A structured Guidance and Counselling Service is available to all students from first to sixth
year in Loreto Secondary School. We endeavour that each student has access, within the
available resources, to the school Guidance and Counselling service, which answers their
guidance and counselling needs in the context of the overall mission statement. The
Guidance and Counselling service includes class, individual and small group interventions in
one or more of the three areas of personal/social, educational and vocational concerns.
The school Guidance Counsellors, as part of the school team aim:
- To promote the social and personal development of the students e.g. decisionmaking skills, self-awareness, personal and social skills required for life.
- To assist in meeting the educational needs of the students e.g. subject choice, exam
techniques, study skills, routes and levels of entry and progression opportunities. - To assist in the vocational development of the students e.g. job skills, open days.
- To assist the students on making a career choice based on a sound knowledge of
their own personality, abilities, needs, interests and values. - To provide direction and help to the students who have difficulty with personal,
social and educational issues.
Guidance Counselling aims to be an integral part of the process of developmental learning in our school.
Loreto Secondary School places great importance on the provision of guidance class time. Students have one class period of guidance per week in Transition Year, fifth and sixth year provided by one of the three Guidance Counsellors: Catriona Foley, Lorraine Kelly and Enda
O’ Sullivan.
As a school we are delighted to be using the REACH+ Programme throughout Transition Year, fifth and sixth year. The REACH+ Career & College Preparation Programme is the most advanced career guidance programme available in Ireland. It covers a comprehensive range
of topics. The programme encourages students to match their aptitude, values, interests and personality to career pathways and course opportunities. The programme includes a substantial online learning environment where students can complete and store all of their
career research.
We also use resources from “Classroom Guidance” designed by renowned Guidance Counsellor Brian Comerford. You will find the PowerPoint presentations at www.classroomguidance.ie. We encourage students to tell their parents/ guardians what they have learned every week so that their parents/ guardians are fully informed and involved. We encourage the parents/ guardians to actively engage in what they are learning and to do further research online together on each topic to reflect on its relevance to each individual student and family. We endeavour to instil a growth mind-set in all our students, encouraging them to reflect on their own capabilities, how they can improve further and how to plan for their future college courses/ careers.
Additionally, a lot of work is done on a one-to-one basis with individual students. These individual appointments may focus on the personal, educational or vocational development of a student. Responsibility for each year group is divided between each Guidance Counsellor as outlined in the table below. This allows for continuity for students from one academic year to the next.
| Ms. Kelly | Ms. Foley | Mr. O Sullivan |
| 1.1 / 1.2 | 1.5 / 1.4 | 1.3 |
| 2.1 / 2.2 | 2.4 / 2.5 | 2.3 / 2.6 |
| 3.1 / 3.2 | 3.4 / 3.5 | 3.3 |
| 4.1 / 4.2 | 4.5 | 4.3 / 4.4 |
| 5.1 / 5.2 | 5LCA / 5.4 / 5.5 | 5.3 |
| 6.1 / 6.2 | Remaining 6.4 / 6.5 / 6.6 | 6LCA / 6.3 and first 10 students in 6.4 |
Our main aims are to guide students in their holistic development so that they can develop their own autonomy, independence and commitment to their responsibilities. We endeavour to facilitate a culture throughout their six years in Loreto whereby they develop the skills to become critical, reflective thinkers and decision- makers. We envisage that students will learn life- long skills that will support them in their life- long learning. We work closely with many other stakeholders to ensure that there is a whole- school approach to guidance. Students and parents are encouraged to remain up to date on careers related news by regularly checking the news items this website. Additionally, to receive daily updates on careers related news by email, we strongly encourage all students to register for a newsletter on www.careersnews.ie.
We use a mixture of counselling theories in our work, depending on the issue the student may have. Where personal counselling is concerned, we may, following some initial work with a student, decide to refer the student to an outside counsellor or GP if their need for counselling is greater than what a school setting can offer. We work closely with parents/ guardians in this regard.