Wellbeing
Wellbeing at St Nathy’s College.
The reformed junior cycle has placed wellbeing at it’s core, as illustrated on the graphic below. There is overwhelming evidence to prove that students learn more effectively if they are happy in their work, believe in themselves and feel that school is supporting them.
Furthermore, ESRI research found that children with higher levels of emotional, behavioural, social and school wellbeing had higher levels of academic achievement subsequently at the ages of 11, 14 and 16.
Developing a Whole School Approach to Wellbeing.
The Department of Education and Skills and the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment are asking all schools to develop a whole school approach to wellbeing at junior cycle. To assist schools in this they have prescribed a 7-step process which requires that a wellbeing committee be formed, and that consultations are then undertaken to gather the opinions of all members of the school community.
Once the information has been gathered, the wellbeing team must collate it and devise a plan for a wellbeing programme that will meet the expressed needs of the students, parents and staff. The plan is to be reviewed every two years to ensure that it continues to meet the needs of the community it serves.
The plan for wellbeing at junior cycle will be developed to reflect the 6 indicators of wellbeing shown right and it will also address our practices in relation to our policies and planning procedures, curriculum, culture and relationships.
From August 2020 all schools are obliged to dedicate a minimum of 400 hours to wellbeing. Given the level of priority that the Department of Education are giving to wellbeing as an area of learning, it is vitally important that we ensure that the time devoted to it is well planned and facilitated to ensure that our students gain the maximum benefit from these classes.
The Consultation Process.
In March 2023 the whole school community were invited to participate in the development of our whole school approach to wellbeing. Questionnaires were made available online for the staff, students and parents/guardians to complete.
Focus groups were also organised to ensure that everyone who wanted to voice their opinions in relation to junior cycle wellbeing was heard. There was one focus group for the staff, one for the parents/guardians and one for the students..
Summary of findings from the Wellbeing Consultation Process.
At the end of the questionnaires and the focus groups participants were asked to identify the indicators and areas of learning that they wanted prioritised when our whole school approach to wellbeing is being planned.
The tables below show the order of
the priorities identified by the various groups.
| Student Survey | Parent Survey | Staff Survey |
|---|---|---|
| Responsible | Resilient | Resilient |
| Resilient | Responsible | Responsible |
| Active | Aware | Respected |
| Connected | Connected | Connected |
| Aware | Active | Aware |
| Respected | Respected | Active |
| Student Focus Group | Parent Focus Group | Staff Focus Group |
|---|---|---|
| Respected/Resilient* | Resilient | Resilient/Aware* |
| Connected | Respected | Responsible |
| Responsible | Responsible/Aware* | Connected |
| Aware | Connected/Active* | Respected |
| Active | Active | |
| *Joint Ranking | ||
| Resilient | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 35 |
| Responsible | 6 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 29 |
| Aware | 2 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 21 |
| Connected | 3 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 21 |
| Respected | 1 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 20 |
| Active | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 14 |
