Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 58 and 77 together.

I thank the Deputy for her question on supports available to children and young people in schools.

It may be useful to firstly outline the role of my department’s National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS). All schools have access to:

• a NEPS psychologist for general support and advice.
• support from a NEPS psychologist in the event of a Critical Incident.
• National and Regional Support and Development service for school staff, which is advertised through the Education Support Centres of Ireland and covers areas such as trauma informed practice, cluster group support for post-primary special education teachers and special class teachers, training for Student Support Teams and supporting reluctant school attendance/school avoidance behaviour.
• access to either a NEPS psychologist or a SCPA psychologist for individual pupil casework where a priority need is established. SCPA – the Scheme for Commissioning Psychological Assessments - is operated through the use of a panel of psychologists who must meet qualification criteria set by the Department. It is an interim measure intended to supplement the NEPS service and meet current urgent needs for psychological assessment of children and young people.

My department’s Wellbeing Policy Statement and Framework for Practice provides schools with a framework to support the wellbeing and mental health of their school community. This framework is founded on research and international best practice as to how schools can best support the wellbeing and mental health of children and young people. The framework encourages schools take a whole school, preventative, and reflective approach to school self-evaluation to identify and prioritise the needs of their own school communities in relation to the promotion of wellbeing and mental health

This framework encourages schools to:

• provide children and young people with opportunities to build core social and emotional skills and competencies,
• provide children and young people with opportunities to experience supportive relationships within the school setting and to learn through those relationships and,
• provide 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.

A dedicated wellbeing portal has also been developed and is now available, bringing together all the wellbeing supports and resources that have been developed by the department and the department’s support services, at the following link: www.gov.ie/en/department-of-education/campaigns/wellbeing-in-education/

In addition, my department has built strong links with the Department of Health to explore ways to improve supports for children and young people, including around increased awareness, promoting help-seeking behaviour, school staff training, and signposting the wide range of services available to children and young people. It is important to note that the provision of child and adolescent mental health services lies specifically within the remit of the Department of Health and the HSE. HSE Primary Care Psychology Services and Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) provide a range of clinical supports to children and young people. Where a parent has significant concerns about their child’s mental health, they can request a referral for their child to the CAMHS through their GP. The GP may also be able to signpost to other relevant support services.

My department has also been working closely with the Department of Health and the HSE to agree a protocol to facilitate referral pathways to local services, on foot of Recommendation 10 of the HSE’s mental health policy Sharing the Vision. This collaboration will assist in the creation of a Single Point of Access to mental health services for children and young people as per the HSE Child and Youth Mental Health Office Action Plan.

In 2023 my department allocated €5 million to establish the Counselling in Primary Schools Pilot, a pilot programme of counselling and mental Health supports for primary schools in 2023. In Budget 2025, the pilot received additional funding to further develop the programme. The Counselling in Primary Schools Pilot consists of two strands. Strand 1 is provides one-to-one counselling to support small numbers of children in schools in counties Cavan, Laois, Leitrim, Longford, Mayo, Monaghan and Tipperary. The Department of Education and Youth created panels of pre-approved private counsellors to provide counselling supports under the pilot. In October 2024, the department announced the extension of Strand 1 of the Counselling in Primary Schools Pilot to 61 urban DEIS primary schools in Dublin North City and Dublin South-West in areas with some of the highest levels of disadvantage in the State.

The selection of children for counselling under the Counselling in Primary Schools Pilot takes into consideration the NEPS/Department of Education and Youth Continuum of Support. The Continuum of Support is the framework schools use to guide the identification of a given child’s needs, to plan interventions and review a child’s response to those interventions. This information is documented in a child’s Student Support File which contains their Student Support Plan. Using the Continuum of Support framework helps to ensure that those children with the greatest level of need have access to the greatest level of support.

In line with the Continuum of Support a child may be prioritised for counselling following a period of school-based intervention and support. Decision making for accessing counselling support will be guided by information in the child’s Student Support File and their most recent Student Support Plan, which documents supports, interventions and adaptations provided by the school over time. Concerns about a child's development and interventions/supports identified for a child will be flagged with the child's parents/guardians. Student Support Plans are reviewed on a regular basis to consider if the supports and interventions in place are meeting the needs of each child or young person. During a review meeting the school, in collaboration with parents/legal guardians, considers a child’s response to intervention to understand the persistence and significance of need in the context of supports provided. There can be exceptional circumstances when a child may need to be prioritised for counselling support in the first instance, for example, if a child has transferred from another school with evidence of need or significant information of the needs of a child is provided by parents/legal guardians. This is not an exhaustive list, and professional judgement is needed taking all relevant information into consideration.

School staff consult with their assigned NEPS psychologist where they consider access to the Counselling Service under the Counselling in Primary Schools Pilot an appropriate support as part of a child's Student Support Plan, in line with the Continuum of Support.

With regard to school transitions, I can advise the deputy that an Education Passport has been devised by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) which includes a suite of materials to support the reporting and transfer of pupil information from primary to post-primary schools.

An Education Passport, for each pupil, should be sent to the relevant post-primary school following confirmation of enrolment and, ideally, by the end of June. Since 2014/15, schools are required to use the NCCA Education Passport materials to support the reporting and transfer of pupil information at the end of sixth class. The materials are presented under the umbrella title of “Education Passport”

The ‘Education Passport' is a compulsory requirement for all 6th class pupils in their transition from Primary to Post-Primary School.

Details of the Education passport are available at: www.ncca.ie/en/primary/reporting-and-transfer/education-passport

My department continues to review our overall approach to fostering good mental health and wellbeing in our schools so that children and young people are enabled to reach their potential.