School Events
We are delighted to announce that Ratoath Senior National School has been successful in securing funding through the Meta Data Centre Community Action Grants 2026 programme.
Our application, submitted in November 2025, has been awarded €23,194!
This funding will allow the school to purchase a new set of iPads and LEGO® SPIKE education sets to support and enhance STEAM learning throughout the school.
Through the Creative Schools Initiative and with support from Meta, we aim to build a sustainable, community-led STEAM programme that strengthens digital literacy, creativity and problem-solving for learners of all ages.
Our Creativity, Coding & Connections project aims to:
• Improve STEAM participation through hands-on coding and robotics.
• Build leadership by training older pupils to mentor younger classes.
• Foster digital creativity through collaborative film-making using iMovie
• Strengthen staff capacity to deliver modern STEAM programmes.
• Deepen community engagement through shared workshops.
• Ensure inclusive access so all learners benefit from technology.
We are extremely grateful to Meta for supporting our project and investing in the educational opportunities available to our pupils. We are especially proud that this is the first time the school has been successful in this grant programme and we look forward to the positive impact these resources will have across our school community.
Over the coming months, these new resources and STEAM activities will be introduced in classrooms, with the support and collaboration of our teachers, SNAs, pupils, parents and the Board of Management to maximise their impact for all learners.
We look forward to sharing updates as the project progresses.
13th March 2026 - Seachtain na Gaeilge & Lá Glas
We had a fantastic Seachtain na Gaeilge this year, finishing with a fun-filled Lá Glas!
Each day, pupils used Frásaí don Lae (Phrase of the Day) such as “Dé do bheathasa!”, “Cabhraigh liom le do thoil” and “Bhain mé sult as…”. Our “Labhair Gaeilge Liomsa!” initiative encouraged everyone to speak Irish, with raffles and prizes for those making an effort, maith sibh!
Classes enjoyed a variety of activities throughout the week, including:
· Cluichí Gaeilge (Irish games) like Deir Ó Grádaigh and Luch, luch, cat
· A Tráth na gCeist (quiz) with group work and prizes
· A Seanfhocail (proverb) poster based on “Ní neart go cur le chéile”
· Irish lessons filled with amhráin (songs), dánta (poems), damhsa (dance) and biongó trí Ghaeilge (bingo through Irish)
Rábhlóga (Tongue Twisters)
As part of our our Gaelbhratach initiative and Seachtain na Gaeilge celebrations, each class from 3rd to 6th was given a rábhlóg (tongue twister) to practise throughout the month, with a focus on foghraíocht (pronunciation), líofacht (fluency), muinín (confidence) and spraoi (enjoyment).
The classes worked on the following:
· Rang 3: “Rug Liam Rua ar luch ramhar liath.”
· Rang 4: “Seacht sicín ina seasamh sa sneachta lá seaca.”
· Rang 5: “Fear feargach ag faire na farraige fuaire.”
· Rang 6: “Bhí bean ag Joe is bhí banjo ag Joe, bhí banjo ag bean Joe, b’fhearr go deo Joe ar an mbanjo ná bean Joe ar an mbanjo go deo.”
These were practised regularly, helping pupils to build confidence and enjoy using Gaeilge in a fun way.
Lá Glas
The highlight of the week was our Céilí Mór, where pupils took part in traditional dances such as Ballaí Luimnigh, An Damhsa Mór and Staicín Eorna!
Bhí seachtain iontach again!
6th March 2026 - The Quiz Teams compete in the County Final
The school had two winning teams in the local Credit Union quiz who went to Finglas Credit Union for the county final.
The Senior Team was Bella McManus, Aodhán Milne, Katie Moynihan and Jessica Fleming.
The Junior Team was Greg Callibotte, Emmeline Duplaa Hopkins, Lorelai Flinter and Chloe O’Reilly.
Both teams came third in their respective competitions and made it into the National Final on 19th April in the RDS.
We have never had two teams in the National Final before the the whole school is proud of our amazing teams!
