Today to launch our Amber Flag Initiative for the coming year and to mark World Mental Health Day we celebrated ‘Gratitude’ in our school. 

We fundraised for Pieta House as part of our annual Amber Flag initiative during the day and we were delighted with the response from the school community. We raised a total of €232 for Pieta House, many thanks for your support.

AS part of ‘Thankful Tuesday’ pupils were welcome to bring in ‘Traditional Games’ to school like board games and card games. The meaning of this activity was to focus on being thankful for what we have and what we are already which is much more important than the need to have the must-have game or piece of technology or compare ourselves to others.

We mixed up our classes for these games activities and for the artwork organized by our Amber Flag Committee so each younger pupil could connect and get support from older pupils during the activities. We are sure there will be many friendships that stem from todays activities. 

Also, during the day pupils were encouraged to move, be mindful, and get creative. We completed a whole school art display called “The Gratitude Tree” where each pupil sketched activities in their lives that they are thankful for.

As well as this, classes focused on positive things in their lives. They wrote and drew about things in their lives that made them feel happy. Both of these will form part of an art display in the coming weeks. Well done to our committee for compiling this amazing artwork.

On Tuesday 4th of October, our 5th and 6th classes were delighted to welcome Ann and Susan, from “Cork Mental Health” to our school.

We had a very enjoyable and helpful talk on such an important topic.

We hope the visit will help our pupils learn about; healthy social skills and strategies to help cope when they encounter problems.