'Very proud': Offaly school becomes first in Ireland to achieve wellbeing award
The award was established to acknowledge the commitment of participating schools to mental health and wellbeing
Tullamore College has become the first school in Ireland to be awarded the Neart Wellbeing Award which was launched by the Minister for Education in September.
The award was established to acknowledge the commitment of participating schools to mental health and wellbeing within the school community and is endorsed by the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals (NAPD).
Tullamore College is the first school nationwide to meet the criteria required for the award.
This included factors such as having an active Student Support Team (SST) in place who engaged in training with the Department of Education as well as actively participating in the School Self-Evaluation (SSE) process with a focus on wellbeing.
Extensive staff training on mental health and wellbeing was also carried out along with the implementation of a teacher-led programme to help students manage exam stress.
Tullamore College formed a peer education programme which involved their TY students planning, creating and delivering interactive wellbeing modules to their first-year students.
The Offaly school also appointed a team of Student Wellbeing Ambassadors who designed, implemented and reviewed a programme which promotes a sense of belonging and connection amongst their pupils.
Tullamore College were delighted to welcome Tara Mulhern, Lead in the Jigsaw Neart School’s Team, who made the presentation to recognise their success in achieving the award.
The school will now be able to display the award on their digital and print materials as a result of the achievement.
Ms Beatrice Quirke, Deputy Principal and Wellbeing Champion in Tullamore College praised the collective effort that went into achieving the honour.
She said: “I am delighted that our school achieved this recognition. We pulled together and played a part in completing the requirements from our teachers who completed the e-learning programmes and webinars, to our students who created and delivered Wellbeing workshops and to our student Wellbeing Ambassadors , and our parents who signed up to the Neart Newsletter.”
The Deputy Principal added: “It provided us with a framework throughout the year as we focused on each criteria. It was a pleasure to work with the Neart Schools Team and I can see the benefits of the programme throughout our school.”
Tullamore College Principal Edward McEvoy said: “I am very proud of our whole school community because of the work we all put in and the fact that our efforts were rewarded with this recognition from the Neart Team.”
“We have always worked to create a secure, caring environment so as to enable all members of the school community to reach their full potential and to have that recognised nationally is very satisfying.”
He concluded: “It is also nice to see that the Neart team will be advising schools to look at the way we successfully approached completing the criteria. Hopefully it will help to inspire other schools to work towards the award too.”