Our school has participated in this competition for a number of years and proudly support the message of the “Someone like me” campaign. We were delighted and honoured to be there this year representing County Mayo in the Senior category.
The children in Third Class were excited to create a “group entry”. They knew they wanted to create an outdoor scene under a big blue sky. They then had to think about how they wanted to show the key messages of the “Someone like me” campaign.
It took them some time to land on a set of ideas they agreed upon.
Their first ideas were around including a diverse range of characters in their scene.
They were aware of visible disabilities from last year’s lesson and thought to include some children in their scene who may have challenges with movement and use wheelchairs. They included a person using a guide dog and someone using aids to help them hear. They wanted to include children with invisible disabilities. They were unsure how to go about this until they had the idea of creating characters that can be lifted up with a brief sentence on the back about their invisible disability. The children included characters based on themselves in the scene as well.
They decided that the children in the scene would have clothing with some popular pop-singers, game logos and accessories to show how much they all have in common. They portrayed their characters doing everyday activities too.
Though all of their great ideas included in the picture demonstrate the learning from the “Someone like me” campaign, it is the piece itself that reflects the true essence of diversity and inclusion.
An entire class of individual children wanted to create something special. They each have their own unique styles and talents. They all had different personal visions of what they wished to create. They each have their own way of working. They got one canvas on which to “make their mark”. The result is a rich, bright and interesting piece in which many can find “Someone like me”.
Here are some pictures of our day in Dublin City Hall collecting our award. It was a great day where we heard some very interesting speakers, such as Rory from Rory's Stories speaking about his own struggles in school which was truly inspiring. It was also nice to hear from Anne Rabbit the minister for disabilities at this special event. Darragh and James were chosen from a hat to go to Dublin to represent our class, and school.
