Education

Nuala Hayes’ Writers in Schools visit to Hansfield Educate Together National School

Despite the Covid pandemic, we have had a busy Writers In Schools programme in 2021 with a blend of virtual and in-person visits taking place in 24 counties across the island. Some of these included:

• Pauline Burgess in Shimna

Integrated School in Newcastle, Co

Down

• Alan Nolan in St Clare’s National

School, Manorhamilton, Co

Leitrim

• Word and Music series of visits by poet Ger Reidy and musician Tony

Reidy, culminating with a visit on

Poetry Day Ireland to St Feichin’s

National School, Cross, Co Mayo, in partnership with Mayo Arts

Office • Bridget Bhreathnach in Gaelscoil na Laochra, Birr, Co Offaly

• Sheena Wilkinson in St Mary’s

Primary School, Magherafelt, Co

Derry

• Caroline Busher in Scoil Mhuire in Chapelizod, Co Dublin, as part of a series of visits supported by

Fingal Arts Office • Children’s Laureate Áine Ní

Ghlinn in Gaelscoil Osraí, Co

Kilkenny

• Sadhbh Devlin virtual visits with

Tipperary Library

• Series of visits by Eileen Casey to schools in Portlaoise as part of the

Leaves festival

Poet Ger Reidy and musician Tony Reidy host a Poetry Day Ireland visit with St Feichin’s National School, Co Mayo

Digital Capacity-building Workshops, in partnership with Children’s Books Ireland, and funded by the Arts Council

• Fiona Dowling in Rathdrum Boys

National School as part of a series of visits in Co Wicklow, supported by Wicklow Arts Office

As part of our professional development opportunities and support for writers during these challenging times, earlier this year we offered writers working with children and young people the opportunity to participate in a series of Digital Capacity Building webinars, run in partnership with Children’s Books Ireland and thanks to Arts Council funding.

This series focused on adapting writer visits and events to a virtual platform, creating and editing video content, and child safeguarding concerns when working online. Approximately 75 writers and storytellers on the Scheme attended these webinars which is evidence of the eagerness and commitment of our Writers In Schools team of writers to upskill and adapt to new ways of working.

Our series of Irish-language residencies, thanks to support from Foras na Gaeilge, included Áine Ní Ghlinn delivering virtual workshops to Scoil Cholmcille on Tory Island, Myra Zepf visiting Bunscoil an Bheanna Boirche in Castlewellan, Co Down, and Darach Mac An Iomaire in Scoil na Déise in

Brayden Harrington, Jessica Militante and Michael Tient featured in the Hope Rhymes launch video, reading ‘The Lake Isle of Innisfree’ by Yeats

Baile Mhic Airt in Co Waterford.

The Our Place Project, which is supported by the Reconciliation Fund (Department of Foreign Affairs), saw residencies in schools in Northern Ireland, which included Deirdre Cartmill in John Paul II Primary School, Belfast; Frank Galligan in Upper Ballyboley Primary School, Ballyclare, and Sheena Wilkinson delivering virtual workshops to Grange Primary School, Co Down.

In February and November, Moira from our Education team attended the WorldWise Global Schools training and information days. This was a great opportunity to meet, once again, other organisations funded by Irish Aid and to share ideas and experiences.

Recordings with writers sharing their lesson plans and methodologies for delivering global citizenship workshops will be held in the spring of 2022. These will form part of Poetry Ireland’s aid to teachers for post primary level students. The Education team attended webinars for teachers and NGOs with WorldWise Global Schools and engaged with teachers around creative writing programme funded by WWGS through Irish Aid. The Education team also attended the IDEA (Irish Development Education Association) conference.

Adult category winners and runners-up in this year’s Trócaire Poetry Ireland Poetry Competition

Poetry Ireland continues to deliver high quality Professional Development Training on Global Education through Literature for primary teachers with the writer John W. Sexton and in collaboration with Clare Education Centre, working with eight schools and in partnership with Clare Arts Office.

The Trócaire Poetry Ireland Poetry Competition was launched in March with submissions open across six categories (Adult Published, Adult Unpublished, Junior Primary, Senior Primary, Junior Post-Primary and Senior Post-Primary). This year’s theme was ‘Pathways to Peace’. We were delighted, in April, to publish a booklet of the winning poems from the 2020 competition.

The winners and runners up of the 2021 competition were announced in August and we hosted an online celebration of the competition on Culture Night in September (you can catch up with it on Poetry Ireland’s YouTube channel).

A Poemathon with Older People, organised with the Global Brain Health Institute (Trinity College Dublin) and Neuroscience Ireland, invited submissions from older people across the island of Ireland during January and February.

The completed poem, with opening and closing lines by musician John Sheahan and edited by Seamus Cashman, captured the feelings of hope, honesty and humour of older people right now in society. It was unveiled in March, featuring a total of 355 contributors. Read the poem here.

Poetry Aloud, the annual poetry speaking competition for post-primary schools, was organised differently in 2021 due to Covid-19 public health guidelines, with virtual entries in place.

Schools were invited to select students to represent their school from any of the three categories (Junior, Intermediate, Senior) and teachers could submit a phone video recording of the students speaking the prescribed poem.

The competition, which Poetry Ireland organises with its partner, the National Library of Ireland, is due to move forward to its next stage in early 2022. Thanks again to University College Cork for its support of the competition. In March, Poetry Ireland and the Poetry Foundation in the U.S. announced Hope Rhymes, which will highlight each organisation’s respective poetry recitation programmes for young people and strengthening the efforts of both organisations where their work aligns.

Poetry Ireland’s Education and Communications departments were delighted to work on The Written Word poetry supplement, in partnership with the Irish Independent. The supplement, published in April, is aimed at Leaving Certificate English students. Amongst many articles, there was a lovely feature on Writers in Schools – which you can read here.

Bríd Brophy, one of the contributors to the Poemathon with Older People, pictured in the launch video The Written Word poetry supplement