
St. Michael's Church of Ireland
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National School
Scoil Naomh Micheál
Church Road, Blackrock, Cork. T12 E620
Roll No: 18388F
Welcome to St. Michael's
Welcome to St. Michael’s Church of Ireland N.S.
We are a co-educational school with four mainstream classes and an Autism class.
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Our school is located on Church Road in Blackrock. We have great outside space and are very lucky to be so near Blackrock Village and all its wonderful amenities.
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We hope you enjoy looking at our website.
If you would like to visit us, contact the school by phone or e-mail and we will arrange an appointment.
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Principal: Ms. Alison Quill
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Deputy Principal: Ms. Claire O'Neill



News Update
Notes

Homeschool Gallery
April 20, 2020
Check out our new Homeschool Gallery to see what our busy bees have been up to!

The Great Isolation Activity Book
April 19, 2020
The Great Isolation Activity Book is a great way of keeping a record of this historic time with fun-filled activities!

Glór na nGaeil
April 02, 2020
Scéalta i nGaeilge do phaistà atá ar fáil le breathnú orthu saor in aisce ar Cainéal Youtube Glór na nGael :
https://www.youtube.com/playlist…
Gaelscoil Eiscir Riada - Coiste Conradh na Gaeilge i Londain Conradh na Gaeilge Scoil Shéamais Naofa, Bearna Bunscoil Phobal Feirste An Foras Pátrúnachta Foras na Gaeilge Seachtain na Gaeilge le Energia Múintéoirà Gaeilge Co na Mà Múinteoir Valerie Múinteoir Na Gaeilge Údarás na Gaeltachta Gaelbhratach Gael Linn Oireachtas na Gaeilge Coiste Tuismitheoirà Scoil Sailearna Coiste Tuismitheoirà SCC
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St. Michael's Pupils School Closure 2020 Homeschool News
March 31, 2020

School Closure due to Covid19
March 27, 2020
All schools in Ireland have closed until further notice due to Covid19. With regards to the announcement of the extended school closure period, the Department of Education and Skills have provided these guides to support our school community. Please continue to adhere to the guidelines and best practice for the prevention of Covid-19 exposure.
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https://www.education.ie/…/advice-to-young-people-while-sch…
https://www.education.ie/…/Announ…/relaxation-techniques.pdf
https://www.education.ie/…/guide-for-parents-supporting-chi…
Click on our Homeschool Link for ideas and stay up-to-date with the latest news from St. Michael's by liking our Facebook and Twitter accounts where you can find tips, links and interesting articles. Stay Safe

Junior Engineers
November 29, 2019
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Marine Explorers
November 29, 2019
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STEM
November 28, 2019
November has been a busy month for STEM in our school. We had great fun learning all about DNA with the Cell explorers from UCC and attended a science roadshow run by CIT in the Rockies Hurling Club.Chestnut Room have just completed their junior engineer project designs and have welcomed engineer Graham to take part in their lessons and offer advice. We are so impressed with the teamwork in this room. Rowan Room have been working on Marine Projects- ranging from various cause of pollution ,over fishing to species studies and marine technology. We have had visitors from the Explorers Project at lifetime lab to support us with the group projects and today the final presentations took place and certificates were rewarded. We were all shocked to learn the extent of negative human impact on our seas and have committed to exploring some actions we can take in our own school to lesson our footprint on our planet. We are so thankful to the parents who have made us new planters and a large composting box . We look forward to growing some food with less 'food miles' . We have been enjoying observing the changing scenes with the seasons on the Blackrock line and have been learning about all the natural features and spotting wildlife - how blessed we are to have such biodiversity and beauty on our doorstep !!

