ETHOS & WELLBEING
Ethos or the characteristic spirit of a school (as stipulated in the Education Act 1998) is a clarion tenet of our whole school vision and indeed, our constituent vision of wellbeing. As a school under the patronage of the Spriritan Education Trust, Templeogue College espouses the raison d’être and guiding creed of the Spiritan Education Trust i.e. that the inscape and instress of the Holy Ghost is present, enlivening and charging every interaction in our school community. This creed engenders a transformational and transcendent paradigm of education that is guided by seven constituent and core values.
SPIRITAN CORE EDUCATIONAL VALUES
Openness to the Spirit: A sense of Community. Working together as a network of schools who are committed to the fulfilment of every individual’s human potential through support and advocacy.
Option for the Poor: To create an awareness of the disadvantaged in our society and to promote the responsibility for the better off towards a global society where poverty is eliminated.
Commitment to Service: To follow in the footsteps of des Places by building a commitment of service to each other and to our communities.
Global Vision: Reflecting the missionary outlook of the Congregation, Spiritan education works for the empowerment of peoples and their liberation from injustice and poverty.
High Educational Standards: The realisation of each person’s holistic potential and to strive for excellence in all areas of life.
Personal and Faith Development: The moral, spiritual, intellectual, physical, social and cultural aspects of each student’s development is at the heart of the Spiritan vision of Education.
These core values provide a core context and are guiding tenets in the engendering of wellbeing and resilience in Templeogue College. These core values further propagate a philosophy whereby students not only ask the question WHO AM I but also, more pertinently HOW DO I SERVE and TO WHAT DO I BELONG. This overarching philosophy provides a forum by which to nurture a caring and holistic culture and community, a forum where service to others enables the wellbeing, self-expression and most fundamentally, the self-actualisation of the individual being.
PHILOSOPHY
Thus, the seven Spiritan core values are fundamental organic entities sustaining and nurturing the wellbeing mission of Templeogue College. These elements espouse the development of the full potential of the individual - the aforementioned WHO AM I and TO WHAT DO I BELONG, that are central missions of Templeogue College. This commitment and sustainment of wellbeing is implicit in our school’s admissions policy apropos to the nurturing of the spiritual and human development of both the individual and of the community as specified in the Spiritan charter. Guided by these core values, it is the school’s mission to nurture wellbeing in a mental, physical, social and spiritual dimension. The defining emphasis of wellbeing in Templeogue College is centred on the role of the whole school community in the wellbeing programme.
A WHOLE SCHOOL APPROACH
A multi-component whole school approach to the promotion of well-being, with interventions at both universal and targeted levels, is the priority of Templeogue College. This whole school approach involves all members of the school community engaging in a collaborative process of change to improve specific areas of school life that impact on wellbeing. By adopting a whole school approach Templeogue College aims to produce a wide range of educational and social benefits for our pupils, including improved behaviour, increased inclusion, improved learning, greater social cohesion, increased social capital and improvements to mental health.
This whole school approach supports the integration of systems within the school community. This creates the capacity to be reflective and responsive to the needs of our school and the individuals who are part of the school community. Central to this is the role of Templeogue College staff and the importance of building professional capacity to engage in a reflective process to implement and sustain well-being policy and strategies from within.
Students flourish where there is a whole school approach to supporting their growth and where there is a shared belief in their potential for development, learning and well-being. Templeogue College is responsible for providing an environment that nurtures and supports students. In accordance with this whole-school approach, a Staff Wellbeing Team was established in September 2019. This focus group has been further sub-divided into strategic clusters including:
· Physical Wellbeing,
· Wellbeing & The Arts
· Curricular Junior Cycle & R.E. Provision
· General Wellbeing ( Including Mental Health & Staff Wellbeing)
The Wellbeing Team liaises with the Pastoral Care team to maximise individual and collective student support.
“Wellbeing is present when a person realises their potential, is resilient in dealing with the normal stresses of their life, takes care of their physical wellbeing and has a sense of purpose, connection and belonging to a wider community. It is a fluid way of being and needs nurturing throughout life.”(WHO), 2001).
Aims/Rationale:
Templeogue College endeavours to develop and support wellbeing in our school. It aims to:
• provide for the wellbeing for all in the school in light of the school Mission Statement and the charter of our school trust – Spiritan Education Trust.
• outline the policies, procedures, culture, ethos and the activities which serve to assist the wellbeing of everyone at Templeogue College.
• recognise the interplay between the positive experience of school life, student achievement and long term wellbeing.
• offer a coordinated structure in supporting our young people through the creation of a multiplicity of opportunities both within and without the classroom focused on the promotion of wellbeing.
Templeogue College endeavours that students and staff will:
• Realise their abilities and enable better learning outcomes and results
• Nurture their physical and mental wellbeing
• Cope with normal stresses and fortify resilience
• Engender a sense of purpose
• Create a sense of belonging
• Lead A co-ordinated approach to social, physical and environmental needs
• Enhance self-esteem
• Have a better understanding of schools’ health aims
• Improved relationships within the school
• Inculcate and cultivate a culture of community
WELLBEING AND THE CURRICULUM
Wellbeing is a fundamental feature of curricular provision at both Junior and Senior Cycle. This provision will:
• Make the school’s culture and ethos and commitment to wellbeing visible to students.
• Enable students to build life skills and develop a strong sense of connectedness to their school and to their community.
• Schools have a central role to play in supporting and promoting students’ learning about wellbeing and for wellbeing, in the classroom and all school activities.
•The indicators of wellbeing are incorporated into subject plans.
WHOLE SCHOOL WELLBEING INITATIVES
A vast range of extra-curricular activities enhance physical, mental, social/emotional and spiritual wellbeing. Throughout the school year, we have a number of wellbeing celebrations which serve to enhance relationships and create a collaborative and innovative culture of wellbeing in Templeogue College.
· Body & Soul Week
· Walk In My Shoes & Epiphany Wellbeing Days
· Sports Day
WELLBEING IN OUR SCHOOL
Wellbeing has always been a fundamental component of life in Templeogue College. It has been an integral aspect of our every interaction and is most profoundly and fundamentally evident in the classroom where teaching and learning are enabled in a holistic, caring and value driven forum. Wellness happens; it happens on sports pitches, in band practice and in the vast multiplicity of extra-curricular activities that contribute to the richness of life in Templeogue College.
The rationale of our wellbeing policy therefore, is to formalise Templeogue College’s traditional approach to wellbeing and to provide a conceptual framework by which to maximise outcomes apropos wellbeing and resilience in Templeogue College.
Imagine a school where wellbeing is the raison d’être for every interaction. Imagine a school where wellbeing is foremost in the agenda at board, staff and team meetings; where there is a clear wellness plan for the whole school community; where staff and pupils flourish, reach their potential and speak in tones of care and compassion. Imagine a school that is characterised by good health, collaboration, harmonious relationships, creativity and innovation, care and compassion and a concern for the spirit; that inscape and instress of all living things.
This is our raison d’être at Templeogue College. Our wellbeing policy serves as a roadmap, a contextual and paradigmatic framework by which to realise the practical implementation of our wellness goals and mission.
STUDENT WELLBEING GROUP
A student wellbeing team is to be established in October 2019. This group will facilitate student voice and will be instrumental in the initiation and organisation of whole school wellbeing activities. This group will also publish a periodic wellbeing newsletter. This student led wellbeing group will liaise with the Staff Wellbeing Team and also the Student Council.