Mayo Children's Initiative

Inver National School, Belmullet

It is very reassuring to have the Mayo Children's Initiative around at a time when resources for children and schools are disappearing rapidly. Our school was involved in the Helping Hands programme which is run by the Mayo Children's Initiative. Our children loved it and looked forward eagerly to Claire and Muirtí's arrival every week. The main messages of the programme are "Everyone has the right to feel safe all the time" and "There is nothing so awful or so small that we cannot talk about it with someone". These messages also lie at the heart of our SPHE curriculum. The Helping Hands programme gives these messages to children in a fun-filled and non-threatening manner. If our children walk away from primary school with these messages in their hearts, then we know that they have been empowered to live their lives with confidence and self-assurance. They will also have developed the skills they need to keep themselves safe. These are huge skills to have in our challenging world and we are very thankful to the Mayo Children's Initiative for helping us to communicate these skills.

(Máirín Glenn, Inver National School, Belmullet)

Scoil Raifteirí, Castlebar

Helen, Stephanie and Claire initially visited the school and did a session with the staff on what MCI and the course entailed. I found the session extremely interesting and informative. As a teacher who worked in a disadvantaged area in Dublin I thought I knew a lot and had heard it all, but that wasn't the case. It would be worthwhile for any staff to let MCI in to talk to them. It will open your eyes to what some children in your class have to deal with at home, why homework wouldn't be done, their form or concentration might be off, why the child might be angry or aggressive. Sometimes we see the child as a student in our classroom, and forget that they spend more than 80% of their time outside the school environment.

The course in the classroom with the children has been working really well. Claire and Stephanie have a great way with the children, and the children don't look on them as teachers, so are more willing to engage with each other and Claire and Stephanie in a different way than myself. Work in the class is varied every session. Tables are moved; so to the children it's different than "teachers' room! A lot of drama, games and innovation are used to open the session; a discussion on the week's theme will take place, followed by group work and art to re-enforce the work. Claire and Stephanie will mingle and chat quietly getting to know the children. It creates a lovely atmosphere and I can see my class interacting on a more informal manner. Each child also has his/her own record book or diary which they write and draw on each week based on the sessions theme.

It has been very beneficial to me as a teacher, and I feel the class had benefited from the course also. The children are more able to discuss their emotions, or if something is bothering them. It has made them "think" about how and why they might be feeling something and has given them a means to express it through writing, discussing or drawing. Most of all the class enjoy the sessions, and I would highly recommend the course.

(Padraic Heaney, Scoil Raifteirí, Castlebar)