18th December 2025 - Santa Visit
The poor school secretary got an awful fright this morning as a garda car pulled up to the school with lights flashing and siren wailing but the gardaí were just escorting a wonderful surprise visitor to the school - Santa!!
The 3rd and 4th classes all went out to speak to him and even the secretary got a hug (he may have mistaken me for one of his elves as I was in costume today!!)
17th December 2025 - The Christmas Raffle
The Christmas Raffle raised a whopping €5,128 for the school this year! Thank you so much for your kind support and to our generous sponsors for the prizes.
The list of winners -
Fire Safety Set won by Bing Fay sold by Zara Fay - Ross Farrell
Blondelles-Hat and scarf set won by Maura Carty sold by Conor Jacques - Aisling Heffernan
Tea Light Holder won by Diana Ntimane sold byChloe Ntimane - Aisling Heffernan
Cleanse Spa Brush won by Liam Deegan sold byLuke Mullen - Miriam Hayes
Neck Messager won by Emily Ellison sold by Aoife Liew Lim Fei - Ailish Cotter
Cosy Night Gift Set won by Lana Doyle sold by Lorelai Flinter - Elaine Kearney
Ruth O’Neill Hair Dressers: Wash and Blow Dry won by Stuartina Ross sold by Charlie Slingsby - Deirdre Donovan
Ruth O’Neill Hair Dressers: Hair Care Set won by Marian Hattie sold by Emma Hattie - Ross Farrell
Ratoath Barbers-€20.00 Voucher won by Stephanie Ryan sold by Juliette Killian - Miriam Hayes
Ratoath Barbers-€20.00 Voucher won by Lynne MacLeod sold by Kate McLoughlin - Finbar McGreevy
Ratoath Barbers-€20.00 Voucher won by Bláithín Hamill sold byLaura Campion - Staff
Rare Breed Butchers:€25.00 vouchers won by Darren Grant sold by Noah Grant - Alan Mulvany
Rare Breed Butchers:€25.00 vouchers won by Aoife Ward sold by Blaire Lawrence - Ger Howard
Our Salon-€25.00 Voucher won by David Boylon sold by Amelia Twomey - Ailish Cotter
Katy’s: 2x 16Inch Pizzas won by Ciaran White sold by Daisy Owens - Ciara Pullen
Pure Bliss-Massage Voucher won by Paula Downes sold by Alex Boland - Elaine Kearney
Ger Conroy’s Gym-One month gym membership won by Christine Graves sold by April Bradley - Ciara Pullen
Ger Conroy’s Gym-One month gym membership won by Steven Moore sold by Louis Moore - Niamh Shaw
Travel Advisors Ratoath-€50 Travel Voucher won by Joan Mills sold by Aoife Mills - Ciara Kennedy
LYK Nu - €50.00 Voucher won by Luke Murphy sold by Luke Mullen - Miriam Hayes
Blondelles-€50.00 Voucher won by Jenny O’Reilly sold by Leighton Carey - Miriam Hayes
La Bucca X €50 voucher won by Sandra O’Donovan sold by Mackenzie Donohoe - Ross Farrell
La Bucca X €50 voucher won by Michelle Baxter sold by Lily Baxter - Niamh Shaw
Smyths Voucher €50 won by Fernando Alexandre sold by Fernando Alexandre - Ger Howard
Playstation Voucher €50 won by Bernadette O’Brien sold by Alfie McCormac - Ciara Pullen
Tatterstalls- Merchandise and x2 tickets to New Year’s races won by Kieran O’Neill sold by Evan O’Neill - Deirdre Donovan
Centra-Hamper won by Myra Donovan sold by Deirdre Donovan - Staff
Tesco-Hamper won by Sarah Walsh sold by Jake Kelly - Ailish Cotter
Supervalu: Hamper won by John & Eileen Hopkins sold byEmmeline Duplaa Hopkins - Finbar McGreevy
Centra: Hamper won by Tina Whelan sold by Liza Whelan - Ger Howard
Stacks Pharmacy Hamper won by Lucy Devlin sold by Lucy Devlin - Niamh Shaw
Ratoath Pharmacy/The Pink Door: Hamper won by Jennifer Fitzpatrick sold by Noah Fitzpatrick - Alan Mulvany
Sheena’s Pharmacy-Pamper Hamper won by Molly Reeves sold by Amedea Dascal - Miriam Hayes
Emerald Park-Family Day Pass for 4 won by Berni Robinson sold byAoife Robinson - Elaine Kearney
