This day last week, in Presentation Secondary School Castleisland, there was once again an air of excitement for students and staff as the One Good School launch day took place. Jigsaw’s One Good School initiative is a two year comprehensive initiative which strives to support the mental health and wellbeing of young people, and those around them by developing a shared response for mental health across the whole school community. The initiative helps us as a school to provide a safe and supportive environment for building life skills, resilience and a strong sense of connectedness. The launch day began with the arrival of eight different outdoor activities provided by the business ‘It’s My Party’. This was a surprise for students and one that was well received by all. Throughout the day all year groups got the chance to have some chill out time along with having fun with their peers. We felt it was important to highlight the need for students to take time out, get outside for fresh air, clear their heads, connect with others, laugh and overall just enjoy themselves. All of this is integral to helping their overall wellbeing and mental health. Fostering healthy relationships among peers, school staff and parents is critical to a young person’s overall experience of school and their social, emotional and cognitive development. This program helps greatly in promoting all these aspects. Our launch day helped us greatly in generating interest in the initiative and helped students and teachers to understand what One Good School is all about.

On the day we also unveiled the new student and teacher wellbeing areas. Caoimhe Keogan from Jigsaw Kerry arrived to the school and cut the ribbon to officially open them both, much to the delight of everyone. These chill zone areas are bright and uplifting, we hope they will be a place for students and teachers to relax and take some time out when needed. Caoimhe also unveiled the One Good School flag that we intend to proudly showcase outside our school for the year ahead. The day would not be a success without the help from our student council and international students. Our student council got involved and helped in running the activities as well as our international students who did a fantastic art work display ahead of the launch day which was present at our front entrance. Going forward for the year ahead, students, teachers and parents will be completing courses online and watching webinars from the Jigsaw portal related to mental health, with some already completed. We look forward to our continued work with Jigsaw Kerry, and know that going forward the wellbeing of our students and staff is being well supported through the involvement with this fantastic initiative.