Trick or Treat for Temple Street

We are delighted to announce that an amazing €315.30 was raised during our Halloween 'Trick or Treat' Fundraiser. This money has now been donated to Temple Street Children's University Hospital. A huge well done to all our pupils who put in a tremendous effort on the day dressing up for Halloween and for donating so kindly towards this event. A special word of thanks to a very kind 3rd class girl who raised €116 of the total money by hosting a Halloween party in her house and asking her family and friends to donate money to this very worthy cause.

​Science Week 2024

A special word of thanks to Dónal Beagan who visited Scoil Mhuire on Thursday and gave a very informative and interesting talk to each class on birds and his work in trying to conserve and repopulate various species. We looked at common birds in our area such as the robin, magpie, swan and buzzard as well as uncommon birds in our area such as the barn owl, cuckoo and red grouse. Thank you, Dónal.

​5th and 6th Class explored forces as they undertook 'The Marshmallow Tower Challenge.' They built towers using spaghetti, string and tape to support the weight of a marshmallow.

​4th Class had great fun completing an experiment called 'Balloon Boarding' during Science Week. This experiment helped the children to understand the concept of force and how it can be distributed. We managed to get 11 people standing on the table, which was only supported by balloons, before the balloons started to burst. We learned it was important where we each stood on the table to ensure even distribution of weight on the balloons.

Rang a 2/3 had an enjoyable Science week. They watched the Curious Minds webinar which touched upon many different areas of the science curriculum. The children took time to carry out some experiments based on static electricity, making tornadoes, as well as exploring sounds and vibrations.

​​1st and 2nd Class went on a sound walk, listening to and recording sounds around the school grounds and nearby. They listened for different sounds and identified if they were natural or man-made sounds, high pitched or low pitched, loud or quiet, far away or close by. On return to the classroom we made sounds with our bodies and accompanied a song with body percussion. We also explored various musical instruments and how the sound is formed from the different instruments. We had great fun learning about sound.
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During Science Week, our junior and senior infants had a fantastic time exploring exciting experiments that sparked their curiosity! They discovered how an egg behaves differently in water and saltwater, sinking in water but floating in a salty saltwater. They also observed the amazing transformation of a gummy bear, which grew larger in both water and water/vinegar but stayed the same size in salty water. To top it all off, they created a fun explosion using vinegar and bicarbonate of soda.

Chess for Social Skills

5th and 6th Class are really enjoying their chess lessons with Ms Fitzpatrick and Ms Mulligan. Many children have gone from zero knowledge and are working their way up to understanding checkmate. As well as having fun learning chess, they are also exploring the social benefits of playing chess such as:

• Learning to win with grace and accept losses. Chess etiquette promotes good sportsmanship.
• Developing impulse control: Playing chess teaches children to consider the consequences of their actions.
• Mental resilience and confidence: Learning a new skill can help to build confidence and learning from one’s losses helps to develop mental resilience.
• Chess helps children to develop everyday social skills by bringing them together playing games face to face.​

​Halloween in Scoil Mhuire

Well done to all the children and staff for their tremendous effort in dressing up for Halloween in aid of Trick-or-Treat for Temple Street. A great day was had by all. Take a look below at some of the spooky and scary photos from the day.

​Maths Week

The children in Scoil Mhuire had a fantastic Maths Week 2024. Lots of fun activities were completed throughout the week including working on sets of 4 in Junior Infants, length in Senior Infants, jigsaws, puzzles, interactive maths games online, practical problem solving activities for homework, a maths table quiz and board games throughout the school. 5th and 6th class also created their own census and collated information before turning their findings into graphs. 
A special word of thanks to our past pupil, Aoife Duffy, who visited every classroom to talk about how she uses Maths every day as part of her job in the Central Statistics Office. She also completed some work based on the Census with all the children. A highly interesting and enjoyable visit from Aoife.
Well done to all the children on a very successful week.

Farewell and thank you

At our assembly last week we bid a fond farewell to two very special ladies, Patricia and Jackie. They have both been a huge part of our school community and the wider Smithboro community for many years, caring for and nurturing all who passed through the doors of Magherarney Community Childcare Service. The children in Scoil Mhuire wrote a poem and presented them with a bunch of flowers to mark the special occasion.

Good luck to Eire Óg

All the pupils and staff of Scoil Mhuire would like to wish Eire Óg the very best of luck in the Universal Graphics Junior Championship Final against Drumhowan on Sunday 20th October. 

