Moville Community College
Moville Community College is proud to announce that it has, again, been awarded the HSE Health Promoting School Status for the cycle 2014-2016. The HSE run award aims to promote mental and physical health within our schools and has been running since 2012. MCC collected the award for its work during 2012/ 2014 and has been successful again for the 2014/2016 cycle.
Over the past two years Moville Community College’s Health Promoting Schools Committee have been working towards H ealthy School Status. The theme of the project that the student committee decided on back in September 2014 was ‘Healthy Body, Healthy Mind’. The students looked at the needs of the school and set out to achieve the following aims in their own words:
“We wanted to increase the numbers getting involved in physical activities within the school, so we organised a taster session of all the activities for the junior students called "Clubs and Socs Day".”
“We wanted a whole school community 5k to achieve the same thing but involving a the whole school community, so we had the Green Run.”
“We wanted to reach out to those who were suffering from stress and felt they were alone in this, so we came up with the "Lifelines Project" where students got time in English class to write about their experiences with stress and how they coped with it. Their stories were then printed and displayed anonymously for inclusion on our ‘Lifelines Wall’ outside the guidance office in our school.”
“We also wanted to raise the profile of mental health generally around the school so windows of information and tips for positive mental health were put in place on every door in the school with hints, tips and information for managing your mental health.”
The committee which is made up of a number of students from 2nd through to 6th year and co-ordinated by Ms. Mc Guinness and Ms. Ward had the following remarks to make about their activities and their involvement in the Healthy School's Committee:
“The Green Run had a large turn out and also became something of a mark of our togetherness in the light of the tragic death of one of our first year students.”
“The Clubs and Socs Day had a big impact on the numbers doing extra curricular activities that year.”
“The positive windows are still in place and continue to raise the profile of mental health around the school.”
“The Lifelines project meant senior students got to contribute their own stories and also the strategies they used to cope with the stress they experienced. We created a display area outside the guidance counsellor's office where the anonymous stories were displayed together, this was a great way for those who suffered from stress in our school to know they were not alone.”
Current and Future Projects include:
The Committee went on a hike around Cooley with local guide Mr. Dessie Mc Callion on Friday 7th as part of the Healthy Body theme.
As part of Mental Health Week 10th-15th October the HPS committee are working with Jigsaw to promote their online campaign to support positive mental Health called ‘My Wee Five’. The images for this will be on the school's Twitter feed in the coming days.
HPS will also be expanding the Lifelines Project to the Junior School during Mental Health Week.
Further projects include introducing Healthy Bake Sales throughout the year to promote the importance of proper nutrition within the student body.
Health Promoting Schools has also linked in with M.C.C.’s Home School Liaison Officer Ms. Kelly to increase opportunities for input from parents and the wider school community.
Links to images and further information can be obtained from www.movillecc.ie