St Michael's at the Movies!

The school hall was packed to capacity as our P3-7 pupils put on a show based on famous songs from the movies. We had Blues Brothers, Muppets and Shreks as well as a host of other well known movie numbers. A big thank you to all who helped make the show a success and also to those who sponsored our raffle prizes.

P1/2 Nativity Play

The pupils from Ms Quinn's class were the stars on show as parents and the Little People playgroup came to our school to see their Nativity play. Here we have the class accepting the applause on stage from a very entertained audience!

Vicious Vikings

The boys and girls from P5-7 spent an enjoyable morning at Navan Fort in Armagh learning all about the Vikings. Time was spent listening to stories in the viking house;writing like monks in the scriptorium and best of all....learning to fight like Vikings. An excellent trip that help bring the topic of Vikings to life.

Credit Union Art Competition

Congratulations to Carol Cooke and Laura Berga from P7 who came 2nd and 3rd in the recent Credit Union Poster Competition. Both girls will receive their prizes from the Newtownhamilton Credit Union in the near future.

Help your Child with Maths

The recent parent's night was well supported as many attended to listen to advice from Primary Maths expert, Timothy Doyle. Timothy showed many strategies that parents could use to help their child with Maths. Iain Smith from 3E learning also demonstrated the excellent online learning platform of Mathletics. All pupils have a unique log in name and password for Mathletics and feedback from pupils is very positive. If you haven't already..... give Mathletics a go. Pupils who have lost their log in details can get their details from their teacher.

Cake Sale in Aid of HAND

Our cake sale in support of the HAND charity which organises the annual Run for Autism in the town was a great success. A total of £175 raised!! This is a local charity which we are proud to support every year. Thank you to all parents and pupils who supported this great fundraiser.

Bird Box Club

A new after schools club for our P.7 pupils starts on Wednesday. This original club involves pupils cutting,measuring and painting wood to construct bird boxes. The club will be led by Michael McElroy and the finished boxes will be situated around the school grounds to offer shelter to our feathery visitors. This club kicks off the schools extended schools program

for the year. There will be clubs on offer to all classes at different stages of the year.

Swimming

Swimming for P5/6/7 starts on Thursday 13th of September.

Welcome Back

A huge welcome back to all the pupils of St. Michael's and especially to our new P1 children. Parents are reminded that the breakfast club is open every day from 8.15-8.45 am and costs 50p per child. To help our new children in Primary 1 settle into school, hometime will be 1pm for the month of September. From Monday 1st October it will be 2pm.

Soccer Cup Winners

Well done to the St. Michael's PS soccer team who won the Newtownhamilton Perpetual cup for the second year in a row. The team won all their games scoring an impressive 14 goals. After topping the group and winning a close semi final, the team beat a gallant Lisnadill PS in the final. Many thanks to Mr Teggart and Newtownhamilton PS for organising the blitz.

P6/7 Get Cooking!

Our P6/7 children are currently attending after schools cooking classes run by our resident cookery expert, Jacinta. The 6 week course has an Olympic theme with a competing country represented each week. China was the focus this week and the delicious smell of sweet and sour chicken filled the school corridors. Chopsticks and fortune cookies also added to the occasion.

BOOK FAIR

The Scholastic Book Fair was held in school last week. The school sold close to £400 worth of books and earned our school 40%commission for our school. Thank you to the pupils and parents who supported the fair.

Tag Rugby

St. Michael's played St. Teresa's from Tullyherron in Tag Rugby last week. This was our school's first game of tag rugby and comes after our recent successful after schools club.

Lights, Camera, Mathemagic!

The P5-7 pupils attended Lights,Camera, Mathemagic in St. Patrick's PS, Cullyhanna. The production was a magic show with numbers and is sponsored by Northern Bank. The pupils were treated to a range of tricks that brought Maths to life. Thank you to Mr O'Hanlon and St.Patrick's for inviting us to the show.

Confirmation

Well Done to the boys and girls in P.7 who made their Confirmation in St. Patrick's Chapel,Cullyhanna. An important milestone in our pupils spiritual development was marked with a beautiful ceremony and as you can see,

the fashion on show was of a high standard.

CASE Awards

Well done to all the pupils who completed the CASE programme in school. CASE stands for Community and Safety Education and lessons were taught by PSNI community links Officer Rachel. The topics covered range from stranger danger and road safety in Key Stage 1 to Self esteem and Citizenship in Key Stage 2.

Well done Aidan!

Congratulations to Aidan Davidson in P.7 who represented the school at half time in the recent Armagh v Down match at the Athletic Grounds. Aidan chipped over a point and also had the added bonus of seeing Armagh win......a rare thing according to Mr Quinn!! Well Done Aidan.

Art Workshop

Our local Little People playgroup joined Ms Quinn's P1/2 class for an Art workshop recently. Artist Diane McKevitt took along her friend Oscar to meet the children and the children had to make new friends for Oscar using a variety of materials. An excellent creative morning was finished with a play session in our soft playarea. Well done to all involved.

Energy Efficiency

Laurence from Bryson House Energy visits to talk to P5/6/7 about Energy Efficiency. The children discovered how to preserve energy around their homes and at school and got to sample some of the materials that are used in making our homes more energy efficient.

Trocaire Fundraiser

The recent Trocaire fundraiser made £100.00. Well done to all the pupils who came in for the day dressed up as what they would like to be when they grow up. We had nurses, firemen, pop stars and even some future Liverpool players. Here we have Miss Carragher's class enjoying the day.

Well Done Conor!

Congratulations to Conor Davidson in P.7 who represented the school at half time in the Armagh v Cork match at the Athletic Grounds.

Credit Union Quiz

The school were represented by two teams in the annual Credit Union Quiz in Dorsey Community Center on Friday night. The P6 acquitted themselves well in a very strong field and our P7 team acquired a prize as they finished a credible 3rd. Well done to all concerned.

New Term, New Clubs!

The after school clubs for this term are in full swing with something on offer for all classes. The New cookery club for P1/2 started this week with the lovely smell of cooked buns filling the corridors and classrooms! Tag Rugby is available on Wednesdays for our P5-7 children and our P3/4 children have a Get Active club on Tuesdays. Parents are not being left out either as our new class for the Parents Computer club also started this week. All classes are free courtesy of the Extended schools scheme.

St. Michael's tops Santa's list for 2011

Santa was a very welcome visitor to our school before the Christmas Holidays. He took time out of his busy schedule to officially open our new soft surface playground and visit all the classes to deliver a gift to each pupil. Many thanks go out to the local Firemen who kindly gave Santa a lift in one of the Fire Engines as the reindeer were too busy getting ready for Christmas. The local press were in attendance to capture Santa's visit and great pictures are in the current editions of the Crossmaglen Examiner and Armagh Down Observer.