​Peace Proms 2025

4th, 5th and 6th Class will be participating in Peace Proms on Sunday 9th March 2025. This event will take place in the SSE Arena in Belfast. It is a fantastic opportunity for the children to  perform along with the Cross Border Youth Orchestra. Tickets go on sale on Friday 1st November from www.ticketmaster.co.uk 

​Planting Daffodils

4th Class have been busy prepping the school garden for planting daffodil bulbs for Daffodil Day next year. With guidance from Lisa McBride, the children worked hard to ensure all the daffodil bulbs provided by Monaghan Cancer Society were successfully planted. We look forward to seeing them bloom in March, when the flowers will be cut and sold for Daffodil Day. Well done everyone. 

​​Cumann na mBunscol

This week, St Mellan's in Truagh, was the venue for the boys' Cumann na mBunscol football blitz. The boys played some great matches against Knockconan N.S., St Dympna's Tydavnet and St Mary's Glaslough. We are very proud of the boys as they competed as a team with real vigour and determination, as well as putting in some really impressive individual performances. Maith sibh, a bhuachaillí.

​4th Class Nature Walk

Here are some photos of 4th Class enjoying the last of the good weather before winter arrives. The children had a lovely time on their recent nature walk where they got the opportunity to identify and gather various leaves and twigs in their local environment.

Walking Tour of Clones

​3rd and 4th class have been working hard in class researching the history and origins of Christianity. As part of this work they visited Clones and took part in a walking tour of the town. During the tour the children examined an authentic Famine pot used by the Quakers to make soup for those who were starving during 'An Gorta Mór'. If you look closely at the photo of the board you will even see a recipe for Famine Soup. The children got the opportunity to dress up in 19th Century clothing and sit at desks which would have been used in schools at that time. They visited the Round Tower and beside that St Tiernach's Sarcophagus which is said to contain the relics of the Saint. The children then observed mortality symbols  in the graveyard and visited the Wee Abbey followed by the large Celtic Cross on the Diamond in Clones. Lastly, they took a trip to the Cassandra Hand Centre and examined pieces of Clones Lace. Mrs Hand introduced lace making to Clones at a time when the area was suffering great hardship following the Famine.
The children thoroughly enjoyed their day and loved learning about Christianity and lace making in Clones.
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4th Class Construction

We have been learning about the 'Construction' strand of the Visual Arts Curriculum. Take a look at the time machines we planned and constructed. We hope you like them as much as we enjoyed making them.

​Junior Infants 2024 - 2025

A very special welcome to all the Junior Infants who have joined our school this year. We hope you have a lovely first year in Scoil Mhuire, Magherarney.
​Take a look at some photos from their very first day of school.

We would like to extend a very warm welcome back to all our pupils in Scoil Mhuire, Magherarney. We hope you had a lovely summer break and we wish you a year ahead filled with learning, happiness and fun.

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​School year 2023 - 2024

Our Sensory Garden

We are so happy and proud of our new sensory garden. A huge thank you to Lisa McBride and all the children for their hard work over the last number of months. Our fabulous sign, made by past pupil Abbie McGorman, is a beautiful addition to our outdoor space. Take a look at some photos and I'm sure you will all agree that our pupils are very lucky to have such a fantastic and beautiful sensory area in their school grounds.

​Some photos from the opening of our school Sensory Garden. The sun shone and we had a fantastic day.

​School football league

A massive congratulations to our best overall boy and girl footballer in this year's soccer league. They both displayed great teamwork skills, fairness, patience and football skills. 

The winning team 2024

The runners up 2024

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Presentation of PAWS Certificates

The children from 2nd, 3rd and 4th class recently attended Coral Leisure Swimming Pool for a course of lessons. They completed an assessment and were awarded with PAWS (Primary Aquatics Water Safety) certificates. Below are photos of the children receiving their certs for the different PAWS levels. A huge congratulations to everyone.

​Sports Day winners

Congratulations to the race winners in each class from our very enjoyable Sports Day. Certificates were presented for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in the 100m race, Spud and Spoon race and the Sack race. A great day was had by all.

​Fun at the Play Park

Junior Infants, Senior Infants and 1st Class had great fun in Smithboro Play Park as part of Active Schools Week. 

​School Track Athletics

The annual County Monaghan Primary Schools Track Athletics Event took place on Thursday, May 23rd . Interested children from first to sixth class participated in lunchtime training and the team was selected. The event itself was hugely successful. All our children ran really well and we were very proud of them. Congratulations to Holly Jordan and Julia
Jordan who won individual prizes. Our 2nd class girls did extremely well and placed 3rd in the relays. Thanks very much to all the parents who came along and supported on the night.

