Great emphasis is placed on the teaching of Social, Personal and Health Education (SPHE) in Scoil Mhuire. Our Health Promoting Schools Committee has positive relations, mindfulness and pupil well-being at it’s core. Initiatives are run throughout the school focusing on these areas. Some of these initiatives include Meditate on Mondays, Tunes on Tuesdays and Ball-Free Fridays. Teachers are trained in and facilitate the ‘Friends For Life’ programme, which promotes emotional resilience in young people. All classes partake in daily movement breaks and brain breaks. Our outdoor spaces are used frequently throughout the year. The school garden is cultivated and nurtured by all classes, in conjunction with the Green Schools Committee.

Friendship Week symbolises the work we do all through the year to support and promote well-being in our school. Students are selected to take on leadership roles as members of the Friendship Week Committee. In collaboration with staff, they organise and manage the activities which take place during the week.

These include

• Lunch Time Cafe’ where children eat their lunches in other classrooms across the week, giving opportunities to chat and get to know other students.
• Quiz
• Collaborative Games
• Board Games
• Shared Reading
• ‘Whole School display’ where pupils all contribute to one piece, showing how even though we are similar in ways, we are all different too. This gives pupils both a sense of belonging and of being unique.

During Friendship Week, groups are formed from a mix of children from each class. Groups/Teams recognise each other by wearing similar Friendship Bracelets, which the older children make for all pupils in the school.