NCB is proud to have awarded the first Optimus Education Wellbeing Award for Schools to Lessness Health Primary School, which under the expert guidance of Kelly Hannaghan and the leadership of Head Teacher Kate O’Connor transformed itself into a nurturing environment with pupils and staff wellbeing at its heart.

Kelly has shown the power of living leadership in a way she cares for all the people around her and for herself. Pupils in her school have learned the importance of core values like bravery, respect, and responsibility.

They have encouraged to express feelings and moods in a constructive and reflective way.

They learn self-management techniques and support each other by electing wellbeing ambassadors in every class. Voices of pupils are central to the wellbeing strategy.

Kelly lives and breathes these values herself.

Her approach to the school and its community is inspiring.

Kelly is a shining light in the field of wellbeing in education. She walks the talk and her authenticity and experience shines through. I’d grab the opportunity to work with her!

I attended the first part of the Reflective Supervision course with Kelly and had such a fabulous day. I took a lot from the session and enjoyed every second of it. She is very professional and was a perfect fit for the course. I would thoroughly recommend her. Thanks Kelly!

Kelly is a true champion of wellbeing in education. Kelly’s school, Lessness Heath Primary School, was the first to be verified for the Optimus Education Wellbeing Award for Schools, and Kelly has since been a key collaborator in our wellbeing programme for schools.

This has taken a variety of forms. For example, Kelly has written practical guidance materials on working with parents, which have been shared with the Optimus network via our Knowledge Centre. Kelly is a regular blogger, drawing on her perspective as a wellbeing leader in school, sharing insights with hundreds more readers. She has also spoken at Optimus Education conferences, where delegates have responded to her confident, warm, relatable style, and readiness to share her experience.

Kelly takes every opportunity to support other practitioners on their wellbeing journey and is a great relationship and network builder. In this way she is building capacity within the system to promote and support the wellbeing of children, young people, families and staff in schools across the country.

I have just completed the Reflective Supervison Training.  This has not only made me recognise the absolute benefits of this process for all staff involved in education, but has equally made me see that this process starts from the top down.  If as school leaders we are not looking after ourselves, then we are not in a true position to help those around us.  Reflective practice is a powerful tool enabling the recipient to draw their own conclusions rather than leaders having to always ‘have the answers’.  I am looking forward to starting to use this process to support the wellbeing of staff within our school and would recommend this for all school leaders.

Thank you so much for the sessions. I found the Reflective Supervision sessions could really help me help others to move their practice forward.

Excellent training! Kelly was a calming presence in a very challenging time (COVID pandemic) she offered our staff useful, take away and do tips to enable us all to improve our wellbeing and mental health. Our staff have been talking about the training ever since! Thankyou so much” we highly recommend.

Thank you so much for organising the event and for providing such an amazing opportunity for us to really engage with well being as a whole community. It was amazing to see and listen to some of my wellbeing super idols in person and really embrace wellbeing for the day. I came away feeling full of positivity in moving our school forward, despite the many challenges we face daily. It just reaffirmed that the way we are moving towards for our school i.e. embedding wellbeing into the heart of our school, is absolutely the journey we need to push on with. Both myself and my Head felt empowered to continue with this journey because of the event- so thank you all!

Kelly delivered mental health and wellbeing training to all stakeholders within our school community. It was such a valuable day and Kelly’s passion, positivity and huge bank of knowledge left us all feeling refreshed and supported at the end of a very long term.

I was put in touch with Kelly Hannaghan by the Education People after enquiring after a bespoke training session for my staff regarding mental health. Kelly and I spoke at length about what I was looking for and she suggested many excellent suggestions from her own extensive experience working with schools and with children. The result was that the 2 and a half hour session prepared was tailored to my school and the situations the staff and children are dealing with here.

The session preparation was excellent and Kelly was available for some time before the session actually began so as to make sure no-one had any trouble getting onto the Zoom meeting and to answer any questions.

I invited all my staff as well as governors to attend the training and it really was excellent both in delivery, preparation and immediate effect. There was a good mix of personal experience, breakout sessions, humour, feedback and time for questions. Kelly is approachable, knowledgeable and helped us all see the mental health of the staff and pupils at the school from different angles as well as giving us ideas for engaging our parents better.

I would thoroughly recommend Kelly for any bespoke training your organisation may need.

Kelly Hannaghan is a force of nature! I’ve never known anyone more fiercely committed to the wellbeing of children, families, school communities and staff. She is a knowledgeable, passionate and skilled wellbeing practitioner.

Kelly Hannaghan’s knowledge, professional understanding and support for Wellbeing and Mental Health in schools is a testament to her incredible dedication in supporting pupils, staff and parents to ensure they are emotionally safe and secure. I continue to be impressed by her approachable manner both online and offline as she can make anyone feel safe and well with her supportive nature.

Kelly is an inspirational person and wellbeing ambassador. She has a wealth of knowledge around practical strategies to improve the mental health and wellbeing of the whole school community. Her passion and drive enable her to have huge impact on raising the mental health of pupils both at her own school but nationwide. It is a pleasure to collaborate with her both as a speaker across Optimus Educations conferences but also as a leading influencer on wellbeing across the educational sector.