Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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1183. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the total number of nurture groups in schools across the State, broken down by primary and post-primary school level, in tabular form. [43024/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The Department of Education’s approach to supporting wellbeing and mental health is set out in its Wellbeing Policy Statement and Framework for Practice. This approach is founded on research and best international practice in relation to how schools can best support the wellbeing and mental health of children and young people. The approach proposed is a whole school and preventative approach which has multiple components that include:

Providing children and young people with opportunities to build core social and emotional skills and competencies

Providing children and young people with opportunities to experience supportive relationships within the school setting and to learn through those relationships

Providing children and young people with opportunities to be part of a school environment and culture that feels both physically and psychologically safe, an environment in which children and young people feel a sense of belonging and connectedness, in which they feel their voice is heard, and they feel supported.

Schools are encouraged to use a reflective, school self-evaluation approach to identify and prioritise the needs of its own school community in relation to the promotion of wellbeing and mental health, and to respond to meeting those needs.

A Wellbeing in Education platform on gov.ie brings together resources for school staff, students and parents to support wellbeing and resilience. This platform provides links to an extensive range of resources available to schools from the Department’s support services and agencies and the HSE and the Department of Health. Information and resources for school staff, students and parents are available on gov.ie

The portal includes the Catalogue of Resources which provides a non-exhaustive list of documents and resources that are provided by the Department of Education (DE), its agencies, support services, other Government Departments and their agencies and by the Health Service Executive (HSE) to assist the promotion of wellbeing across school communities.

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This resource can be used alongside the Directory of Teacher Professional Learning (TPL) which lists relevant TPL to support the wellbeing of all in the school communities. There are many professional learning opportunities available to support teachers and school leaders to engage with aspects of wellbeing. The TPL Wellbeing Directory provides an overview of the opportunities provided by the Department of Education (DE), its agencies, support services, other Government Departments and their agencies and includes information on how to access these supports.

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Nurture does not currently form part of the resources or professional learning provided to schools through these directories, although it is recognised that nurture principles align with those of the Department’s Wellbeing Policy Statement and Framework for Practice.

Schools, of course, have autonomy to implement external programmes that are not included in the DEY directories, to meet the need of their school community as identified by their School Self-evaluation process, and are advised accordingly through Circulars 0042/2018 - Best practice guidance for primary schools in the use of programmes and/or external facilitators in promoting wellbeing consistent with the Department of Education Wellbeing Policy Statement and Framework for Practice and Circular 0043/2018, for post-primary schools . These circulars offer best practice guidance in selecting wellbeing promotion programmes and/or external facilitators (both one-off speakers and those delivering programmes over a period of time), to support the implementation of the Wellbeing Promotion Process. Schools’ use of Nurture Groups falls under this latter category. The Department does not hold official figures on the extent of the use of Nurture Groups operating in schools in Ireland.