​Green Schools Update

Our Green Schools Committee along with some of the classes have been working on a number of projects. 
 We upcycled old wellies to use for planting. We elbow grease and paint to upcycle old car tyres and hubcaps to create features in our sensory garden and a feature for the village also. A big thank you to Lisa McBride and Karen Mc Caffrey for their assistance with these projects.

We registered for the In My Shoes campaign to collect pre-loved and good condition runners and football boots and send them on to those in need in South Africa. Lots of families sent in runners and football boots and these were collected and sent to new owners.  

We also registered for the Batteries for Barretstown campaign, a campaign aimed at increasing awareness of battery recycling and raising much needed funds for Barretstown. Barretstown is a camp for children and families affected by serious illnesses and lifelong conditions. We have already collected and donated a full container of batteries. We will continue to collect and donate. 

Well done to the pupils who helped to Spring Clean our local area. We were surprised by how much litter and rubbish we managed to collect.

During this last term all classes are doing some lessons on Global Citizenship, looking at Climate Change and Climate Action. ​

​First Holy Communion

Congratulations to our 2nd Class pupils on receiving the sacrament of First Holy Communion. Many thanks to Ms Martin, Fr Chester and their parents for helping prepare them. A very special day was had by all.
​A special thanks to Ms Mulligan for liaising with Ms Martin in preparing the class and for her help with the Communion Choir - the singing was beautiful and really added to the occasion.

​School Garden and Sensory Garden

We are so grateful to Lisa McBride, who has provided the staff and students in Scoil Mhuire with her fantastic gardening knowledge and skills. Lisa has been kindly working with the Infant classes up to 2nd class, planting various seeds and showing the children how to water and to care for our school garden. Pupils from 3rd to 6th class will be planting pumpkins and other seasonal flowers with Lisa soon.
Lisa has also put in a huge amount of work in to our sensory garden and we look forward to an official opening of the garden before the holidays with the pupils, the volunteers and some representatives from the Parent’s Association. Thanks to one of our past pupils and volunteers, Abbie McGorman who is making a sign for the garden. It is very exciting to see
all the work come together. We feel very fortunate that we will have a lovely outdoor sensory space for our pupils to enjoy. Lisa has been the driving force behind this project and we are so grateful to her.

​Sacrament of Confirmation

Rang a Sé received the sacrament of Confirmation on Sunday, April 21st in St. Tierney’s Church, Roslea. We would like to congratulate Aaron McDonagh, Aoibhínn Leonard, Calum Sherry, Chloe McCarville, Darragh Croarkin, Emily Connolly, Gerard Reilly, Jennifer Olasz, Kai McDonnell, Orlaigh Behan, Paige Smyth and Sam McGorman on receiving the sacrament of Confirmation. Many thanks to Ms Graham and Ms Fitzpatrick who helped prepare the children for the sacrament.
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Soccer

We would like to congratulate the boys and girls that took part in the FAI School Soccer. They showed great enthusiasm and skills. We would like to thank Ms Graham and Shane McCarville for giving up his time to coach and to attend the games.

​Annual Race Night

A huge congratulations to our wonderful Parents’ Association on their Annual Race Night on Saturday, April 13th. The success of this school fundraiser is a huge credit to the current Parents’ Association – Síle McDonagh, Anne Flynn, Sandra McGorman, Lorraine Aughey, Olivia Cadden and Sarah-Jane Reilly.
To our main sponsor, Clones Credit Union and all the many, many businesses and individuals who were so generous in their sponsorship, we are so grateful of your support and generosity, none of which goes unnoticed. Thank you also to those who bought horses for the auction race. And finally, to you the parents, we thank you for your hard work in selling tickets and your attendance on the night. All there will agree it was such a lovely atmosphere. It really is wonderful to see all gathered with that shared purpose of supporting our local school, so that the pupils have the best experiences possible. Winners in the raffle were as follows:
First Prize: Joey Larmer
Second Prize: Anna-Louise Galligan
Third Prize: Ethan McPhillips
4th Prize - Spot Prize: Katelyn McCormick
5th Prize - Spot Prize: Aodhán Hand
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Cross Country

​Well done to all the boys and girls that took part in the Monaghan Schools’ Cross Country Meet. It was a very mucky but fun event, the children really showed great grit and enthusiasm. A special mention to Julia Jordan, who was a very deserving medal winner.
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'Design a Cover' results

On Thursday, March 21st we were delighted to welcome Sile McDonagh and Sandra McGorman from our Parents’ Association, who came to the school to announce the winners of the ‘Design a Cover’ competition. There was great excitement as they announced group winners who were:
First Class: Doneta Puskoriute, Eimear Galligan and Sasha Genoe
Second/Third Class: Anabela Merkelyte, Selina Munawar and Holly Jordan
Third/Fourth Class: Méabh Leonard, Abbie Treanor and Jamie Connolly
Fifth/Sixth Class: Emily Connolly, Millie Jordan and Orlaith Behan

Each class winner was presented with an Easter Egg and then the overall winner was announced. We were delighted to see Emily Connolly, Rang a Sé, as this year’s design winner. We look forward to seeing Emily’s design used as posters to promote the event and as the front cover of the Race Night booklet.

