TWO LIMERICK schools have been announced as county winners of a national art competition.
Knockainey National School and St Joseph’s School in Ballybrown were announced as junior and senior winners of the Someone Like Me art competition.
They will now join 46 other schools from across Ireland at the national awards ceremony, which will be held in Dublin on January 17.
Evan Kirby, a second class student from Knockainey National School was the junior county winner for his colourful drawing titled ‘We Are All Different’.
The senior county winner was Christine Farrell, a fifth class student from St Joseph’s in Ballybrown, for her project which aimed to show that people with all levels of ability should be loved and cared for.
The Someone Like Me competition was created as part of the National Disability Authority’s work to nurture more positive attitudes towards people with disabilities and, to date, it has seen more than 17,500 children take part in lesson plans and pupil activities designed to challenge young people to appreciate and respect similarities and differences in people.
The three-person judging panel was particularly impressed with the entries from Knockainey National School and Ballybrown School, selecting them as county winners based on their insightful and inspirational responses to the theme of ‘Someone Like Me’.
Minister of State with responsibility for disability, Anne Rabbitte, said: “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.”
