top of page
Creative Schools Programme logo.png

Ardagh NS has been chosen to take part in Arts’ Council Creative Schools Programme for 2020/21 and 2021/22.

The Scoileanna Ildánacha/Creative Schools initiative aims to put the arts and creativity at the heart of children and young people’s lives.

Creative Schools is a flagship initiative of the Creative Ireland Programme to enable the creative potential of every child. Creative Schools is led by the Arts Council in partnership with the Department of Education and Skills and the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. Creative Schools, formerly Arts Rich Schools/Arís, draws on the commitments set out in the Arts in Education Charter.

This initiative will understand, develop and celebrate the arts and creativity in our school. It will establish a range of collaborative opportunities for our school and will develop and strengthen the relationships between the school and the broader cultural and community infrastructure within which we operate. The long term aim is for every school to be supported to fully embrace the arts and creativity, ensuring a positive experience and strong outcomes for children and young people.

As part of this programme our school has been assigned a Creative Associate who will work with the school. Creative Associates are artists, creative practitioners and/or educators with an understanding of the arts and creativity and its potential to transform the lives of children and young people. Creative Associates match the needs of schools to arts and creative opportunities in their locality. They identify potential areas for improvement and inspire, energise and drive schools forward in addressing these.

 

Keep an eye on our blog and Twitter accounts for more updates on this exciting creative journey.

karen bio (1).JPG

Karen Webster our Creative Associate

Karen is a ceramicist and a painter with particular interest in arts and ecology. She has a MA(Res), investigating the role art can play in engaging children with environmental education. Karen is a tutor with the Eco Arts Practice course at CCAD, a Heritage in Schools specialist and delivers training for youth workers, teachers and educators nationwide. 

What Did I Miss ?

Workshop for 5th and 6th Class

Our Creative School’s Associative Lucy Hill informed us of a workshop being facilitated by The Ark Children’s Cultural Centre, Dublin.  On Thursday 6th May, two artists "zoomed in" and onto our classroom's digital whiteboard for a 90 minute interactive workshop. Illustrator Duffy Mooney Sheppard and playwright Kate Heffernan facilitated a really interesting and fun workshop in speech writing and visual art. The workshop reflected the themes of a new play which The Ark will "live stream” to our classroom in June. The play by Shaun Dunne entitled "What Did I Miss?" is  a story about primary school children's experiences in 6th class - and those that are going through the transition from primary to secondary school education during a pandemic. During the workshop we created memory books of our years in Ardagh N.S. We travelled back in time to our first day in Junior Infants. Next, we illustrated through art and language how school has changed during the pandemic and then finally we moved to the future and imagined ourselves in sixty years’ time.

 

Here are 6th Class during the zoom workshop with The Ark.

The workshop with “The Ark” inspired us to write about our memories of this past year. We brainstormed our ideas, collaborated and wrote this poem during creative writing class.

 

 

 

Always Remember

Student Elections, Book Character Day,

The Nativity Christmas Play.

Skipping ropes and hula hoops,

Lots of footballs on the roof.

Science Blast trips to Dublin City,

None this year, what a pity!

 

Swimming sessions in Ballina Pool,

Chanting “SHOP” on the bus back to school,

“Run around Europe”, “The Daily Mile”,

Keeping active with a smile.

Obstacle courses, walkway routes,

6th class beat the teachers, that’s the truth!

 

Cross country running gave us a stitch,

Training for weeks on Ardagh Pitch.

Cumann na mBunscol, Mini 7’s,

In pouring rain from the Heavens.

No football again this year,

When it returns we’ll give a great cheer.

 

Our colourful art on the wall,

Brightening up the dark school hall.

Bua na Cainte, Mental Maths,

Learning lots of History facts,

Handwriting and Friday tests,

Always trying to do our best.

 

Laptops and iPads , Whiteboards and chalk,

Friday Assemblies and time to talk.

Fun in the playground every day,

Hoping the rain would stay at bay.

Some great memories have been made,

Let’s make sure they never fade.

 

 

Corona Virus, Covid nineteen

And all that happened in between

Lockdowns and Home-schooling

Teachers’ Seesawing and Zooming.

Cautious return to Bubbles and Pods,

“Have you sanitized your hands?”

“Yes, I nod.”

 

Eight years completed, it’s time to move on,

Those infant days are long gone.

I’m proud of myself, I’ve accomplished a lot,

I’m thankful for the friends and teachers I’ve got.

Let’s hope next year is Covid free,

                    Watch out secondary school, here comes me!

 

Written by 5th & 6th Class, Ardagh N.S 2021

00:00 / 02:11

Creative School Week 2021

Brave New Future

10TH -17TH May

Here in Ardagh NS we enjoyed participating in our first 'Creative Schools Week' this year. Each classroom explored and experimented with a variety of creative processes and produced some amazing art work. 

 

Junior and Senior Infants

Junior and Senior Infants were very busy this week being very creative.

Here they are modeling their fantastic paper collage crowns.

They are seen here using chalk pastels to create wonderful pictures.

The boys and girls are very proud of the lovely Mr Potato Heads they made this week too.

