My condolences to the family and friends of the young local boy who tragically passed away today while playing football.
May he rest in peace.
Condolences
From the Donabate Community College website :-
"May 31, 2015
Due to recent events, the school will be open tomorrow Bank Holiday Monday June 1st from 11am to 1pm. All students and parents are welcome to call in and the invitation is extended to those young people in the community not pupils of the school but who are also almost most welcome.
Marian Flynn"
http://www.donabatecc.ie/bank-holiday-s ... ng-notice/
"May 31, 2015
Due to recent events, the school will be open tomorrow Bank Holiday Monday June 1st from 11am to 1pm. All students and parents are welcome to call in and the invitation is extended to those young people in the community not pupils of the school but who are also almost most welcome.
Marian Flynn"
http://www.donabatecc.ie/bank-holiday-s ... ng-notice/
Words are truly inadequate. Sincere sympathy to the family and friends of this young boy.
Well done to the school for opening its doors tomorrow - young people need to be with each other at a time like this and parents need to be open and affirming as grief takes many forms.
The National Education Psychological Service will almost certainly be present over the coming days and I thought this link might be useful to parents and others in understanding what to expect over the days ahead: http://www.education.ie/en/Schools-Coll ... chools.pdf
Well done to the school for opening its doors tomorrow - young people need to be with each other at a time like this and parents need to be open and affirming as grief takes many forms.
The National Education Psychological Service will almost certainly be present over the coming days and I thought this link might be useful to parents and others in understanding what to expect over the days ahead: http://www.education.ie/en/Schools-Coll ... chools.pdf
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concerned mother
- Posts: 4
- Joined: 22 May 2015, 10:13
I want to offer my condolences to the family and friends of the wee talented lad, who was so tragically taken from us all as a community. I would also wish that those in control in the School would get counselling services in operation for his friends. As there were no services on offer in the school for the last few days. I do not understand how the school has no Counsellor. That was what I was told.
concernedmother: Your last sentence is pretty telling: 'That's what I've been told'. I don't suppose a little fact checking would have crossed your mind?
1: Every school has guidance. It is mandatory under the Education Act. In one of the austerity budgets, the Government took away the ex-quota guidance allocation, meaning that schools now have to find hours for guidance from within their teaching allocation as opposed to being given guidance on top of that. However, it was made clear to schools that guidance was absolutely mandatory and that provision had to be made. You might want to raise this with a TD or the Minister for Education if it concerns you - teachers have been appealing for that particular cut to be rescinded for a couple of years now.
2: This awful tragedy happened at a really unfortunate time. Schools closed for the summer last Friday. The guidance counsellor could have made reasonable plans to be away at this point. Who can foresee something like this?
3: This tragic death happened on Sunday. The school opened its doors yesterday. I saw a beautiful picture in one of the newspapers which was clearly from the school with candles and mementos placed around a photo of the boy. Today is only Tuesday. As I said in an earlier post, NEPS has a team ready for situations such as this. Maybe they weren't available yesterday. I'd be surprised if they hadn't been informed by now.
I have no association with DCC but I am a teacher elsewhere. Don't you think you could have checked the facts with the school? I think they've done more than might have been expected given the very difficult timing of this tragedy.
1: Every school has guidance. It is mandatory under the Education Act. In one of the austerity budgets, the Government took away the ex-quota guidance allocation, meaning that schools now have to find hours for guidance from within their teaching allocation as opposed to being given guidance on top of that. However, it was made clear to schools that guidance was absolutely mandatory and that provision had to be made. You might want to raise this with a TD or the Minister for Education if it concerns you - teachers have been appealing for that particular cut to be rescinded for a couple of years now.
2: This awful tragedy happened at a really unfortunate time. Schools closed for the summer last Friday. The guidance counsellor could have made reasonable plans to be away at this point. Who can foresee something like this?
3: This tragic death happened on Sunday. The school opened its doors yesterday. I saw a beautiful picture in one of the newspapers which was clearly from the school with candles and mementos placed around a photo of the boy. Today is only Tuesday. As I said in an earlier post, NEPS has a team ready for situations such as this. Maybe they weren't available yesterday. I'd be surprised if they hadn't been informed by now.
I have no association with DCC but I am a teacher elsewhere. Don't you think you could have checked the facts with the school? I think they've done more than might have been expected given the very difficult timing of this tragedy.
Concernedmother: see link below to the College's Critical Incident Policy on it's website
http://www.donabatecc.ie/demo/wp-conten ... Policy.pdf
http://www.donabatecc.ie/demo/wp-conten ... Policy.pdf
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concerned mother
- Posts: 4
- Joined: 22 May 2015, 10:13
"Lo-cal"]Concernedmother: see link below to the College's Critical Incident Policy on it's website
http://www.donabatecc.ie/demo/wp-conten ... ent-Policy.
