St. Colman’s College: One Good School
St. Colman’s College is delighted to be the first school in Fermoy to participate in the One Good School (OGS) initiative. Over the past ten years or more, there has been a growing level of attention on the importance of promoting and supporting mental health and wellbeing in schools. The government has published a number of key national policy documents which identify schools as critical settings for contributing to young people’s health and wellbeing.
St. Colman’s College has always valued the mental health of their students and staff. This is espoused in our school’s mission statement - we endeavour “to nurture the full academic and personal development of all in the school community and to enhance the self-esteem of each person in an environment of mutual respect”. By participating in this initiative we are fully committed to our school community’s wellbeing.
Over three years, Lidl have pledged to raise €1.25 million for Jigsaw to be invested in initiatives like Jigsaw’s One Good School. One Good School is a whole school approach to promoting and supporting young people’s mental health.
Martina Ryan, Regional Schools’ Coordinator of OGS states that: “By whole school we mean it includes the leadership of the school, the school staff, the parents as well as the students.”
St. Colman’s have created a committee comprising of students, teachers and parents ready to spearhead this mental health campaign.
Ryan explains that Jigsaw has designed a two year programme for secondary schools, with a suite of online courses, webinars and workshops, newly developed for the initiative by Jigsaw, to respond to the needs identified in the school. These include mental health awareness and self-care courses for parents/guardians.
Students have a wide range of courses available to them including ‘Let’s Talk Sure Why Not’? (an introduction to mental health and wellbeing), Managing Exam Stress (online course) and ‘ My Mental Health - What helps’? (a senior cycle workshop). The suite also includes a comprehensive peer education programme and Innovate for Wellbeing (a student-led programme, delivered in collaboration with YSI).
80 schools, 9 of which were in Cork, signed up for One Good School in 2019-2021 and 85% of schools in the pilot completed the initiative. Young people, whose schools participated in One Good School, reported increased levels of mental health knowledge and awareness. School staff, who completed follow-up measures, perceived the One Good School initiative as acceptable, appropriate and feasible.
A staff member from the pilot programme declared that “One Good School helped me understand that it’s more that you become part of a support network. You’re not the only parachute; you are part of a bigger net”.
Ryan concludes, by saying, “In Cork we have 16 schools taking part in OGS 2021-2022, with 150 schools participating nationally. We are delighted that St. Colman’s College have come on board.”