ISPCC is delighted to announce that it is now expanding the Smart Moves resilience building programme.
Smart Moves, for sixth-class students, is designed to give young people the skills they need to increase their resilience as they make the transition between primary and secondary school.
For many children, the move from primary school to second level can be a tough one. Anxiety levels among students are high, exacerbated by the Covid pandemic.
At Childline, we have seen a surge in the number of children and young people presenting with anxiety, with school avoidance becoming an increasingly common issue.
But the ISPCC can help with our free Smart Moves programme.
It can help to empower sixth-class students and it has received overwhelmingly positive reviews from users. One student said that the programme helped them to talk about their concerns and realise that they did have support.
Smart Moves was launched in September 2021 and initially rolled out to over 50 primary schools. Now, primary schools throughout the country are being offered the opportunity to benefit from the programme which provides coping tools for young people.
This free, evidence-based programme is aimed at all sixth-class students. It includes 15 short lessons, covering topics from friendship to problem-solving to sleep difficulties.
The programme’s resources are sent directly to each school: they include a manual for the teacher as well as a private booklet for each student in which they can explore their thoughts and feelings during each module.
Smart Moves has received extremely positive feedback from its users, with all the schools that initially took part in the programme opting to participate again this coming academic year.
According to one teacher who was involved in the programme, it “stimulated good conversations”, while another said that the programme was very easy to use, adding that “it encouraged pupils to think about potential worries, problems and routes of support”.
Another teacher lauded Smart Moves for helping students to think about all the people who are there to support them.
For the students themselves, completing the Smart Moves programme was an overwhelmingly good experience and they would recommend that other schools get involved in it.
One sixth-class pupil said: “It made me feel more prepared by talking about my feelings and other people’s feelings” while another added that doing the programme made them feel less worried about the transition to secondary school.
The private booklet was also a winner, with one student saying how they liked the fact that teachers could only look at it if they had permission and students didn’t have to read out what they had written in it.
For more information or to register your interest in Smart Moves, go to ispcc.ie/smart-moves. Places are limited so please make contact as soon as possible.
Smart Moves is proudly supported by Avolon Aviation, a corporate supporter of the ISPCC.