Skin and Body Works - Express Facial and Consulation won by Terry Lau sold by Olivia Leung - Deirdre Donovan
Hamper won by Kelvin McGurk sold by Emilio McGurk - Michael Deering
Hamper won by Gillian Fortune sold by Ryan Fortune - Aisling Heffernan
Hamper won by Paul Crowther sold by Noah De La Vega - Seánaidh Hickey
Selection Box won by Rachel Maher sold by Michael Maher - Deirdre Donovan
Selection Box won by Martin Walsh sold by Emma Kenny Walsh - Ciara Kennedy
16th December 2025 - The School Choir at Christmas
Ratoath choir visited the Nursing Home on Thursday 10th of December.
It was a great experience to go to the Nursing Home and make their day. The smiles on their faces made us all very happy and proud.
Some on the people in the Nursing Home started joining in and getting up to dance. We very much appreciated being there.
We love being in the choir for so many reasons like getting to go and perform in different places like the church, Nursing Home and the 5th and 6th classes even get to go to the big sing.
A big well done to everyone in the choir and an even bigger thank-you to Kathy, Deirdre and Mr Deering.
by Ellie Guyatt and Amelia Twomey
Some photos from the Parents’ Concert:
The Christmas Eve choir enjoying treats in the Parochial house courtesy of Fr Michael!
1st December 2025 - Spike Lego
The sixth class mentors did a wonderful job leading the class in challenging STEAM activities that combined LEGO bricks and a drag-and-drop coding language based on Scratch.
It was a really fun class that also improved problem-solving and coding skills!
21st November 2025 - DAA Elevate
On Friday, November 21st, we attended a special DAA Elevate ’25 Schools Programme event hosted at the Carlton Hotel Dublin Airport.
Our school was awarded a €15,000 grant to support our proposed “An Gairdín Glás Ráth Tó” project, which will transform our school garden into a sustainable and sensory learning hub. This space will promote wellbeing, inclusion, biodiversity, and STEAM learning by encouraging active, hands-on exploration, fostering curiosity and critical thinking, and deepening students’ appreciation of the outdoors and sustainability.
We were also delighted to meet the Mayor of Fingal, Councillor Tom O’Leary at the event.
12th - 16th November 2025 - Science Week 2025
The theme for this year’s Science Week was ‘Then, Today and Tomorrow’.
The children were busy researching old inventions and comparing them to the newest version we have today.
We had a science riddle competition with 5 different riddles each day.
Each class level got to observe experiments by visiting scientists and an engineer from MSD.
11th November 2025 - Foireann Fáiltithe
We are delighted to introduce our new Foireann Fáiltithe (Welcome Team) as part of our ongoing work towards achieving An Gaelbhratach.
Our first meeting with the team took place today, and the children showed wonderful enthusiasm and positivity for their new role. Beginning next Monday, 17th November, the Foireann Fáiltithe will help to promote the daily use of Irish throughout the school by greeting others and encouraging short, simple conversations as Gaeilge.
This initiative aims to make Irish a natural and enjoyable part of everyday school life. The children are excited to get started and to help everyone use a little more Irish each day — Beatha teanga í a labhairt!
Táimid fíorbhródúil as ár bhFoireann Fáiltithe nua. Go n-éirí go geal leo!
Ger Howard
11th - 17th October 2025 - Maths Week 2025
Well done to all our students for their fantastic participation in Maths Week 2025!
