Latest News
Happy Easter to you all. Enjoy your break and we look forward to seeing you all on Monday,
12 April!


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Most of the past few weeks have been taken up with preparations for our school play. The name of this year’s play was ‘What does Christmas feel like?’ It took place last Tuesday the 15th of December in Tuar Ard in Moate. It proved to be a great success with everyone from 5th and 6th heavily involved throughout the show. Despite being exhausted the following day nearly all our ‘Stars’ turned up for school ( even if some of us were half asleep). Well done to everyone involved.

Finally, we would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We hope Santy brings us everything we wish for and we’ll talk to you all again in 2010.
The return date for school is Tuesday, 1st September.

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Our school uniform: fleece, sky blue T.shirt and tracksuit is available from ‘Joe Malones Sports Shop’, Main Street Moate.

Ardnagrath have had another very successful year and would like to acknowledge the following:

We would like to congratulate our boys football team who won the ‘Marita Stone Cup’ this year and our girls for being runners up, we are very proud of you all.

Well done to the ‘Ardnagrath Basketball Team’ who were runners up in the Midlands Basketball Competition.

Well done to both our Boys and Girls for winning the 5 a side South Westmeath Soccer Competition.

Congrats to all our Sports Day winners.

Congrats to all our pupils on winning the ‘GAA 125 Years Schools Day Photograph Competition’.

Congratulations to Stephanie Moran and our past pupil Colm Lowry for having their poems published in the ‘Euro Child Poetry Book’, well done to both of them!


Congrats to both Shane Seery and Kevin Dolan who both took First Prize in the ‘Discover Athlone Art Competition.

Congratulations to our past pupil Anna Parkes on having her poem published by the Education Centres.

Congrats to everyone who took part in our ‘Cycle to School Day’. It was a massive success and will go a long way towards the renewal of our Green Flag for the fourth time! Mieke – the Green Schools Co-ordinator said she was ‘extremely impressed’ with our efforts.

NB! NB! NB!

We have been given an ‘Interactive White Board’ to use in school for the month of September, we will be able to keep this board if we can collect 300 mobile phones by the end of September. We would ask everyone to really help us in this quest and rally support from neighbours, family and friends. These phones need to be collected over the holidays.

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We were all thrilled to hear the news that Miss Keena had her baby! Baby Lara was born on 23 April and is thriving. She is a beautiful little baby and we all wish the happy family the best! May God bless her and keep her safe always.

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After months of preparation, 6th class finally made their confirmation on Wednesday the 11th of February in Tang Church. Our 6 students, along with 2 students from Drumraney and 12 students from Tang took part in a lovely ceremony. We’re sure a great day was had by all.

Niamh McNamara, 6th Class, recently competed at the Connacht Schools competition winning Ardnagrath its first Provincial Swimming medal. Niamh swam in both the 100m back crawl and the 100m butterfly, qualifying to swim in the All Ireland Schools in both events. In her butterfly, she won a second place silver – all the more impressive as she was swimming under 14 and the only primary school pupil in the event!
Last season, Niamh achieved Division I times (highest National Standard) in four events and in the Nationals, winning two silver medals.

Niamh swims with Athlone Swimming Club, training 7 sessions per week, including 06.00 to 07.30 three mornings a week!!


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Congratulations to past pupil Anna Parkes who recently had her poem published in the Write-a-Poem 2008 Competition. 102 poems were published out of an amazing 5000 entries which is a great achievement! Well done, Anna!

We were delighted to welcome back Maryland to the school recently, together with Marty Whelan. It was great to see him and the team as they proudly showed us their Intermediate cup and Celebrity Banisteoir cup. We look forward to seeing them all on t.v. on Christmas day!

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Well done to the Maryland team who, after drawing the first final on Sunday 19th October,came back a week later to beat Ballinacarrigy by a single point, scored by past pupil Callum McCormack. It was an extremely exciting, nail biting game and we here at Ardnagrath are so proud of you all. Well done!

Here is the Junior/Senior Infants poem for the team:

Maryland is the best.
They have passed all the tests.
They are blue, they are white,
They put up the best fight.
We are so proud of you.
You are champions, through and through.


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Not only were Maryland the All-Ireland Club Banisteoir winners early this year but now the lads are playing the the Intermediate County Final on Sunday, 19th October. They are set to play Ballinacarrigy which should prove to be a great match as there is no stopping these lads.


Dates for your diary!

24 October 2008 - staff meeting (12.30 closure)
27-31 October 2008 - Halloween Holidays
08 December 2008 - closed
23 December 2008* to 6 January 2009 - Christmas Holidays *(12.00 closure)
16 January 2008 parent-teacher meeting (12.30 closure)
13 February 2008 - closed for Confirmation
18 February 2009 - staff meeting (2.00 closure)
19&20 2009 February - midterm break
16&17 March 2009 - St Patrick's Day break
03-17 April 2009 - Easter Holidays (12.00 closure)
04 May 2009 - Bank holiday
28 May 2009 - staff meeting (2.00 closure)
29 May 2009 - school tour
01 June 2009 - Bank Holiday
25 June 2009 - school holidays - (12.00 closure)

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Welcome back everyone! We hope you all had an enjoyable break over the summer.