Active Junior Room
November 06, 2019
Our junior room pupils love their Playball activities every Monday ! The aim of Playball is to introduce young children to constructive and enjoyable sport participation through various age-appropriate programs. All of the programs have a "multi-activity" approach, ensuring a competent foundation in all the popular sports played at school. Check out these active kids :)

Science week!
October 23, 2019
This week is science week. We are enjoying fun activities in all our classes. In the Infants Room we talked about materials and discussed what caused to float or sink. We predicted, tested and recorded. All classes went outside to explore the environment in beautiful Blackrock. Some classes were looking at the Autumn changes and other classes were engaged in engineering projects. On Wednesday, Digiwiz visited all classes. We made drawing robots and we used 3D pens. We used our 'maths eyes' to count and plan found items for Autumn art activities. In St. Michael's we love science and maths and are working towards our DPSM award.

Outdoor Play
September 22, 2019
We are really enjoying outdoors time during this beautiful September.

The Hazel Room
September 22, 2019
We are having a busy and enjoyable September in our new Hazel Room. Our friends from the Oak Room visit us everyday for our Good Morning Group. We go for a walk everyday and we bring back Autumn nuts and leaves to our Autumn Gnome. We love exercising in our Fuinneamh Group and go to football on a Thursday in the Rockies. We work everyday at our workstations and some of us enjoy writing and decorating our Gratitude Journals. We are painting and decorating our hazel tree display. We are looking forward to plenty of more fun activities and outings in October.

Movement Breaks
September 08, 2019
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Daily activity helps boost balance, motor function, brain function, and cognition. Movement increases blood and oxygen flow, which positively affects cognitive development, physical health, and mental well-being. Our Oak Room especially enjoy a short burst of Yoga !

Happy Summer Holidays
June 26, 2019
Wishing all our families Happy Summer Holidays and see you back in school on the 27th August 2019!

Goodbye 6th Class
June 25, 2019
Today we had our end of year assembly. We also said goodbye to our 6th Class and wish them the very very best in Ashton

Marine Explorers
June 03, 2019
Click on the link to Zoe and Siena's Blog to see what 3rd and 4th class have been up to!

Irish Tips for Parents
May 26, 2019
Click on the link to read how to support your child in learning the Irish Language.

U7's Blitz
May 15, 2019
Every Thursday we all play football with John Holly from St Michael's Gaelic Football Club. We love it and it keeps us fit. Many pupils from our school play with the club at the weekend.This photo is from the under 7 blitz . Can you recognise some junior faces????-

Dinosaurs visit St. Michael's
May 12, 2019
The Tyrannosaurus Rex was one of the most fearsome meat eaters of the Cretaceous age- 66 million years ago! It means King of the Tyrant lizards in ancient Greek and a full grown one could weigh up to seven tonnes! We were so excited to have some dinosaurs visit us at school this week. We saw some amazing fossils and learned some interesting facts. We discovered that Jurassic Park the movie contains a lot of inaccuracies about dinosaurs. GaryD, the dino-minder was very impressed with how much St Michael's pupils already knew about dinos!!
Click the link for a list of dinosaurs :) https://www.kids-dinosaurs.com/different-types-of-dinosaurs.html

2019 DPSM Submission
May 01, 2019
View our Discovery Primary Science and Maths Submission for the 2019 Award. Click here to see the submission

Tog Amach Mé
April 09, 2019
Rinne dalta ó rang 5 fiseán ceol lena cairde do Seachtain na Gaeilge 2019!! Click here for the video.

Useful Links
April 08, 2019
We have put some interesting links to leaflets and websites about Language Development and our religious programme, 'Follow Me' on the Useful Links page.

Thank You
March 25, 2019
Thank you to the parents of St. Michael's and the Parents Association who came in on Saturday and made some huge improvements to our playground. The pupils were delighted when they arrived back to school on Monday.

Peregrine Falcons
March 21, 2019
We had really interesting presentation by a 2nd class pupil on peregrine falcons. Click on the link and be ready to be amazed!

Junior Room Trip
January 29, 2019
Read all about the Junior Room trip to Blackrock Castle Observatory in our school blog!

