vimeo.com/.../928594525

So the most positive part
for us was the twinning

and the friendship that was created
with our neighbouring school,

which is Kinsale Community School.

We visit each other,
they host us for a party.

We've been back and forth.

And it gives our students an opportunity
to meet other students like themselves

in the West Cork area.

And heading off on a bus is
like their opportunity to go

to a match and to meet
other people in their area,

make friendships,
swap Snapchat, whatever.

So the impact is on the
whole school community.

It's not just LGBTQ+ students,
their friends and allies.

It is the impact it has on all staff,
all students and the wider community.

So I think you need to involve
parents and local organisations

that have embraced
what we're trying to do.

We got involved in the Quality Mark

because we have a good
few students in our school

who belong in the LGBTQ+ community.

We've also seen a massive thing
with people come into our schools

just because we are part of
the Quality Mark schools,

it's just brilliant to see.

I would really recommend the
Quality Mark to other schools

because it's just a huge
impact on the school.

Even if it just affects one student,

to see that one person
being impacted has been

a huge difference to our school.

We got involved with the Quality Mark

because we felt it
gave us the opportunity to

more fully embed the
work we were doing already

to support the LGBTQ+
young people in our community.

We really liked that the
framework was so cohesive

and had the four areas,
the culture, curriculum,

policy, and partnership,

so it meant that we
could take a broad approach

to embedding real lasting
change in our school.

The most positive part of being involved
is seeing the whole school community

band together to make our school
a more welcoming and inclusive place.

We always really prided ourselves
on making the school as warm

and open and friendly as possible.

And this was just
another way of adding to that.

It's also been great to see

students see themselves
recognised in the school

and the confidence and the
enthusiasm that's come from that.

And even the staff have become more
open and willing to communicate.

I would recommend the
Quality Mark to another school

because I suppose it can
be a really daunting process

trying to figure out how

to make meaningful change
in your school community.

There have been so many positive parts
of being involved in this programme.

It's made us very intentional
in what we've wanted to do.

It's made us pause and step back

and consider the school
at lots of different levels,

whether that's a policy level,

but most importantly
it's at the lived experience

that our students are having

and that's all students in the school,

regardless of their identity.

We've looked at
things like staff training.

We've looked at our
curriculum and representation

and like I say,
we've looked at our policy.

So it's been a bottom-up
and top-down approach

and our hope is that the impact of this

for everybody in the school
is real, tangible, measurable.

So I would strongly recommend
the Quality Mark programme

to other schools because as educators,

the onus is on us to ensure
that young people feel safe

and respected and
represented in their education.

And you know, this programme
has been such an amazing way

for our school to combat,
you know, bullying and exclusion

and just to really promote inclusion
and diversity in the school community.