Scoil Mhuire’s Pupil Support Team is part of the overall support system for the pupils in our school. It encompasses a wide range of interventions that support the learning, social, emotional and behavioural needs of our pupils.

Our Pupil Support Team meets on a fortnightly basis and the team is made up of the following personnel:

  • Principal
  • Deputy Principal
  • Home School Community Liaison Coordinator
  • Special Education Needs Coordinator
  • Nurture Room Teacher

At Pupil Support Team meetings, the team considers the needs of individual pupils and possible ways to address these needs so as to help each pupil to have the best possible social and learning experiences at school. All intervention supports put in place occur in full consultation with and with the support of the children’s families.

The Pupil Support Team coordinates the range of supports available to our pupils from within and outside our school, a selection of which are detailed below. The team also works with local statutory, community and voluntary agencies that we feel may be of assistance to our pupils and their families.

Breakfast Club

Breakfast Club is part of Scoil Mhuire’s Whole School Nurturing Approach to Learning. We operate two Nurture Breakfast Clubs every morning from 8.50am to 9.15am. Our Breakfast Clubs are less about the food and more about the relationship between pupils and staff. Breakfast time allows our pupils to connect with key staff members and to get a positive start to their school day. It gives them the opportunity to chat with staff about worries they may have. Breakfast Club is also helpful for pupils who find the transition from home to school challenging. The Breakfast Club service is open to all pupils.

Play Therapy

Play Therapy is a therapeutic intervention available in Scoil Mhuire to a very small number of pupils who are experiencing complex difficulties that they need help to make sense of. Play therapy utilises play, children’s natural medium of expression, to help them express their feelings more easily through toys instead of words.

Our Play Therapist, Katie, is a highly qualified and experienced play therapist who works with us one day each week.

Through play, Katie allows our pupils to make sense of life experience by playing them out at their own pace. She helps them to deal with conflict or angry feelings in more appropriate ways and she helps them develop confidence and positive self-esteem. She also helps our pupils to find healthier ways of communicating and she promotes resilience and coping.

Equine Therapy

Many of our pupils enjoy accessing a block of equine therapy with the wonderful team at the Railway Yard Gallops. Here they learn to care for the horses as well as becoming accomplished riders in their own right.

Horses have a unique power to observe and read children’s emotions, helping them to replace negative reactions with positive responses.

Forest School

Forest School is one of the newer supports for pupils provided in Scoil Mhuire and it is proving hugely popular. Our local Forest School is located on Forth Mountain. The pupils attend a weekly session over a number of weeks where they interact with one another and learn key skills in a natural setting. Forest School offers our pupils opportunities to flourish, with a strong focus on wellbeing, emotional development, social interaction and practical skills.

Forest school promotes success and achievement through personalised learning in a natural environment. It helps our pupils to understand themselves better, to develop relationships with each other and with nature, under the care and guidance of the Forest School leaders.

 

Parkour

Wexford Gymnastics Centre, which is on Scoil Mhuire’s doorstep, provides blocks of Parkour sessions for our pupils. Parkour is a social sport where our pupils have to run, vault, jump, climb and roll to travel from one point to another in the quickest and most efficient way possible. It focuses on pupils’ self-development, requiring them to push their physical limits, develop mindfulness and build a strong mind-to-body connection to perform it successfully.

Wexford School Completion Programme

The national School Completion Programme focuses on the needs of young people aged between 4 years and 18 years. It forms part of the Department of Education’s Social Inclusion Strategy (DEIS) to help children and young people who are at risk of or who are experiencing educational disadvantage. Wexford School Completion Programme is one of 122 School Completion Projects across the country.

Through Wexford School Completion Programme, Scoil Mhuire accesses:

  • The weekly services of a highly experienced Project Worker who works with individual pupils on specific programmes, such as Starving Anxiety and Emotional Literacy.
  • Part funding for interventions such as play therapy, equine therapy, parkour and Forest School.
  • Access to Summer camps for target pupils.
  • School-related financial assistance for families.

Further details on Wexford School Completion Programme can be found at www.wexfordscp.ie.