Our New Classroom
December 18, 2018
Some of our Junior Room went to see how the construction was progressing on our new classroom and to meet the builders

Elfie Saves Christmas
December 11, 2018
The Junior Room went to the panto 'Elfie Saves Christmas' We had so much fun singing songs and dancing.

RSE Pamphlet
December 12, 2018
Click on 'Parents Information' for a new document issued by the HSE about talking to children about their bodies, sexuality and relationships.

Armistice Day Assembly
November 12, 2018
‘You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.'
(Matthew 5.14-16)
On November 9th we joined St Luke's Douglas for a special Armistice Day assembly with prayers for peace. This was a lovely occasion for both schools to meet , sing and pray together. Bishop Colton has gifted each school with an olive Tree as we learned during the assembly that an olive branch is a symbol of peace.

Welcome to our New Junior Infants!
October 02, 2018
We are happy and proud to introduce our new Junior Infants class.

Junior Infants
September 16, 2018
We are so delighted to welcome our 10 new Junior Infants, Luke, RuaidhrÃ, Yann, Denis, Amelia, Cathy, Matilda, Ellen, BláithÃn and Isaac. We have met all the mums and dads and we look forward to sharing this journey together for the next 8 years. Below are some tips from the NCCA on some ways to support your Junior Infant's education.
https://www.ncca.ie/media/1406/helping_your_child_in_junior_and_senior_infants.pdf
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Next week we will have a group photo of our little stars.

News
June 24, 2018
We have had a very exciting week! On Thursday we showcased 'Alice The Musical' which was a resounding success. All the pupils worked very hard to ensure that it was a triumph. We were so busy - we forgot to take a photo of the cast! On Friday we had our End of Year Service where we said goodbye to our 6th class pupils. This is always a bittersweet time as we want them to start their secondary school career but are very sad to see them go. Read all about it in Darragh's Blog. Our end of year newsletter is up for everyone to read.
It is very important to continue reading over Summer break.There are loads of suggestions by age on the following link : http://www.librariesireland.ie/summer-stars/recommended-reads-for-children/
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Stay safe in the sun with advice from the article below http://www.schooldays.ie/articles/Keeping-kids-safe-in-the-sun
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Your child will have completed these tests this year and on their report card (1st class up)you will see a STEN score.This is explained below.Please note these tests are very limited and only represent a 'snap shot' of the child in these areas on that particular day.Please make an appointment to see the class teacher if you wish to discuss this or have any concerns or questions. https://www.ncca.ie/media/1429/understanding-standardscores_eng.pdf

Sports Day
June 14, 2018
What a fun day filled with egg and spoon races, sack races, obstacle course, long jump and Rev. David Bowles in goal for our penalty shootout! Thank you to all our parent volunteers.

New Primary Language Curriculum
May 24, 2018
On 24th May all the teaching staff attended the 2nd of 2 initial training days in Cork Education Support Centre to prepare for the implementation of a new language curriculum in September 2018.We as teachers feel very positive about the new focus and are really looking forward to introducing this.There will be further training opportunities for the teachers next year.We will be focused very strongly on learner outcomes.The document 'New Primary Language Curriculum for English and Irish - junior infants to second class' contains some answers to questions asked by parents.

Follow Seamus the Leprechaun
May 20, 2018
Follow Seamus St.Michaels the Travelling Leprechaun as he visits boys and girls all around the world. Click on 'The Travelling Leprechaun' page.

Digital Art Week 2018
April 30, 2018
One of our 5th Class pupils won a prize for the best piece of art work submitted to 'Digital Art Week 2018'. You can click on the site to see all the other wonderfully creative entries from our school.

START Competition 2018
March 14, 2018
Today 6th Class put together their video submission for the START 2018 Competition. Please check under 'Our Projects' to see the video and the results of their clinical trial called 'Assistive Memory Techniques'.

