IPPN

Published: 21 May 2024

NEPS recently held a briefing for the education partners on the work of Strands 1 and 2 of the pilot. From the initial €5 million announced in the Budget, the pilot was extended into 2024 and further extended into 2025. In establishing the pilot, NEPS consulted among others with the DE in Northern Ireland and visited Dorset and West Sussex where similar projects have been established.

It was an initial challenge for Strand 1 to recruit a panel of counsellors to work with schools. NEPS collaborated with the counselling accreditation bodies in Ireland to get as many counsellors as possible onto the panel. Counselling is very specific and applicants had to meet the standards required by the NEPS QA Committee. To date, 35 counsellors are on the panel with a rolling recruitment process in place. 733 blocks of counselling are now allocated to children in Strand 1 counties. Many small schools in these counties have allocated counselling blocks. Details and supports for the schools are available at www.gov.ie.

In Strand 2, Wellbeing Practitioner Teams are established in 78 schools with 5,000 children in each cluster. DEIS, Non-DEIS, Gaelscoileanna and Special schools work with the teams to explore and develop whole-school preventative approaches to wellbeing with parents, school staff and children.

This work is ongoing. Some of the approaches involve:

• how wellbeing is incorporated across all areas
• establishing focus groups
• working with ISM teams
• whole staff sessions
• policy work and support for staff
• class cohesion projects
• growth mindset
• resilience programmes for 5th and 6th classes
• workshops for parents of children with additional needs
• managing parental stress.

The learning and resources from this pilot will form part of the overall evaluation of the pilot as well as leading, in time, to a bank of resources to support school communities in their ongoing work. To date, the feedback has been very positive. See information on www.gov.ie.