Throughout the week, classes took part in a range of fun and collaborative problem-solving activities and maths quizzes.
A big congratulations to our Guesstimation Station Winners, whose clever estimates were closest to the actual amounts of treats in each of their class jars:
Leo Goodall – 6th Class
Beth Howard – 5th Class
Karla Duff – 4th Class
Lily Potter – 3rd Class
Well done to everyone who entered our Maths Eyes Competition! We were so impressed by the creativity and originality of your entries. Congratulations to our winners, whose imaginative submissions earned their classes a Spike LEGO Workshop!
Finally, a special mention to our 5th and 6th Class students, who showcased their teamwork and problem-solving skills while working with the Izak 9 Cubes.
It was a wonderful week celebrating the fun and creativity of maths—well done, everyone!
8th October 2025 - Skip Around the World
All the classes are enjoying the lovely autumn weather and trying to win the Skip Around the World competition in the school this week as part of the Active Schools Skip Around the World week.
Each class has a poster on their classroom door where they record how many skips each child in the class did each day.
Mr Deering kindly took some photos of his class taking part for the website.
6th October 2025 - The Quiz Teams
In the first week of September, Sandra started the search for the junior and senior quiz teams. There were two weeks of try-outs in the hall where over 100 students battled for a place on the quiz squads. These 25-student squads then each had 5 Kahoot quizzes in the computer room to whittle the squads down to two 8-student quiz teams.
The Senior Quiz Teams are -
- Luke Cheevers
- Aditri Chanda
- Lydia Frost
- Grace Coady
- Bella McManus
- Aodhán Milne
- Katie Moynihan
- Jessica Fleming
The Junior Quiz Teams are -
- Dáire Moynihan
- Luke Milne
- Emmeline Duplaa Hopkins
- Greg Callibotte
- Lorelai Flinter
- Chloe O'Reilly
- Anna O'Shea
- Isla Shally
2nd October 2025 - National Tree Day
Lots of the classes marked National Tree Day today in the school.
Ms. Campion’s Sixth Class took a walk around our fabulous school garden and woodland walk. They identified as many native trees as they could by looking at the leaf’s shape and edges, and collected many leaves and conkers for their nature table. They created leaf rubbings and leaves were also used to create a print relief piece for art.
Mr Deering’s Sixth Class went around the woodland walk collecting leaves and twigs to make into
Ms. Donovan’s Fourth Class also took a tour of the school garden observing and learning about the Oak (Dair) and Ash (Fuinseog) trees.
They did some leaf rubbings and leaf printing. They have used their new information to put some tree reports together. Along with lovely artwork, they created some interesting Autumn displays.
This year’s National Tree Day highlights the Scots Pine tree which, despite its name, is native to Ireland. We have received a Scots Pine sapling from the Tree Council of Ireland and will plant it very soon in our school garden!
12th September 2025 - The New Librarians
The teachers have chosen their class librarians who have all been trained in by Sandra and started working to keep our fabulous library organised and tidy and check in and out books for all the classes.
The 3rd class librarians are Omar Mouelhi, Zara Fay, Aoife Munley, Liam Fitzgerald, Tadhg Maher and Amy Kenny Walsh.
The 4th class librarians are Serah Rejoy, Cathal McGowan, Eva Malone, Emily Doran, Harry Hynes and Maia Kelly.
The 5th class librarians are Méabh Maher, Hannah Conroy, Noah Whelan, Juliette Killian, Lydia Frost and Alex Kelly.
The 6th class librarians are Aoife Mills, Tommy Kelly, Leo Goodall, Hannah Hickey Doherty, Ilariia Nolivayko, Lucy McCloskey, Kobe O’Donnell, Solape Adebiyi, Noah De La Vega, Faris Qu Yang, Alyssa Gibbs and Calvin Ducie.
9th September 2025 - The Autumn Garden
The school grounds are starting to look autumnal.
The leaves are starting to change colour.
The plums, pears and apples are ripe and our two foxes are enjoying the cold, bright days!