Welcome to all our new Junior Infants! It is great to see you all settling in so well!

There is lots going on already this school term. Take a look at what each class is currently getting up to by clicking on the relevant links.

Our annual school walk is taking place this Sunday (28th September). Lets hope the good weather continues and that you all have an enjoyable day.

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We hope you all have a lovely holiday and look forward to seeing you all again in September!

PRIMARY SCIENCE AWARD CEREMONY:

A great morning was had by three pupils who were lucky enough to have their names drawn to attend the Primary Science Award Ceremony.

WRITE A POEM:

We were thrilled during the week to learn that we had great success in the Write-A-Poem competition, run by Athlone Education Centre. Congratulations to the following who will all receive certificates and medals in the next week or so:

Cara Craven, Carol Seery, Katie Farrell, Maria O’Donoghue, Louise Parkes, Darragh Slevin, Conor Brady, Niamh McNamara and Anna Parkes.

Well done to you all! We have also been informed that Anna’s poem, not only won her a medal but her poem will be printed in a limited edition book of poetry which is being worked on at present! Well done Anna!

PRIDE OF PLACE AWARD:

We are very pleased to announce that our hard work has really paid off in the Garden. We have been awarded a lovely trophy after winning a prize for the best school garden in Westmeath and not only that, but we have received a cheque for €150 also.

Our garden is an organic/permaculture garden. We are learning that it is very important to grow our own food (especially with the world food shortage).

We can have a pretty garden but also we can be sustainable, so we plant fruit and vegetables, i.e. carrots, potatoes, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, lettuce, onions, scallions, runner beans, strawberries, apples, blackberries, raspberries and rhubarb, together with marigolds, nasturtiums and sweet pea. We also have a spiral herb bed made of stone. The stone helps to keep the herbs warm and make them grow better. We are trying to attract as many butterflies and other insects as possible. The Marigolds help to keep away unwanted insects in the vegetable garden!

FIRST HOLY COMMUNION:

Congratulations to Tara, Ciaran, Katie (F), Caroline, Sean and Krzys (Ardnagrath National School) and Katie (B), David and Adam (Drumraney National School) on receiving their First Holy Communion on 25 May 2008.

SCHOOL TOUR:

On Friday last we went on our school tour to Cavan. Second to sixth classes took part and a terrific day was had by all.

We started our day at the Cavan Crystal Maze. Children were split into three groups and took part in mental, physical and skill challenges in an attempt to win as many crystals as possible.

We then went to Dun na Ri forest park for orienteering. This proved to be a brilliant adventure as we explored the forest, learned its history (scary stuff) and splashed about in the numerous rivers and streams.

Our tour finished with a love mountain ‘giant’s grave’ on the summit of Loughanleigh Mountain where 16 counties can be viewed on a clear day.

This really was a fantastic day out and one that will surely be revisited in the coming years.
Thanks to Breffni tours for an excellent tour and congratulations to the members of the Speed Demons team on winning the Cavan Crystal Trophy.

Good luck to Mr. Keane and the Westmeath team who are playing Offaly on Saturday, 7 June! Up Westmeath!


This years school tour will take place on Friday, 30th May. A letter has been sent out giving full details of the tour! We hope a fun day will be had by all and hope to take some fun pictures to add to the website!
Congratulations to second class who made their First Holy Communion on Sunday. You all looked beautiful and we are very proud of you all. Thanks to everyone who helped to make this a very special day for the children.
Best wishes to second class who will be making their First Holy Communion on Sunday, 25th of May. We hope you all enjoy your very special day.
On Friday last May 16th Maryland were crowned 2008 Celebrity Banisteoir champions with an emphatic 2 – 09 to 1 – 04 victory over Mayfield of Cork. Supporters from all around the county of Westmeath travelled to Parnell Park in Dublin to lend their support to the team and they were not to be disappointed as the team turned in a great display to capture the title. Well done Maryland!
Primary Science Award - well done fifth and sixth classes!
Best of luck to the Maryland team on Friday, 16th May! We are all very proud of the team, especially as many of our past pupils play for Maryland! We anticipate it will be a tough game but have great faith in you all!
Well done to Westmeath who beat Longford last Sunday!
Congratulations to all! Our Green Flag has been renewed!
Gaelic league about to start.
Welcome to our new website! We hope you enjoy it. If you have any ideas or comments, we look forward to hearing from you!
Congratulations to Maryland on winning their match against St. Mary's in Derry. It was a nail-biting game and a well deserved win! We are all looking forward to the big game in Dublin on 16 May!
A great day was had by all when Maryland GAA visited us with their t.v. camera crew. Photos will soon be added to website.
Gaelic blitz and basket ball semi finals coming up, see sports news.
Thanks to all those who supported our ‘Jersey Day’. All monies will go to Baby Caoimhe’s, ‘Journey of Hope’ fund.
Our new football pitch is looking good and is almost ready for use!
Our rubberlock area has now been installed. You may remember this was a prize in an art competition which was won by Stephanie Moran (pupil), Philip Ganly and Anthony Brady (past pupils).
Our new garden is beginning to take shape (see School Green).
Homework club is up and running and from what we hear, is working out very well for all those involved!