Blog

CBS was last week awarded a wall plaque in recognition of its participation in Jigsaw’s ‘One Good School’ initiative which supports the mental health and wellbeing of young people by developing a shared responsibility across the whole school community.

Yvonne Lowry of Jigsaw presented Principal Kevin Scollan with a wall plaque highlighting the school’s commitment to the initiative. Jigsaw set it up in recognition of the vital role school’s play in promoting and supporting the mental health and wellbeing of young people and all those within the school community. The programme works towards ensuring that schools can provide safe and supportive environments 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.

Within the CBS, as with other secondary schools, there has been a growing level of attention on the importance of promoting and supporting mental health and wellbeing. This has been reflected in a number of key national policy documents which identify schools as critical settings for contributing to student health and wellbeing.

In developing ‘One Good School’, Jigsaw’s new approach to supporting mental health and wellbeing in post primary schools, we consulted widely and again and again, we heard that there is an urgent need for a more structured, systematic and programmatic approach at a local level; an approach that supports all areas of the school setting and creates capacity to be reflective and responsive to the needs of the school and the individuals who are part of the school community.

The Jigsaw programme offers a broad range of activities for the whole school community, including school leadership teams, teachers, parents, and students. The initiative will be delivered through interactive workshops, webinars, online tools and resources, peer education programmes and more. It is aligned to national policies and supports the School Self-Evaluation process (SSE).  This is particularly valuable in view of the target which has been set by the Department of Education and Skills that all schools will have ‘an embedded self-evaluation wellbeing promotion process by 2023.’

Recognition of your school’s participation One Good School awards  at the end of a two-year cycle to acknowledge the efforts and commitments that all members of the school community have demonstrated towards promoting and supporting youth mental health and wellbeing.

Yvonne also presented the Senior Football Team and their coaches Damien Tiernan and Aaron Hynes with a set of jerseys to show the organisation’s dedication and commitment to promoting wellbeing within the school. Many thanks also to Ms Reale for her commitment to championing the One Good School iniative within the CBS.