1st and 2nd Class

The boys and girls in 1st and 2nd class enjoyed some weaving activities this week.

They also made a coil pot each using clay . To celebrate Mayo Day they printed Mayo flags using items they found around the classroom.

3rd and 4th Class

In 3rd and 4th class the children created fantastic mono-prints using printing ink and lino as can be seen from the display of pictures below.

They also explored with colour and paint while using a marbling technique to produce beautiful and unique decorative pieces. 

The boys and girls of 3rd and 4th class can be seen below enjoying creating birds nest using clay.

5th and 6th Class

The boys and girls from 5th and 6th class can be seen here exploring paint and colour as they create fantastically colourful Hot Air Balloons.

5th & 6th class chose chocolate and sweet wrappers as the theme for their Pop Art lesson.

They used view finders to zoom in on part of the wrapper and then recreated the images using crayon, markers and paint.

5th and 6th pop art.jpg

5th &  6th Class studied some of the paintings of Jack B yeats. The spectacular oil painting - titled A Fair Day, Mayo - was painted in 1925 and once hung in the office of Eamon de Valera when he was leader of the newly formed Fianna Fail.

 This painting inspired our festivals and shows drawings. We tried to capture the excitement and atmosphere of the crowds at Heritage Day, Ballina, The Mardi Gras and Fireworks Night , Ballina, The Duck Race on The Moy, The Funfair, The Bonniconlon Show, The Pig Race in Crossmolina , The Tullamore Show and  others.

20210514_115359_edited.jpg

Creative School Workshop in the Senior Classes

In December 2021 5th and 6th Class enjoyed three workshops on Multimedia Design with the artist Orla Casey. It was a wonderful opportunity to develop our artistic and creative skills using technology. We worked on our designs using our new chrome books and produced some great prints by the end of the lessons. It was challenging at times but very enjoyable and we learned many new skills which we have been practising and improving on since the workshop.

Creative School Workshop in 3rd and 4th class.

January 2022 

3rd and 4th class had the pleasure of a wonderful workshop with illustrator Melanie Whelan.

We had lots of fun playing sketching games and brainstorming  fantastic characters.  #creativeschool

Creative School Workshop in Junior and Senior Infants

The children in Junior and Senior Infants enjoyed working with the artist Carmel Balfe to create these lovely puppets. 

IMG_20240320_125626_resized_20240320_125720289.jpg

Junior Classroom making use of our Sports Equipment on a Sunny Break Time. Yard markings have proved to be masterful when providing us with ideas for Active Breaks.

A general view of a busy yard at Break Time

IMG_20240320_125630_resized_20240320_125720081.jpg

GYMNASTICS

In Ardagh N.S. we enjoy flexing our muscles and stretching our minds. We might n't be the next Simone Biles or Rhys McClenaghan but we realise the importance of balance, forward rolls and bridges to build up our cores.

IMG_7137.jpg
IMG_7138.jpg
IMG_7141.jpg

Outdoor activities and Adventure games underline the importance of teamwork and cool minds!

IMG_7146.jpg

In Ardagh N.S. we love to try new sports. Based on the same concept of Rounders we tried our hand at Cricket. Watch out The Oval, Lords and Old Trafford Cricket Grounds

IMG_20240319_121053_resized_20240320_094358808.jpg

ACTIVE WALKWAY

Our Active Walkway has been given a new lease of life over the last few years!

As part of our Spring Clean 2024 we have polished up and straighten the signs! Pupils partake in numerous activities such as Maths, English, Geography and even Well Being!

Our walkway measures 250 metres from start to finish and forms an integral trail for our Daily Mile!                    Squatting, burpees, planks and press ups are regular sights on a Monday morning!

IMG_20240319_122050_resized_20240320_094052521.jpg
IMG_20240319_121958_resized_20240320_094052763.jpg
IMG_20240319_122134_resized_20240320_094052309.jpg
IMG_20240319_122111_resized_20240320_094052418.jpg
IMG_20240319_121439_resized_20240320_094

ATHLETICS

With so many devices and apps dominating pupils' attention these days, it can be a challenge to tempt them out of their bedrooms and into the fresh air.

That said, it might surprise you to learn that running and athletics is the third most popular sporting activity in 7-11 year olds after active play and team sports. And it’s the fourth most popular among 11-16 year olds.

But children’s activity levels dropping to the tune of 15% over the last few years since the Covid-19 pandemic, it might be time to help them rekindle their love of exercise.

We all know about the health benefits of running for adults, from improvements in productivity to better mental health and a healthier diet – and kids are no different.

IMG_20240319_114335_resized_20240320_095538864.jpg
IMG_20240319_114509_resized_20240320_095538769.jpg
IMG_20240319_114201_resized_20240320_095

We enjoyed hopping, skipping, dodging, sidestepping and relay races to help us develop our athletic skills. We worked as a team as we successfully passed the batons. It is important to focus on our running technique so as to minimise our energy usage whilst being efficient on our distance travelled.

IMG_20240319_120352_resized_20240320_094440176.jpg
image_50425345.jpg

Our Active Slogan
 
 








Dancing



 

IMG_20240321_142859_resized_20240321_022917141.jpg

We had a brilliant get together to celebrate our national saint-Saint Patrick. We donned plenty of green and showed our moves on the dance floor!

