A former child carer is returning to her old school to help pupils and staff with wellbeing. Mary Immaculate High in Cardiff said it was struggling to recruit a new chaplain after their long-serving member of staff retired.
After months of searching the school has now employed Ore Egbetola as its first wellbeing and spiritual officer – four years after she left as a pupil. Ore, a child carer for her late mother, attended Mary Immaculate until 2018 where she was head girl.
Although she can’t be a chaplain as she is not a practising Catholic her new full-time role at Mary Immaculate High will see Ore, 20, taking on a range of responsibilities including offering support and guidance to students and staff. She will be training for the role while she works and said she hopes children can relate to her because it's not long since she was at the school herself.
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The former child carer said she would draw on her own personal experiences to help support and encourage people needing her. Ore spent much of her childhood and teenage years as a young carer looking after her late mother Toyosi, who had kidney disease, and her younger sister Ire, who has sickle cell disease.
Ore, who lives in Barry with her father and sister who is in year 11 at Mary Immaculate, hopes she can be someone pupils can relate to because she is closer in age. She said it was good to be back at her old school and she wants to help address the growing wellbeing problems after Covid that have affected so many young people.
"The school offers lots of support but I feel they were missing someone the children can relate to. There is an age gap. I went to school here and know the environment and feel I can relate to students a little but more.
"There has been more stress since Covid and issues with people being by themselves during lockdowns.. We are coming out of that but there's still a lot of wellbeing work to do.
“The school has a very important place in my heart and I have always kept in contact. When they asked me to apply I didn’t even think about it – I just said yes.”
The school said it encouraged their former pupil to apply for the role after inviting her in to speak to GCSE year 11 students and give them tips and encouragement on how to cope with stress. After doing her GCSEs at Mary Immaculate and her A-levels at St David’s College Ore spent time working for a sickle cell charity and helping at the New Life Community Church in Tonyrefail, where she runs the Sunday school. She is a former Wales under-18 basketball player and still plays basketball for a local team.
“I’ve always enjoyed working with children. I feel that having a person who’s not a teacher available to talk to students and help them when they’re struggling is very important,” she said.
“One of my main roles is being that person and I’m always visible around the school making sure people know I’m there for them if they need me. I’m able to draw on my own personal experiences to give them the support and encouragement they need. The school has been amazing and they are so supportive towards me, especially when it comes to training to help me improve and enhance my skills.”
In her new role Ore also wants to increase the amount of charity and community work pupils at Mary Immaculate do and to help those who are religious to feel more comfortable in expressing their faith. “One of my main goals is to help the children feel closer to themselves, to each other, and to God,” she said.
Ore, who also plans to run basketball sessions at the school, admitted it was a bit strange returning as a member of staff working with her former teachers. "Going from a teacher/student relationship to a colleague relationship is unique. I had a lot of people to ask for help when I was at school and now I hope to help others."
Mary Immaculate’s deputy head Annmarie Wilson said the school was delighted to welcome Ore back in her new role. “Her caring nature, her personal experiences, and her faith made her the perfect person for the job.
“As a school with a large number of students from deprived areas we face our fair share of challenges. Having someone like Ore on hand to offer spiritual and emotional support will make overcoming those challenges a lot easier.”
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