The SST is composed of the following members of staff:
| Principal |
Vivienne Hogan |
| Deputy Principals |
Declan Fitzgerald & Donal Doody |
| Guidance Counsellor(s) |
Paul Breslin, Aoife Nicholas, David Keane |
| HSCL teacher |
Trish Ryan |
| Special Educational Needs co-ordinator |
Sinead Corr |
| Chaplain |
Suzanne O’Connor |
| SCP manager |
Debbie Rooney |
Role of Student Support Team
The Guidance Counsellors play a central role in many school-based committees and programmes including Student Support Team (SST), Wellbeing team/WSG Team, DEIS planning. The Guidance Counsellors have an integral part within the Student Support Team (SST) and in the planning and delivery of the school’s Critical Response Plan.
The purpose of the SST is to provide an organised structure for identifying the educational and emotional needs of individual students. The team also works with teachers and all school personnel to meet these needs.
The SST meets weekly during a time-tabled period, when all members are free to attend. Working in a preventative fashion, the SST identifies those students who are ‘at-risk’. Any member of staff may refer a student through one of the team members. The referral is discussed and any intervention from within the school or through outside agencies may be recommended. Where it is deemed necessary, individual students may be referred to external agencies for further support. Examples include General Practioners, The HSE Mid-West Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, The National Educational Psychological Service, psychologists.
One of the guidance counsellors at TCC co-ordinates the work of the SST. Minutes are recorded at each meeting and circulated by encrypted e-mail to team members. Students who are experiencing personal, emotional, behavioural or other difficulties are referred via a written referral which is handed to the co-ordinator for the weekly meeting. Most referrals come from the Year Head who gather information about vulnerable students from the class tutors of the year group and/or from other teachers. One member of the SST is assigned as the lead person for each student discussed.
Critical Incident Management Team
The Student Support Team has a dual role as the school’s Critical Incident Management Team (CIMT). This team will meet in the unfortunate occasion of a critical incident occurring that involves members of the school community.
The same members of the SST have designated roles within the CIMT
Guidelines for Referrals to Child & Youth Mental Health Services– Mid West