The framework for Junior Cycle provides for an area of learning at Junior Cycle called Wellbeing. Wellbeing crosses the three years of Junior Cycle and builds on substantial work already taking place in our school in support of students’ wellbeing. It provides learning opportunities to enhance the physical, mental, emotional and social wellbeing of students. It also supports students in developing important life skills and in building a strong sense of connectedness to their school and to their community.
The goal for wellbeing is human flourishing and flourishing rests on positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning and accomplishment. Wellbeing matters in the here and now and it is important in its own right because all students have a right to have their wellbeing supported and to feel cared for in our school. Our students engage in meaningful learning which in turn helps them to be creative and imaginative, resilient, persistent and more positive about themselves.
Jigsaw’s One Good School initiative is a 2 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. 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 in September of this year 2022, really helped to generate interest in the initiative and help students and teachers to understand what One Good School is all about.
This year in Presentation, we are delivering the Fuse programme in our SPHE classes. This is an Anti-Bullying and Online Safety Programme, developed by the Anti-Bullying Centre (ABC) at Dublin City University. All junior cycle classes from first to third year will be introduced to this programme, with four compulsory workshops being completed with each year group.
The Fuse programme is the first research based Anti-bullying and Online Safety Programme in Ireland and is founded on over 20 years of research. It is designed to support the wider SPHE/RSE/Wellbeing curriculum in schools and aims to empower students to tackle bullying and online safety issues, in line with the principles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The aim of this programme is to increase the self-efficacy of students in Noticing, Responding and Reporting bullying and online safety issues. We hope in doing this programme that we are helping to tackle bullying, promote online safety and effect real change in this critical area.
Our student and teacher Chill Zones were launched in September 2022. Each of these areas were created as a place for students and teachers to relax and take some time out. The student area is inviting and bright. We have plans in place for the year ahead to include a garden section where students will get out in the fresh air and do some planting. As we know fresh air gives you more energy and a sharper mind, therefore having these areas will be of great benefit to us all.
Our Wellbeing Padlet was created back in April 2020 and has since been a huge success for us. The SPHE teacher updates it weekly with exam tips, mediations, quotes and relaxation tunes, just to mention a few, for students to have easy access to whenever they most need it. All students sign up to the Padlet and have access to it for free. Mediation and mindfulness is part of all SPHE classes and the teacher uses resources from the padlet on a daily basis.
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