Students raise €800 for mental health charity at pedal-a-thon

STUDENTS in a secondary school have raised over €800 through a pedal-a-thon in aid of mental health charity, Cycle Against Suicide.

Leaving Certificate Applied (LCA) students in Tallaght Community School (TCS) completed a charity static-cycle in the reception of the school last Thursday, March 24, to great success.

“It was a very successful day overall, there was a good energy and buzz about the place as the LCA students and teachers took turns on the bikes,” says Michelle Hegarty from TCS.

“The Deputy Principal, Ian Boran, also helped in finishing it off towards the end of the day and I have to say, there really was a great atmosphere about the place.

“There was a lovely and healthy student-teacher competition on the bikes over the course of the day, so it was all in good spirit and fun.

“Here in Tallaght Community School, from a well-being perspective, we come at it quite proactively in promoting a positive mental health and looking after your general well-being.

“We are, like many schools, promoting our students to talk and to ask for help if its needed and we’re working towards getting that messaging out there all the time.”

Organised by teachers Chloe Wynne, Sharon O’Loughlin and Leah O’Shaughnessy, the cycle started in the school reception at 9am before students moved to the front gate at around home time – 4pm.

TCS is part of the One Good School initiative, which is being run by mental health charity Jigsaw.

The One Good School initiative supports the mental health of young people by developing a shared responsibility across a school community.

Last year, the students of TCS produced a book with teachers Melanie Martin and Leah O’Shaughnessy called ‘Resilience and Me’ with all proceeds going to Jigsaw and WALK.

Resilience and Me is a collection of 50 stories from 50 students, in which they reflected on a time in their lives when they showed great resilience.

The goal of this is to enable students to draw on their own resources to build resilience through reading the tools of other young people.

Resilience and Me is available online and at the Bookstation.