Neart Programme Announcement

Karl

Friday, 27 September 2024

Minister for Education Norma Foley is delighted to announce Jigsaw as the successful bidder to provide services to further support wellbeing and mental health in post-primary schools. The new programme will be called Neart – the Irish word for strength.

The tender, published in April of this year, invited suitable providers to work closely with the Department of Education over a three-year period to develop and deliver additional supports to enhance Student Support Team capacity to work with students, parents and school staff.

The new Neart programme, provided by Jigsaw, will provide learning opportunities for students that promote mental health and wellbeing as well as mental health webinars and e-Learning courses for parents and school staff.

The Department of Education believe that Jigsaw’s existing experience delivering initiatives supporting the mental health of young people across post-primary schools made them an exemplary partner in this new initiative. Their work will complement the supports already available in schools that include: the provision of guidance counselling, the work of the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS), as well as the existing wellbeing programmes and initiatives including the Student Support Team structure.

"I am delighted to announce Jigsaw as successful partners with my department in this new initiative. We know that young people learn more effectively and have better academic outcomes if they are happy in their work and feel acknowledged and supported in school. Jigsaw’s track record of delivering high-quality mental health supports on a national level to young people of school-going age makes them the perfect partner in delivering these enhanced supports to our post-primary schools”.

Minister Norma Foley

"Supporting young people’s mental health in places where they live, learn, work and play has been the central mission of Jigsaw since our establishment in 2006. Our partnership with Department of Education/NEPS hugely supports this ambition. It also presents a unique opportunity to complement the existing mental health and wellbeing supports in post-primary schools across Ireland. ‘Neart – supporting mental health in post-primary schools’, our new wellbeing programme for post-primary schools, aims to significantly enhance the role of student voice; to provide practical opportunities for parental engagement and learning; and to build the capacity, confidence and competence of school staff in supporting the diversity of wellbeing and mental health needs within and across schools.”

Dr. Joseph Duffy, CEO of Jigsaw

The new Neart programme will complement the supports already available in schools; the provision of guidance counselling, the work of the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) as well as the existing wellbeing programmes and initiatives including the Student Support Team structure.

The Department of Education, through NEPS, is currently working with Jigsaw on Phase 1 of the programme to develop and finalise the resources that will be available to schools through the initiative.

Engagement with schools will begin in Phase 2 and further information about available programmes and e-Learning supports will be announced during this second phase, which will commence in late November of this year.