IMG_20240315_121844_resized_20240315_122021033.jpg
IMG_20240315_121850_resized_20240315_122020660.jpg
IMG_20240315_121608_resized_20240315_122022066.jpg

Swimming







Senior Classes refreshed after a lesson in Ballina Swimming Pool

We enjoyed learning about Jamaican Athletics and our Hero











 

20240320_150304.jpg
IMG_20240322_105444_resized_20240322_105
IMG_20240322_120649_resized_20240322_120746666.jpg

Anyone see a "BOLT" of Lightening??

Getting Active for those Rainy Days

IMG_20240322_115358_resized_20240322_115532642.jpg
IMG_20240322_115423_resized_20240322_120819374.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We encourage our classes to partake in as many sports as possible

DAILY MILE

8 laps of our Active Walkway was the equivalent of one running  whole mile. We encouraged all pupils to jog the distance and were free to walk/jog/walk at first to build up their stamina. We went easy on our Junior Classroom who had to navigate a route of 1km! 

IMG_20240320_130009_resized_20240320_010101081.jpg
IMG_20240319_122522_resized_20240325_020410676.jpg

Easter EGG HUNT

IMG_20240322_115648_resized_20240322_120818675.jpg
IMG_20240322_115619_resized_20240322_120819117.jpg
IMG_20240322_115638_resized_20240322_120818900.jpg
IMG_20240322_121013_resized_20240325_021914743.jpg

Burning calories as we set off and succeed in finding those hidden Easter eggs. When can we enjoy them now??

Getting Ready for Active Schools Week 23/24

IMG_20240322_133228_resized_20240325_021

Playground Leaders

Our 6th Class helping our Infants master the various skipping skills










After a tough battle in the Ballina Area Semi Final v Breaffy N.S.
Unfortunately we fell short by 2 points






Success in Ardagh/Crossmolina/Kilfian/Ballycastle section







Enjoying our annual Book Character Parade 23
https://twitter.com/i/status/1718286206645973233


Girls enjoying the Mini 7s Blitz in Crossmolina








Junior Classroom on tour in Belleek Woods







Celebrating Success with our Local Ladies Club-McHale Rovers









We look for any excuse to be active!!
















Getting Ready for the Thrills and Spills of Ballina Area Cross Country Sept 23 
 
 

Having a Mini Table Tennis Tournament for European Week of Sport 2023









Building up those arms and legs muscles on School Tour









Getting Ready for a Fun Day at Enniscrone Beach 23








Some useful Websites we have communicated with:

https://www.mayo.ie/sportspartnership
https://www.facebook.com/MoyValleyAthleticClub/
Lands Paw Water Safety Programme      https://www.teachpaws.ie/ 














 

IMG_20240320_110416_resized_20240320_110924895.jpg
IMG_20240320_105920_resized_20240325_024252011.jpg

<img src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F-k8jPPWsAA8DFB?format=jpg&name=small" alt="Image"/>

image.png

<img src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F-bTBJRWMAAPeNC?format=jpg&name=small" alt="Image"/>

image.png
F9UOMc3WAAAA4SX.jpeg
F81AaHRWQAAnJWn.jpeg
F8lRKHwW4AATE72.jpeg
F8lRKW6XsAA7QGR (1).jpeg
GEEqiyzW8AAn2gu.jpeg
F7M5klXXYAE48cv.jpeg
FzpEKhLXwAQvKUk.jpeg
FzOhkw3X0AEJjSZ.jpeg
FynZTyuWIAAvHF8.jpeg

Taking a time-out to relax our minds and bodies before school activities commence...

FyGlKTjWYAIemZm.jpeg

Giving our GAA Boys Team a joyous send off before they head for McHale Park for the Div 3 County Final 2023

Looking forward to the Kenny Cup 2023 Belleek Park

Active Sports Week 22/23

Fyv4u6HXsAIeOhr.jpeg
FzFZnzHWwAEW2kH.jpeg
FzFZsjcWAAoRmSm.jpeg
FzFfEotWAAU6XnP.jpeg
Fzc-HWVWAAMEk2K.jpeg

 

 

Past Puils visiting us during Active Schools Week 2023 with the All Ireland U14 LGFA Cup

Junior Infants to 2nd Class enjoying their School Tour in the Dome at the Connaught GAA Centre in Bekan

FxEoAVmWAAcs1hS.jpeg
FxFJOaSWwCoBxRy.jpeg
FxFJOaEWwBcBq0Z.jpeg
FwVUGSeXwAY66WD.jpeg

Ardagh N.S. Girls Team who lost the County Semi Final by 1 point    May 2023

FwUWSpbWIAAksDq.jpeg

Ready for Action at the Anthony Golden Hurling Blitz 23

More Pictures from ASW 23

FvRgibYWcAE1XTP.jpeg
FvRghYeXwAMNeRp.jpeg

Out in the Fresh Air for a Nature Walk 23

FuuWN9MWIAADKAN.jpeg
FuuWQn2XgAEht6y.jpeg
bottom of page