UNIVERSITY of Limerick (UL) students are giving back to the Irish education system as they head into classrooms in primary schools across Limerick under a new programme aimed to provide therapeutic supports for children in disadvantaged areas.
The Health Alliances for Practice-based Professional Education and Engagement (or HAPPEE) programme, sees physiotherapy, occupational therapy, and speech and language therapy students from UL placed directly into classrooms in disadvantaged areas across Limerick to provide supports to children who otherwise might not be able to access them.
The project is a collaboration between UL, Limerick City and County Council, St Gabriel’s Foundation, and six primary schools across Limerick.
The HAPPEE project was first piloted in 2020 and 2021 in Corpus Christi Primary School, before being expanded to five more schools in September 2023.
The students are supervised by fully-qualified clinicians provided by St Gabriel’s and supported in their academic training by the School of Allied Health at UL.
Student placements typically last eight to 10 weeks and, over the next two years, HAPPEE will provide 96 new placements for UL students.
The two-year pilot will service pupils from Our Lady Queen of Peace Primary School, St Mary’s Primary School, Corpus Christi Primary School, Gaelscoil Sheoirse Clancy, Le Chéile, and Our Lady of Lourdes Primary School.
The project, led by Professor Nigel Healey, vice president of global and community engagement at UL, is partially funded under the government’s ‘What Works’ programme.
“UL was founded to provide education to the young people of the Mid West and to support the economic and social regeneration of our region,” Professor Healey said.
“It is clear that, while Limerick as a whole is thriving, there are communities within our city that have not shared these benefits. This project is an important contribution by the university to giving everyone in Limerick an equal opportunity to thrive and fulfil their potential.”
St Mary’s Primary School principal, Eoghan O’Byrne, added: “The HAPPEE project has the ability to create a multi-disciplinary approach that will benefit all the children in the school. This transformative project will help increase educational outcomes and attainment.”
“We have huge needs within the school and wide range of complex needs as well. The HAPPEE project allows us to address those needs at a very early stage to provide early intervention and the major benefit of the programme is that it is taken out of that clinical setting and put into the community setting.”
