Before we talk about our day, we want to thank everybody who was involved in every aspect of making this incredible day and experience happen for us and the other schools who attended. We recognise how much work everyone put into making this happen, and we are so appreciative of it, especially Ms. Judge who brought us to the event and was involved in making the whole day happen.
On our trip to DCU St. Patrick’s College, we were given the opportunity to engage in a variety of SPHE-related activities that helped us learn and grow both personally and as a group. From interactive discussions on mental health and well-being to team-building exercises, every activity was designed to encourage self-reflection, empathy, and communication. The experience was not only educational but also fun, as we collaborated with our peers in a supportive environment that fostered respect and understanding. This trip allowed us to explore key aspects of Social, Personal, and Health Education in a real-world context, making the learning experience even more impactful. In this article, we hope to give you an understanding of how our great day went!
We set off at 8:40 am, leaving Dominican College and walking to DCU St. Pat’s. On the way, we were surprised with hot chocolates from Insomnia, which definitely helped wake us up and get us ready for the exciting day ahead. When we arrived at DCU, we headed into the room where we’d be spending the rest of the day. As soon as we walked in we were amazed by how much effort and preparation had gone into the event by all the teachers involved. The room was filled with posters showing how SPHE is taught differently in each school and how the schools at the event express the subject in their own way. Including the one we had made. We sat down at our designated table and took in everything that had been set up for us. Each table was covered with a big sheet of brown paper, and there were markers all around so we could doodle or write thoughts throughout the day. We each got a cup with our name on it, (that Ms. Judge made for us) which everyone was excited about, and we also had name tags that we could decorate to match our personalities. We picked out coloured ribbons to clip them onto, which was a fun touch. By this point, we were all really looking forward to the day ahead and couldn’t wait to see what activities and surprises were coming next!
After the other schools had arrived and everyone retrieved their name tags and personalised cups, we headed into the room next door. Our name tags were on different coloured ribbons, so when we went into the other room, we had to find someone who had the same colour. We did a mirroring activity with each other, so every move I made, my partner mirrored whatever move I made. We then had a dance break. We were taught two dances, and we performed the dances altogether, with every school that attended.
We participated in many team-building and ice-breaker activities throughout the day as well as exercises to voice our thoughts and opinions on different subjects regarding SPHE. The first thing we did was decorate our tables with markers and colours that were left for us, and make our name tags. The ‘doodle table’ was something that we all found very joyous and started the day on a positive note.
A few of the other main activities that we took part in were the flames, the rulers, and the kites. It gave us an opportunity to talk about many things. The flames were to write about some of the main problems we think affect young people today, on these paper flames, we wrote things like judgment, social status, and peer pressure. The kites were for us to write down some things that we would like to learn about in SPHE classes, or things we would like to expand on that we may have already learnt but wish to broaden our knowledge about, this included what to do if you know someone is struggling, how to deal with stress, studying techniques and many more suggestions on how to improve our SPHE classes. Finally, the rulers were for us to talk about rules in our school as well as things we could improve in our society; we wrote things like uniform restrictions, stereotypes, and judgment.
Later in the day, after we had had lunch in the Cat and Cage, we were lucky enough to get to watch a play called “Bullied”. This showed a realistic situation of a girl experiencing bullying and her Grandad helping her talk about it. We got to have an outside perspective on a situation that would feel like no one understands. The snippet of the play was amazing and definitely was something that was a highlight of our day.
One of our last activities was creating spoken word poems. A talented woman called Hazel helped us create some ideas to include in our poems. We made a group poem alongside our own individual poems. We were able to express our own beliefs and values in words, which was almost therapeutic to be able to put them into words. When we finished our poems, we walked around the room saying our poems at different volume levels for anyone who might feel scared to read theirs out loud.
The day was a great chance to voice and express our ideas and opinions on different topics in SPHE. The atmosphere was great, making us feel comfortable to voice our thoughts and views. We got to meet loads of new people from different schools around Ireland, all with different backgrounds and journeys, and we even made a couple of friends along the way. We enjoyed all of the various activities and tasks we got to participate in, while also learning the deeper meaning behind them. It was a great way to get students more involved to see what goes on in everyone's SPHE classes. It really was a day to remember with a lot of fun and new knowledge about SPHE.