THREE Donegal primary schools have joined forces for Wellbeing Week.
Castletown NS in St.Johnston, Portlean NS in Kilmacrenan and Scoil Chomcille, Drumman have had two very successful years of the Peace IV Project over the past two years.
“One of our goals this year was to support well-being. Collectively in our schools, we decided to work toward the Amber Flag,” one of the organisers told Donegal Daily.
“The Pieta Amber Flag is a well-being initiative designed to help schools promote positive mental health. This term, we decided that Covid-19 was not going to stop us from joining together, in a time we most need community. We decided to hold a virtual well-being week.
“Supporting our well-being is so important at this time.
“This lockdown, in particular, has been difficult due to the dark evenings. Our children are missing the routine and community of school.
“We wanted to bring them together and learn how we can best look after our well-being. We will learn coping strategies using the ‘Five Ways to Well-Being’. (1. Keep Learning, 2. Give, 3. Connect, 4. Take Notice and 5. Be Active).”
Some of the active activities include children’s fitness Zoom sessions with Rinka and Russell Porter from CoreFit.
All children from the three partnership schools will also be asked to complete an active challenge, to walk/run/cycle/scoot the distance between our three schools (34.8km).
A spokesperson said: “It’s a great opportunity to get outside in the fresh air, and something we can do with our family. We look forward to joining together, to prioritise our well-being.”
PEACE IV Shared Education Project is a project supported by the EU’s PEACE IV Programme and managed by the special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB).
The overall aim of the CASE Project is to provide direct, sustained, curriculum based contact between children and teachers from all backgrounds, through collaboration between schools from different sectors and diverse backgrounds in order to promote good relations and enhance children’s skills and attitudes to contribute to a cohesive society. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic our meet-ups were put to a stop.