Above and BeyondBy Trevor Leen

She went above and beyond for me... showing concern about my mental health.

Ms McElligot has gone above and beyond the call of duty in helping me. I've had her since I started 1st year in 2013 and I had her for most of my learning support classes as I have dyslexia. She helped myself and others by giving us studying tips and gave us helpful notes. She also kept her classes entertaining by discussing latest topics and showing us her daily positive messages she has found. Where she went above and beyond for me was when I came back from the Christmas holiday in January 2018: she approached me showing concern about my mental health. I had recently been going through a very dark time in my life personal life, with issues with anxiety, depression and OCD; and she picked up straight away that I wasn't my normal self. At the time, I was in 5th year and these issues hugely affected my studying but Ms McElligot’s main priority was my mental wellness.

She sent emails to my teachers, saying how I was struggling and she would always keep up to date with my mum and ask me how my appointments were going, as I had been going through a lot of counselling. When I started 6th year, she organised one-on-one learning support classes twice a week to help me with my school work and helped me get through school in my mental state. In October 2018, Ms McElligot had an operation done so she was off school for a few months. She wasn't to do any school work but that didn't stop her from getting on to one of the vice principals and making sure he looked after me while she was gone.

When she returned (earlier than what she should have) in January, I was delighted and I had news that I was diagnosed with autism. She did amazing work with this information, helping me with this and helped me fill out my CAO and DARE [Disability Access Route to Education] forms, helped me with final projects and helped me find out what PLCs I would like to do. She got me a present from when she went to a Berlin school trip and has also given me her classroom as my special centre for the Leaving Cert. She also supported me and helped me organise a mental health day in school for mental health awareness month of May.

Ms McElligot is an amazing teacher and I am delighted/lucky to have had her as a teacher and all future students will be lucky to have her.