Sorry to take issue with you Lo -cal, but, that link has to be a mistake , most of the people listed in that policy are no longer with the School and it refers to Mrs Flynn as the Deputy Principal. My Son was up on Sunday and Monday and he was told there was no Counsellor in the School.
http://www.donabatecc.ie/demo/wp-conten ... ent-Policy.
Sorry to take issue with you Lo -cal, but, that link has to be a mistake , most of the people listed in that policy are no longer with the School and it refers to Mrs Flynn as the Deputy Principal. My Son was up on Sunday and Monday and he was told there was no Counsellor in the School.
Concerned Mother: point taken that the people listed in the policy are longer with the School. I didn't notice this. Maybe the policies would need to be reviewed and updated to reflect changes in management. While the School opened it's doors on Sunday and Monday, unfortunately, as you said, from your son's experience, counselling services were not available. I would hope that counselling services are available from today.
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concerned mother
- Posts: 4
- Joined: 22 May 2015, 10:13
I agree Lo -Cal ,but the first 24 hours are always the most important for our young Children, the school fell down badly having no counsellor available.
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DonabatePortrane
- Posts: 1
- Joined: 02 Jun 2015, 19:12
The school did not fall down badly. The unfortunate incident happened on a bank holiday weekend, the doors were opened for people to gather over the bank holiday weekend. There was a councillor in the school today, which is the earliest it could be arranged over a bank holiday weekend.
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concerned mother
- Posts: 4
- Joined: 22 May 2015, 10:13
The School did fall down badly, there was no counsellor in the school for 48 hours, Critical incidents do not just happen 9-5 on week days. The first 24 hours are crucial.
I think everyone will note concerned mother's failure to address or be informed by my detailed answer earlier and instead find silly shortcomings in a school policy which still perfectly outlines the approach to be taken by the school.
In what way is it the responsibility of the school or indeed the Department of Education to provide such services at the weekend? How are staff miraculously made to appear when they could be anywhere legitimately enjoying the weekend or indeed taking a holiday? This tragedy didn't even concern the school for goodness sake. It happened in the child's private life with an external football club. Anything the school did over the weekend was over and above what could reasonably be expected, but of course there is no acknowledgment of that. Is concerned mother so lacking as a parent that she can't attend to her own son's emotional needs when the school is closed?
What's going on here is clear to me. With one post on this site, on this tragic subject, and this childish repetition of silly mantras, I smell an attention-seeking troll and it's shameful to see a thread like this abused in this manner.
In what way is it the responsibility of the school or indeed the Department of Education to provide such services at the weekend? How are staff miraculously made to appear when they could be anywhere legitimately enjoying the weekend or indeed taking a holiday? This tragedy didn't even concern the school for goodness sake. It happened in the child's private life with an external football club. Anything the school did over the weekend was over and above what could reasonably be expected, but of course there is no acknowledgment of that. Is concerned mother so lacking as a parent that she can't attend to her own son's emotional needs when the school is closed?
What's going on here is clear to me. With one post on this site, on this tragic subject, and this childish repetition of silly mantras, I smell an attention-seeking troll and it's shameful to see a thread like this abused in this manner.
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diggerbarnes
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Is it not a bit distasteful to be arguing the toss here?
Why is it when a topic is posted in relation to the secondary school, there appears to be some forum members that have an axe to grind? If you look back at previous topics, much the same theme surfaces. I don't feel this tread is a place to grind those axes. In fact, as I've said before, if you have an axe to grind, contact the school directly. This forum isn't the place.
Regards,
Ken.
Ken.
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Somewhere Else
- Posts: 27
- Joined: 12 Oct 2012, 12:31
I cannot imagine what the poor lad's parents and family are going through. A talented footballer by all accounts and a lovely boy. My sincere condolences to all who are grieving for him. May he be at peace.
diggerbarnes wrote:Is it not a bit distasteful to be arguing the toss here?
It certainly is, and any more posts in relation to the counselling procedures of DCC will be deleted from this thread.
As Ken stated, take it up with the college if you have a problem. Nothing will be achieved by talking about it on this forum, and certainly not on this thread.
Donabate is reeling at the sad loss of this very talented and beautiful young lad. Condolences to his family and friends at this very difficult time. Thank you DCC for opening Sunday and Monday to allow everyone to come together to remember Shay. Prayers and thoughts with his family and friends. RIP.
I can tell you that I've made sure to give my kids an extra long hug over the last few days. One of them started the Leaving Cert this morning in DCC & then just before the English papers were handed out the examiner said they were to hold a minutes silence for Shetemi.
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pat mustard
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