Limerick schools honoured for promotion of LGBTQ+ inclusivity

TWO LIMERICK secondary schools have received the LGBTQ+ Quality Mark award for the promotion of wellbeing for their students.

Crescent College Comprehensive SJ, Dooradoyle, and Limerick Educate Together Secondary School, Castletroy, received the Belong To LGBTQ+ Quality Mark, recognising their work over an 18-month period to foster LGBTQ+ inclusivity. 

The schools were presented with their awards at an event in the Royal Marine Hotel, Dun Laoghaire, Dublin, and was attended by over 350 school representatives, including those from Limerick and hosted by social media influencer and TV presenter James Kavanagh. 

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Speaking at the event was Áine Costelloe, teacher at Crescent College Comprehensive SJ, said:  “Crescent College Comprehensive S.J. incorporates the characteristics of Jesuit education. An important means of doing this is through ‘Cura Personalis’ - the care of the individual.

“Crescent seeks in all it does to foster each pupil’s unique talents and qualities as people of competence, conscience and compassion. Our aim is to promote a positive school culture and climate which embraces difference and diversity and is based on inclusivity.

“We strive to build empathy, respect and resilience in our pupils. Our ethos is enhanced and further developed through our partnership with the Belong To LGBTQ+ Quality Mark.

“As part of this programme we are explicitly addressing the issues of bullying, cyberbullying and identity-based bullying in particular, homophobic and transphobic bullying. We have also achieved the Kindness Flag and have successfully completed the One Good School initiative.

“We continue to actively live out our mission and vision of Crescent as a welcoming community.”

In total, 44 schools were presented with their LGBTQ+ Quality Mark at the event, representing 17 counties and 26,000 post-primary school students across the country. 

The accreditation initiative was developed by Belong To LGBTQ+ Youth Ireland in 2022. 

That year, the School Climate Survey by Columbia University revealed that 76% of LGBTQ+ young people in Limerick and across Ireland do not feel safe in post-primary schools.

Since the pilot programme, over 100 schools and Youthreach centres have embarked on the LGBTQ+ Quality Mark journey to improve the lives and experiences of their LGBTQ+ students. 

The initiative draws on national and international best practice to create an environment where students feel safe and welcome regardless of who they are.

This is done through a host of practical, proactive actions such establishing an LGBTQ+ and Allies Club for students, training whole-staff teams on supporting LGBTQ+ students and promoting the representation of LGBTQ+ families and identities in classroom teaching. 

The School Climate Survey 2022, showed that an action as simple as including LGBTQ+ related topics in the curriculum resulted in young people: 22% more likely to feel like they belong at school, 11% more likely to feel accepted by the student body and 8% less likely to miss days of school due to feeling unsafe.

Speaking about the awards, Moninne Griffith (she/her), CEO of Belong To, said: “Homophobia, biphobia and transphobia remain a significant challenge for LGBTQ+ students in Limerick and across the country.

“The School Climate Survey 2022 has shown that in Ireland, compared to the general youth population, LGBTQ+ students are four times more likely to suffer verbal harassment and five times more likely to be physically harassed. It’s no surprise then that 76% of LGBTQ+ second-level students feel unsafe at school. 

“It is in this context that we say how proud we are at Belong To to have been working with this brilliant cohort of schools and Youthreach centres to make positive change and create safe spaces. 

“Across the board, every principal, coordinator, teacher and staff member has shown a huge level of commitment to fostering a truly inclusive environment in their school and to supporting all students in their care.

“I want to congratulate all for the actions that they have taken throughout the process and hope that they feel extremely proud to stand with the students and young people from their school or centre today, knowing what a huge impact their work has had and will continue to have on the lives of so many Limerick young people.”