SCARY SCHOOLS: Smashing Pumpkin fun at Ard Rí CNS as local schools get into the Spirit of Halloween

Ard Rí Community National School's fifth annual pumpkin festival was a huge success with more than 100 creatively carved pumpkins entered by local families.

Principal Darragh Roe explained that every year each family enters a pumpkin. "This is a family project and parents and children are encouraged to work together in planning their entry, purchasing the pumpkin and material required, constructing the piece and finally submitting their entry on the morning of the festival."

It started five years ago with only one class entering and this year there were over 100 entries.

"A clear focus on community building is a corner-stone of school life at community national schools. The Pumpkin Festival is just one community event we run at the school. It is great to see families coming together on a creative project. Some of these have been months in the making. It's not only for the children. On the day of the festival, parents are chatting together, they're getting to know one another and this binds the community. The buzz is unreal,"  said Mr Roe.

The Meath Chronicle visited a number of schools over the last week to capture their Halloween celebrations - See all the spooky snaps in our eight-page Halloween photo special in next week's edition.