​Seachtain na Gaeilge

We celebrated Seachtain na Gaeilge (Irish Week) from the 11th to the 15th of March. During this week the children were encouraged to use their Gaeilge as much as possible throughout the school day. Various activities were planned for each class, and the children really enjoyed taking part in Irish trails, quizzes, games, dances and other activities. We also held an assembly in which each class performed Irish drama, poems and songs and the whole school performed two Irish dances together.
All prize winners from our competitions were announced.
Tráth na gCeist Winners:
1st Place: Eimear Galligan, Shay McDonnell, Abbie Treanor, Alex McMahon, Seánie Flynn, Jack Sherry, Leah Rice, Fernado Muntean and Aoibhínn Leonard.
2nd Place: Anna Louise Galligan, Junior Sherry, Jamie Connolly, Pippa Davis, Noelle Olasz, Millie Jordan, Barry Toal and Jennifer Olasz.
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Write a Book

We would like to congratulate the following students for achieving a merit in the Write a Book competition; Jamie Connolly, Danny Treanor, Cora McArdle and Mark Rooney. A special presentation evening for all merit winners will take please in the Garage Theatre on Tuesday, April 16th at 7pm.
Congratulations also to Teagan Reihill, Tara O’Reilly, Ethan Genoe and Frankie Reilly who were highly commended for their books.
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Lough Derg Retreat

On Wednesday March 20th , 6th Class travelled to Lough Derg to partake in a Confirmation Retreat. The children had a really worthwhile and enjoyable day. Our sincere thanks to Father Chester and the parish for covering the cost of this trip.

​First Penance

​Warmest congratulations to our Rang a dó –Anna Louise Galligan, Ava McGorman, Cian Murphy, Croíadh McCaffrey, Ellie Gormley, Emilis Skersonas, Eoin Skeath, Gabija Tamaviciute, Hannah Hawthorne, Hannah Treanor, Haylee McDonnell, Hollie Reilly, Holly Jordan, Max McAree, Ollie McDonagh and Seánie Flynn who received the sacrament of First Penance on Friday, March 1 st in St. Mary’s Church Magherarney. Our thanks to Father Chester for his help and guidance throughout the
process.
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Daffodil Day

We would like to thank all the children and parents for their generosity in donating for Daffodil Day. The amount raised was €1082.15. The children from 3rd and 4th Class had a great day setting up their stall and selling the daffodils and other merchandise. We would like to give a huge thanks to Ms Mulligan for organising it all and a special mention to Lisa McBride for helping grow and prepare the daffodils for the day.
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Green Schools Update

We have continued our​ work on our Environmental Review. 5th and 6th Classes have collated the results of our Global Awareness survey and made graphs and charts to display the results. We have looked at our electricity and oil use in the previous 12 months and compared it to other years. A big thank you to our secretary Aisling for helping us with this. Like all schools, we use a lot of energy. We will try to find ways to reduce our energy consumption and classes will be learning about climate change and how our use of energy impacts the whole World. The committee met with Paul Sherlock, an Environmental Officer with the County Council. He was very impressed with the work we have done so far and is going to be in contact with Ms Groarke about some workshops we might be able to book.

​Credit Union Quiz

Well done to our senior pupils who took-part in the Clones Credit Union Quiz. We are very proud of each team’s performance. Many thanks to our parents who supported the teams on the night in addition to Ms Brennan, Ms Groarke and Ms Mulligan for helping the pupils prepare. We also give our sincere thanks to Clones Credit Union for hosting the annual event with their usual warmth and generosity.
Senior Team 1: Millie Jordan, Cora McArdle, Méabh Leonard and Kasparas Merkelis
Senior Team 2: Aoibhínn Leonard, Gerard Reilly, Aaron McDonagh and Darragh Croarkin

