About The School
St. Molua's National School is a 84 pupil primary school in the tranquil village of Ardagh in the rolling hills of the West Limerick countryside.
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Staff
Principal: Thomas Greaney
Deputy Principal: Ann-Marie Scanlon
Junior & Senior Infants: Ann-Marie Scanlon
1st & 2nd Class: Sarah Cronin
3rd & 4th Class: Thomas Greaney
5th & 6th Class: Marie Ruddle
Special Education Teachers: Eileen Ambrose
Mairead Wallace
Special Needs Assistants: Noreen Geoghegan
Philomena O'Connor
Secretary: Teresa Hayes
Caretaker: John Keane
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Activities
Tin whistle:
Children receive tuition from a Trad time tutor for two terms during the school year. The children have made excellent progress during the year and had a lovely recital for parents and members of the community at Christmas.
Gaelic Games:
The school partakes in a number of competitions in hurling, football and camogie throughout the year. We have enjoyed great success in recent years and a number of our players have represented the various West teams in their competitions. Coaching is provided on a regular basis by a Limerick Games Development Officer, Mikey Shanahan every Thursday.
Soccer:
The school also talks part in the F.A.I 5-a-side soccer competition on a yearly basis. 5th and 6th class have really enjoyed this annual blitz.
Aquatics:
Pupils from 1st-6th class attend Askeaton Leisure Centre for 6 swimming lessons during the school year. Aquatics is an important strand in the P.E. curriculum and the children really enjoy and benefit from these lessons. Children leaving the school in 6th class achieve great results as they have been receiving lessons through the school for six years.
Discover Primary Science:
The school received its first Discover Primary Science Award in 2016. In order to achieve this great accolade the school focused on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) in all classes throughout the school year. The children completed many experiments, projects as well as listening to outside speakers and visiting STEM centres around the county. We have continued with this initiative this school year and have recently sent our application for grading.
G Suite
Our school applied for and were given access to G Suite from Google in 2015. Pupils in 5th/6th class use Google Docs, Google Sheets and Google Slides to present and collaborate on their work. Having full access to G Suite also means that we can avail of Google Classroom which allow collaboration between the pupils and teacher on a daily basis. Children regularly BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) to school in order to complete assignments and projects and to publish their own writing.
Literacy Lift Off:
Literacy Lift-Off is a reading initiative that we introduced in the school year 2016/2017.
For more details on this, please click here.
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School Motto
Le Chéile is Féidir​
Mission Statement
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Saint Molua’s National School is a Co-educational, Catholic primary school which strives to provide a structured, caring, happy and secure atmosphere, where the intellectual, spiritual, physical, moral and cultural needs of the pupil are identified and catered for.
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We wish our pupils to be socially conscious, spiritually aware and morally courageous with a keen sense of responsibility and respect for themselves and others.
The school will strive to promote the professional and personal development of staff.
Parents are encouraged to become involved in school activities through home/school contacts and through involvement with the Parents Association.
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Scoil Molua will endeavour to enhance the self-esteem of everyone in the school community, to instil in the pupil’s respect for people and property and to encourage in them the idea of being responsible. We hope all pupils will reach their full potential academically, while enhancing their personal talents and skills by presenting them with a variety of learning opportunities within the school and local environment.
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Gender equality will be promoted at all times amongst teachers and pupils.
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School Ethos
St. Molua’s NS Ardagh is a Catholic co-educational primary school under the patronage of the Bishop of Limerick. Our aim is to promote the holistic development of all our students i.e. in the intellectual, physical, moral, cultural and spiritual aspects of their being. We acknowledge and totally support the role of partnership in this process; pupils, parents, staff, management, parish and visitors. More
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St. Molua was a 6th century saint who founded many monasteries across the country.
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St. Molua's feast day is on August 4
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His father is believed to have been Coche or Carthach of the noble family of Ui- Fidgente from the Limerick area. His mother, Sochla was from Ossory.
It is said that his mother loved him so much that she changed his name from Lua to Mo Lua, which means "my Lua" in Irish.
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He is known to have been a very hospitable man and was kind to animals as well as people.