County winners of 'Someone Like me' Art competition announced

Scoil Eoin Báiste, Nobber, and Saint Mary’s NS, Enfield, are celebrating being named Junior and Senior County Winners respectively of the prestigious national art competition 'Someone Like Me'.

The two schools now join 46 other schools to compete for the much sought-after national title at the national awards ceremony to be held at Dublin City Hall on Wednesday, 17th January 2024.

Now in its eighth year, the Someone Like Me art competition, which is organised by the National Disability Authority, attracted more than 2,200 entries from national schools across the length and breadth of the country.

The competition was created as part of the National Disability Authority’s work to nurture more positive attitudes towards persons with disabilities and, to date, it has seen more than 17,500 children take part in lesson plans and pupil activities designed to challenge our young people to appreciate and respect similarities and differences in people.

The three-person judging panel comprising Ann Higgins, principal of Hospital School Children’s Health Ireland; Dr Carly Cheevers, senior research officer at the National Disability Authority; and Laura McGrath, an autism class teacher was particularly impressed with the entries from Scoil Eoin Báiste and St Mary’s, selecting them as county winners based on their insightful and inspirational responses to the theme of ‘Someone Like Me’.

This was St Mary's NS, Enfield's first time entering the competition and their video entry was created by fifth class pupils along with teacher Shauna Connelly.

"Our initial brainstorm threw up a lot of ideas around the topic of disability. The children identified a lot of physical disabilities e.g. a wheelchair user a person who was blind/deaf or someone who had lost a limb. What occurred to me most was that very few of the children knew much if anything about hidden disabilities like dyslexia, dyspraxia, or autism," explained Ms Connelly.

"We looked at some of these disabilities to help raise the children’s awareness of them. We also did some research into how a person’s life is impacted if they are living with a disability. After a lot of work, we decided to focus our art project on a person with autism. Our project aims to raise awareness about autism and what life was for 'this' person as she lived her life.

"Our project is entitled 'This is Me'. The girl has autism and as the video plays we learn a lot about her life but most of all we learn she is happy to be herself and she has a family who love her for who she is. 'This is Me' is a celebration of our uniqueness."

Ms Connelly explained that they chose mixed media to present their project incorporating their art work with digital media to produce a stop motion video. The use of the 'shadow box and puppets' is a symbol of how people with disabilities often live in the 'shadows'.

"We need to shine a light on all disabilities and educate the world and raise awareness so that everyone regardless of ability or disability can live their lives to the fullest," added Ms Connelly.

Scoil Eoin Báiste's entry 'Seeing this Ability' was created by the Early Intervention Autistic Class with teacher Ms Caitriona Flannelly. The artwork gives a glimpse into the colourful learning journey of pupils Matas, Oliver, Ben, Bonnie, Nayah and Leo are all aged 3-5 and are represented by letter emojis on their art work.

"Each window of our school on the art piece represents a class in Scoil Eoin Báiste. Integration and reverse integration lie at the heart of our school so it felt fitting to invite everyone in each class to be represented by their fingerprints on Spraoi's artwork, showcasing the importance of inclusivity in our day-to-day lives," explained teacher Ms Flannelly.

The whole school heart jigsaw balloon symbolises elements of school life and includes a symbol from each class.

Congratulating Scoil Eoin Báiste and St Mary’s Enfield on being named County Winners, Minister of State with responsibility for disability, Anne Rabbitte T.D. said that the number of entries this year is a tribute to the commitment not just of the National Disability Authority, but also to Ireland’s primary school teachers, who continue to play an important part helping to create an ever-more inclusive Ireland.

“Every year more and more of our young people take part in the Someone Like Me Art Competition, working their way through cross-curricular lesson plans and learning resources which have been specially designed to challenge and inspire. The number and standard of entries shows a real commitment on the part of teachers and pupils to helping to develop a shared understanding of how we should treat others in a caring, sensitive and inclusive way, promoting a sense of belonging and connectedness.” she said.

“This year we placed a special emphasis on nurturing a greater understanding of non-visible and intellectual disabilities. Many people with a non-visible disability face the everyday prospect of having to explain to others that they have a disability; something they may not always want to do.

“Selecting the county winners was not an easy task for the judges and choosing an overall winner will be an even harder job. And, while I know it will be an anxious wait for the pupils and teachers to hear which of the 48 county winners will be awarded the national title, every pupil should be congratulated for helping to enable each and every single person in Ireland to feel a valued member of society.”

Scoil Eoin Báiste An Obair and Saint Mary’s Enfield will now go on to compete with 46 other schools from around the country for the overall national Someone Like Me award which will be announced at the national awards ceremony to held at Dublin City Hall on Wednesday 17th January 2023.

The competition, which offers a range of prizes up to the value of €1,250, was open to all primary school pupils from junior infants to sixth class and more than 2,200 entries were received from individual pupils, class groups and whole schools right across Ireland. Entries ranged from posters and collages to large sculptural installations and multi-media pieces.