**1. Introduction**

In late December 2019, when international news reported on a virus that had apparently anecdotally been caused by bats; little did the world know how coronavirus disease would lead to so much social and economic disruption across the world. The impact on day-t0-day living was significant; including restrictions on travel and movement, social distancing, work practices that in many cases included working from home, and 'lockdown' in terms of normal social functioning, including the closure of school buildings. While there is no doubt that the pandemic, which at the time of writing, according to the United Nations has led to 15 million deaths worldwide and "disrupted the essential health services of 92% of countries" [1] (2022, page 10), the research reported in this chapter focuses on the perceived impacts experienced by a small sample of Irish primary school teachers and principals as they navigated their way through the pandemic supporting their students, schools and families in their

local context. This chapter reports the findings of a mixed-methods study undertaken with Irish primary school principals and teachers. While the study involved a mixedmethods approach comprising self-reported questionnaires and semi-structured interviews, one of the interesting sub-themes identified in the qualitative data and focused on for this chapter, was 'impacts and opportunities'. This theme that was identified within the larger well-being theme refers to how the participants described the opportunity the pandemic provided for them in some cases to address their own well-being and engage in self-care practices The overall aim of the study was to provide an opportunity for both principals and teachers to reflect on how the pandemic impacted on their well-being and by inference, emerging issues in the school community as a result of Covid 19. We begin this chapter with a background summary of the timeline of school closures in the Irish context, followed by a brief discussion of theoretical perspectives of well-being, and a brief review of relevant literature pertaining to the themes of social emotional well-being, care practices and more specifically self-care practices. We acknowledge the ongoing debate as to the meaning of the term "well-being", and highlight the Irish Department of Education (DE) [2] definition as applied in Irish education contexts. The research methodology and findings related to the impacts and opportunities are then presented and discussed. A large portion of the findings section is devoted to the original narratives of the participants, but these serve to illuminate the narratives, resulting in rich data findings from then participants. Finally, the implications for supporting teacher and principal well-being are discussed with recommendations for future research.