Stay Safe
March 07, 2018
Dear Parents,
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Over the next few weeks we will begin teaching the Stay Safe element of our SPHE curriculum.The following is a link to the content and some useful information Please feel free to discuss any concerns with class teachers.
Annemarie O Donovan
http://www.staysafe.ie/PDFs/Parents/Stay%20Safe-Parents%20Guide.pdf
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ScrÃobh Leabhair
March 07, 2018
Gach blian, BÃonn deis ag na páistà a gcuid leabhair féin a scrÃobh agus iad a roinnt le ScoÃleanna eile. Is à aidhm na scéime seo (eagraithe ag Foras na Gaelige) ná na páistà a spreagadh chun tabhairt faoi leabhair Ghaeilge a scrÃobh agus a léamh.

Ecole St. Joseph Receives A Surprise
February 01, 2018
Yesterday our eTwinning School, Ecole St Joseph, in Carquefou France received our parcel we sent them. Their teacher sent us this lovely message this morning....
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Good evening,
Lot of happiness today shared with all the pupils thanks to your package and all the surprises we found inside. They asked me if I agree with the idea to really play with the hurleys... They could play next week !
The hurley with our two school names is very well thought and well done. Thanks for all... The school calendar, the cd, the Irish pencils, the two books who make reference about the Irish history and the favourite jokes ! Thank you so much to you and all your pupils.
Marie-E

The Adventures of Dr. Tim Jackson
January 23, 2018
Today the Senior Room had a very special guest - Dr. Timothy Jackson. Dr Jackson has previously served on the Board of Management and is a great friend to our school. We were amazed to hear all his exciting stories of his exciting stories and his experiences of his overland journey from Ireland to Pakistan and his time as a junior doctor in Quetta. You can see a video on his visit on our facebook page. www.facebook.com/stmichaelscoi
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Santa came to visit today!
December 22, 2017
Santa came to visit all the boys and girls in school today and to wish them all a very Merry Christmas.

eTwinning with our partner school in Carquefou, France
December 18, 2017
Read Okwu's blog today on the 'grande suprise' we received from our eTwinning school today!

Nativity Play
December 08, 2017
We have just had our final rehearsal for our nativity play this year called the 'Christmas Jigsaw'. We will be performing at 11h30 on Sunday 10 December at St Michael's COI Church.

Rowing Blitz
November 26, 2017
Read all about the Rowing Blitz on our blog page.

News Update!
November 09, 2017
One of our First Class girls did a fantastic job at the World Karate Championships in London by winning a gold and bronze medal in her category. Catch up on our blog with all the latest happenings. Charlotte (Middle Room) tells us all about their trip to the Cork Pops and Juno from the (Junior Room) tells us about the Lord Mayor's Visit. Remember to follow us on Twitter and Facebook for up-to-the minute happenings!

The Senior Room goes rowing.
October 17, 2017
The Senior Room started their 5 week rowing programme with Blackrock Rowing Club today. We are going to have some sore muscles tomorrow from working out on the rowing machines!!

Whats new in October
October 03, 2017
Check out all the new and exciting happenings that are going on in October!
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During Space Week (04 - 10 October) and Maths Week (16 - 20 October) we have a host of exciting activities planned for the pupils. Check out the School Blog and School Activities for more information.
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We are also preparing to start a brand new project called the 'Blue Star Programme', (have a look under 'Our Projects') which will teach us about and give us a chance to be an active member in the European Union!

What's new for September!
September 19, 2017
Have a quick look at all the exciting happenings in St. Michael's at the moment!
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We have recently been eTwinned with St. Joseph's de Carquefou in France as part of a collaborative project with our Senior Room. Check it out under projects.
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Ms. Mythen has exciting news all about the Aistear learning that is taking place in the Junior Room. Ms. O'Brien has been practicing 'mindful listening' with the Middle Room. You can read all these exciting updates in the school blog.

