Cork school introduces wellbeing and mentoring programme to support first year students

MOVING from sixth class in primary school to first year at secondary school is actually quite a leap, says mindfulness and wellbeing teacher, Belinda Murphy at Scoil Mhuire Kanturk.

A past pupil of the secondary school, Belinda is introducing a wellbeing mentoring programme which identifies Transition Year (TY) students to be trained as senior cycle mentors.

These mentors will be matched with first years, helping them to navigate the experience of starting in a new school where they are small fish in a big pond as opposed to their status in primary school where they were the older children. Aged just 12 or 13, the first years are only coming out of childhood.

“They might be struggling with timetables and directions,” says Belinda. “They may not feel they can bring what’s bothering them to a teacher. If things are too overwhelming, they will have a designated older student, their friend, basically, who will take care of them. It’s a caring programme more than anything else.

Going into secondary school is going into foreign territory. There’s the new building and different subjects. They may have to move classroom after every subject. There’s half days on Wednesday and homework on Friday. This is all new. They’re just thrown in.

It has always been thus but Belinda says that since Covid, children are coming into secondary school with a lapse of two years of social development.

“They struggle a lot socially. The programme we’re introducing is like an assistance programme so that the first years don’t feel completely lost.”

Twelve year olds can suffer from stress and depression.

She said: “It’s sad but it’s a reality. You can deny it if you want to and pretend it’s not there but there are children accessing the CAMHS (child and adolescent mental health services). It’s very real. School is just one area they access during the day. Then there is home. There’s only so much school can do. We have to be aware that a lot goes on in a young person’s mind. The whole Covid experience made us all very alert to that. Twelve year olds may only be children but they have access to a lot of information online. You don’t know how big their world is and how small they might feel.”

Choosing the mentors was “a careful process. It was only choosing students who had abilities that you can’t teach like kindness and not being afraid to stand out from the crowd. They are kind and caring students. Those that were chosen were told they had a choice; they did not have to accept. They were being invited onto the programme but it doesn’t work unless they actually want to do it. They have the option before they meet the first year, to opt out. They may change their mind over the summer holidays. That’s fine. This is not something that is forced upon the students. So far, those who were offered it are staying with it.”

Belinda, who has written two books on mindfulness for children, Bella the Butterfly and The Fairies, points out that the TY mentors have been through the same experiences as first years.

They’ve come out the other side. They can assist the first years in meandering through the world because it can be crazy. 

"When starting secondary school, there’s more pressure and different peer groups. With social media, you can look at peer groups and see what they’re into. It’s how the young students are influenced. It’s much bigger than when we were growing up. We could see who was around us, we could see our friends. Now you can’t. It’s that kind of invisible space. You don’t know who your child is interacting with. There’s a whole level of worry.

“Since the two years of lockdown, kids have missed out developmentally, not interacting with friends. We as adults have gone through Covid but we have already been through life’s challenges. But for these kids, it was probably their first big deal of a traumatic event. It kind of paused their whole social development. That’s what you see in the schools; the kids are struggling to interact. They’re self conscious and depressed. The anxiety levels are very high. Schools are doing what they can; parents are doing their best as well. We’re all trying to pull ourselves out of it. We don’t really know the long term effects of how lockdown affected everybody.”

Belinda, who has worked in the corporate sector for years and is also a Reiki teacher, does workplace wellness, but working in schools is her favourite occupation.

She has been mentoring the mentors “which was actually fun. The TY students are very open to the skills needed. I teach them communication skills which are about listening, interpreting body language – all that stuff that’s not taught in schools. For them, it was an interesting experience. We did lots of role play scenarios. 

They really got into it. They bring whatever they want to it and they can be as creative as they wish.

You’d be surprised at what they bring to the whole equation. They really get it because they were first years a few years ago. Their first year was the year Covid kicked in. They’ve had a very good taste of what it felt like to be just left in the dark. I use a lot of their feedback in tailoring the rest of the programme.”

Belinda adds that what will make this programme work is that the mentors are supported at all stages.

“I’m available to them as is the principal, the vice-principal and guidance counsellor. If anything crops up and they feel out of their depth, they can offload. They don’t carry stuff. If they get emotionally attached or anything like that, we’re there all the time. This is not meant to be a burdensome exercise. They can also learn from each other so there’s peer to peer support. 

The first term will be top heavy and after that, we imagine the support required will be less and less. When the first years are having their induction day, the TY students will have to be with them that day.

Some first years “might be totally fine and not need much support. We’re learning as we go. We are putting time aside in the timetable for the mentors to meet up. It will be a chance for them to sit down and see if they’re alright.”

Deputy principal at Scoil Mhuire Kanturk, Andrew McNamara says: “The vision of Scoil Mhuire is to be a modern inclusive and nurturing school where each student is empowered with the knowledge and skills for their future endeavours and as such, the wellbeing of the students in our care has always been at the core of what we do. Nurturing young adults can be challenging. However, ensuring this post-Covid can be even more so. Through this mentoring programme and wellbeing courses... we are putting the support and skills in place to ensure our students can navigate these challenges developing healthy coping mechanisms, building resilience and improving their overall emotional wellbeing.”