with three of her grandchildren and Mr. Grundy, had asked for a donation to the school in lieu of gifts for herself. Marie's generosity is a great example to the young people in our school and will help provide treats and fun activities for the children.
Huge thanks to Canon McGinn who celebrated a really beautiful mass with our pupils and their families on Friday 30th September.
Canon McGinn and the school had decided to have 'Community' as the theme for the mass and this was certainly well demonstrated in the large number of parents and grandparents who turned out to pray with us. Thank you especially to Mrs. Donnelly who, in addition to playing at the mass, had come to the school to help prepare our singers. The children sang and read beautifully and were a credit to their families and their school.
Community was also evident in the celebration afterwards in the Community Centre. The children and adults enjoyed a feast provided by the parents and grandparents who had been baking scones and buns.
Following the mass one of our grandparents presented the school with a large donation which she had raised at her birthday. Marie Curley, pictured with three of her grandchildren and Mr. Grundy, had asked for a donation to the school in lieu of gifts for herself. Marie's generosity is a great example to the young people in our school and will help provide treats and fun activities for the children.
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Ardaghey Community Centre The community centre is a busy place and really is the Centre of the Community. Here are some of the activities in our local centre. If you would like more information about any activities you can contact us in school and we'll put you in touch with the right people. |
Speedy Fifth Class Boy
Well done to one of our fifth class who WON the 'TJ McElmeel' Cross Country race in Armagh this weekend.
We're all very proud of you.
Monaghan Library Summer Stars Reading Challenge.
Well done to our pupils who received their awards on Wednesday . We like to promote reading in our school and these children love reading too. We can see from the big smiles that these children really enjoy reading. Well done. |
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Texas Stand Off
Each week the pupils in the Senior Room compete in the World's Most Difficult Tables Challenge. The Texas Stand Off. The winner receives a trophy. If one person wins the trophy three weeks in a row the trophy is named after them. It was called the Self Trophy until today. Here is a photo of the first ever winner of the Greenan Cup. Well done to all the participants. |
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Mé Féin
The children in the junior room know how much Miss King loves Irish. This month's theme is 'Mé Féin'. Every child from junior infants to first class can now name several body parts in Irish. If you ask the children how they learned this, they'll say 'by playing games'. They aren't wrong!! Have a look at the craic we all had during our Gaeilge lesson. |
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Maths Fun
Senior Infants had great fun jumping up and down the number line today. They were learning how to add/subtract numbers and solve Miss King's word problems. |
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Music Generation Here is a link to the video of the children's performance in Ardaghey Community Centre on Monday 30th May 2022. We are delighted to announce that Rachael is back! She was here on Thursday September 15th with her friend Mikey and we had a great time singing. |
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The Library Lounge Miss King's library corner is back in full swing. The children in the junior room love finishing their work and spending time curled up on a beanbag with a good book. Have a look at the new infants making use of the space. |
Maths stations The children love to see Mrs Ferguson coming in on a Friday morning to do Maths stations. Last Friday, the new junior infants had their first lesson with Mrs Ferguson and as you can see... thoroughly enjoyed it!! They were learning all about sorting by colour, size and the type of objects. Following the theme of colour and after their lesson, the children got creative with their artwork. Evidently, we have some aspiring artists in the junior room! |
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Stone Age Builders in 3rd and 4th.
When the pupils in 3rd and 4th heard that the Stone Age builders who built Newgrange used 'corballing' to make the tomb they wanted to try this building technique themselves. They borrowed some of the Ardaghey Community Childcare's blocks and got to work. You can see the results of their efforts in the slideshow. Well done to them all. ( but I wouldn't want to be depending on any of these buildings to keep the rain out!) |
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Science in the Senior Room What do you get if you add an alkaline to an acid? If you're not sure ask anyone in the Senior Room. They added an alkaline bath bomb to an acid vitamin C tablet in a test tube and watched as the test tubes shot into the air because of the carbon dioxide that was produced. Well done to our young scientists. Here is a link to our experiment: SCIENCE |
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Calf Leading.
Huge congratulations to one of our Sixth Class pupils, Zoe, on her success in the Tullamore Show and the National Calf Show over the summer . Zoe came 1st in both competitions and is going on to the National Dairy Show in October. We wish her all the very best in the competition. |
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Our Foróige Friends
Many thanks to our friends from Foróige who generously donated a whole evening of work to paint our sheds, benches and planters. They look so bright and cheerful. Thank you. Thanks to Martin McNally from Grahams who sponsored the paint. |
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Our Window Boxes
Thank you to the families who have been watering the window boxes over the holidays. They look great and really brighten up our school. Thank you to Val Mohan in Greenfingers for his generosity to our school as we were getting the plants. |
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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.
For copies of our most recent newsletters click here.
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Our Wildflower Meadow.
Many many months ago SuperValu sent us some wildflower seeds. We had just had our Wastewater Treatment System installed so we planted a wildflower meadow on the area around the 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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