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Swimming lessons

Congratulations to all the boys and girls in 2nd, 3rd and 4th class who have recently completed the aquatic strand of the physical education curriculum. Everyone enjoyed their trips to the swimming pool over the 6 Fridays. Well done to all the children on how hard they worked not only during their lessons but in organising themselves each week before and after visiting the pool.
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Christmas Celebration 2023

Well done to all the boys and girls on their wonderful Christmas celebration. Our junior classes treated us to their rendition of the Nativity story followed by 2nd and 3rd class singing carols and playing Christmas tunes on the tin whistle. Our 4th, 5th and 6th class pupils sang a medley of traditional and modern Christmas songs. Thank you to our whole school staff for preparing the children and ensuring this night ran smoothly. It was a lovely evening of Christmas cheer and really put us all in the mood for the holidays!
We would also like to thank our Parents’ Association and families from 2nd to 6th class who organised refreshments in Smithborough Hall following our celebration.
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Cineáltas Flag

We are pleased to announce that we have been awarded a Cineáltas Flag acknowledging the great work our school is doing to prevent and address bullying and to promote kindness, respect, inclusion, diversity and wellbeing. The Cineáltas Flag is a visible national symbol of our shared commitment to be kind and work together to prevent and address bullying. This will be visible alongside our Green Schools Flag and Active Schools Flag. 

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Sacraments

Scoil Mhuire Magherarney has been notified of the following dates for the celebration of the Sacraments:
Sixth Class Confirmation: Sunday, April 21st at 3p.m. in St. Tierney's Church, Roslea.
Second Class Holy Communion: Saturday, May 11th at 11a.m.  in St. Mary's Church, Magherarney.

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GOAL Jersey Day

A special thanks to our Student Council for organising our recent Goal Jersey Day. The total raised was €125.05. We would like to thank all children that donated to this worthy cause. 

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Green Schools News

We congratulate the following children on being elected to our new Green Schools Committee for 2023/2024 academic year. These pupils are Max McAree, Croíadh McCaffrey, Jack Rooney, Frankie Reilly, Jamie Connolly, Cora McArdle, Donnacha McCaffrey, Leah Rice, Jennifer Olasz and Darragh Croarkin. Our new Green School's Committee have already had a number of meetings and have started on work towards our next theme, Global Citizenship - Energy. The Committee will keep each class updated on their work and progress throughout the year. The children can also keep up to date with the latest Green School's news by looking at the Green School's noticeboard located in the school hallway or the Green School's page here on the school website.

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Heritage Schools visit

We were delighted to welcome Mr Ross Cochrane, a Heritage Schools Specialist to Scoil Mhuire to work with the boys and girls in relation to Science topics such as Nature, Plant Identification, Folklore and Exploring local hedgerows. The boys and girls really enjoyed learning outside in their school environment and had lots of fun taking part in play-centred activities and games linked to science topics. The weather was perfect for this visit and we thank Ross again for a wonderful day of outside learning and play. 
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Trick or Treat for Temple Street

Well done to all the boys and girls for their tremendous effort for our 'Trick or Treat' fundraiser in aid of Temple Street Hospital. We wish to sincerely thank all our parental body for helping dress up and prepare  the children for our Halloween celebrations. a great day was had by all. Thank you also to our School Council for organising this event  and to Ms Groarke for sourcing and organising the prizes for the winners. A total of €182 was raised for this most worthy cause. 
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Cumann na mBunscol

Our 4th, 5th and 6th class boys took part in the recent Cumann na mBunscol  football competition. The boys played three games against Glaslough N.S., Killeevan N.S., and Blackstaff N.S. The boys played very well as a team and had lots of fun representing Scoil Mhuire Magherarney on the day. 
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Student Council

Well done to the following children who make up this year's Scoil Mhuire Student Council:
Aaron McDonagh, Aoibhín Leonard, John Reihill, Taja Keturakyte, Julia Jordan, Alex McMahon, Ethan Boyd McPhillips, Antonia Muntean, Anabela Merkelyte, Roán Flynn, Seánie Flynn and Anna-Louise Galligan. 
Our Student Council have been very busy already and some wonderful ideas have been shared. The school community look forward to taking part in upcoming events organised by our wonderful leaders.
A special word of thanks to Ms Mulligan for leading the Student Council.
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​Accelerated Reading

Well done to all the boys and girls from 3rd class to 6th class who have completed their Star Testing and are enjoying developing their reading fluency and comprehension through the use of our Accelerated Reading library. There is a great sense of pride and achievement in completing their reading books and challenging themselves to read more often. We are very proud of everyone for their great efforts and we look forward to seeing continued progress throughout the year.
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Junior Infants 2023 - Our First Day of School!

​We loved our first day of school!