Digital School of Distinction.
St. Michael's has been awarded the Digital Schools of Distinction Flag! See excerpts from the report under 'Our Projects'

Final School Assembly
June 22, 2017
Today we had our final assembly. Each student in the school received a book to read over the summer and a presentation was made to the 6 pupils in 6th class. We are very sorry to see them go and but so excited for them to start Ashton in September. We wish them the very very best of luck! We have some lovely photos in our school blog of their final year here at St. Michael's.

School Sports Day
June 21, 2017
See some photos of the fun day we had in our school blog.

A Date with Debate!
June 19, 2017
It is better to debate a question without settling it than to settle a question without debating it. - Joseph Joubert
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St Luke's Mixed National School Montenotte visited us today for a friendly debating competition with the Senior Room. Both sides performed very well and the topics were well researched and argued. We then enjoyed some lunch and a game of soccer afterwards.
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Rockies GAA - Blackrock Hurling Club
June 15, 2017
Today was our last hurling session for the year with the Rockies at the Blackrock Hurling Club. Thanks so much to Pat and the team. WE LOVE HURLING!

Discovery Primary Science Award
January 01, 2020
We have been awarded our Plaque of STEM Excellence from the Science Foundation Ireland. Well done to all the pupils who worked hard on their Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths challenges to achieve this. You can view the full presentation under 'Our Projects'.

Inter-School Sports for Small Schools
June 08, 2017
Yesterday we took part in the Inter-School Sports with 9 other schools. We came away with 4 Golds, 1 Silver and 4 Bronzes. Read all about it in the 'School Blog'.

Junior Room Tour to Fota
June 06, 2017
The Junior Room went to Fota on Friday. Read all about it in the blog written by Fiona (2nd class) in 'School Blog'

What a Trophy!!
June 06, 2017
Two of our 2nd class girls were part of the winning team in the 'Rockies Street Leagues' for camogie. They won the very impressive 'Frances McCarthy Perpetual Cup' - WELL DONE GIRLS!

Water Explorers National Finalist!
May 16, 2017
Today we were awarded a National Finalist Award for Water Explorers. This is a massive achievement for our school as we only started the initiative after Easter and managed to get into the Top 5 schools in the country!! We are very proud of our school and all the hard work they put in to achieve this wonderful accolade.

Fireman John Came to Visit
May 04, 2017
Fireman John from Anglesea Street Firestation in Cork came to talk to us all about Health and Safety when it comes to fire. We learnt which things cause fires and which things are safer to use. It's a HOT topic! :-)

Crawford Gallery Tour
April 25, 2017
The Senior Room went on a tour of the Crawford Gallery and then had lunch in Fitzgerald Park. What a lovely day we had.

All Aboard 2017
April 20, 2017
St. Michael's N.S. has received a gold award from Allaboard 2017 in recognition of our digital learning!

Swimming Gala
March 24, 2017
Our pupils did very well in the swimming gala today. We came home with some medals too! Well done St. Michael's NS.

Evening Echo
March 23, 2017
St. Michael's N.S. was featured in Kid Zone in the Evening Echo today. We were so excited and proud to see the pupils representing our school.
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At the moment due to Covid-19 restrictions after school activities have been suspended.
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At St. Michael's we usually enjoy a great range of extra curricular and after school activities. In the past these have included swimming, soccer, Gaelic Football, hockey, rowing, Lego, tennis, guitar, arts and craft. We are looking forward to when we can start these again.
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Creative Schools Week 2021
Ms Bowden organised our whole school collaborative mural for Creative Schools Week using the theme 'Brave New Future'. Check out our video!
During the last school term 'The Rowan Room' participated in the 'Discover Cork, Schools Heritage Project'.
This is a competition, open to all primary schools in the city and is organised by Cllr. Kieran McCarthy. The project encourages all participants to investigate, document and engage with the history of our wonderful city.
We were delighted to have two category winners in the Rowan Room.
'Blackrock: Then and Now' was awarded 2nd place in the 'Best Film' category and 'Beautiful Blackrock' was awarded 1st place in the 'Primary Group' Category.
A massive congratulations to our winners and all who participated!
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