One school’s fun run is a way of raising funds for its autism classes, but also raising awareness and acceptance in the wider community.
RAISING awareness about autism, not just among children but for parents and the wider community as well, is the aim of one West Cork school’s novel way of raising funds for essential resources for their autism classes.
Kilbrittain National School run an annual ‘Autism Acceptance Week’, now in its fifth year, which brings the entire community together in the name of making the world a better place for everyone.
It involves a series of events and educational classes in the school itself, a bake sale and a fun run/walk through the village, which is the main event.
‘There’s just such a lack of understanding out there,’ Orla O’Connor explained when asked about the reason for starting the week. ‘Not just in the public but among our students as well.’
Orla is one of a number of coordinators of the week in the school, which despite being a small rural school, has four autism classes.
‘We thought it was very important to give children that understanding, and we communicate a lot of the information to the parents as well,’ she said. ‘So it’s really about educating people and in doing so creating a more inclusive environment.’
The latest figures from the Department of Education say that one in 20 schoolchildren are being diagnosed with some form of autism, meaning the importance of education and understanding is growing all the time.
‘Every school now should have one, if not two classes,’ said Orla, who added that they have found the awareness week has gone from strength to strength each year and is a standout week in the school calendar.
Christine Ingleis, Mary Rita O’Neill and Margaret O’Brien assisting with the smooth and safe running of the fun run last year. (Photo: Gearoid Holland)
Children learn about the positive side to autism, how the autism spectrum works and more, with last year featuring an educational talk from AsIAm, Ireland’s national autism charity and even a past pupil with autism who shared their story since leaving school.
‘The feedback we’ve gotten from the kids is fantastic,’ Orla says.
‘Part of the week involves exploring inspirational autistic people, some are celebrities and others are just interesting characters, the kids love this. And we focus on the positives and the strengths that are associated with autism.’ And it’s not just schoolchildren and their parents who turn up either – the whole community gets involved in ensuring that events go through without a hitch.
‘We’ve had fantastic support for it every year,’ said Orla, whose partner and father have been tasked with putting up signage around the local area. ‘We’ve raised just over €4,000 every year we’ve done it. The community are very good to come out and support it.’
The funds raised each year are used not only to buy resources for the school’s autism classes, but also go towards helping the mainstream classes too.
‘With last year’s proceeds we bought ear defenders for some of the mainstream classes, these reduce noise for people with noise sensitivities. We bought resources for our occupational therapy area and we also bought outdoor chess tables. Our school chess club is very popular with both our neurotypical and neurodivergent pupils.’
Students helping out at the annual bake sale. Front row left to right: Daniel Ahern, Matthew Kingston, Samuel Lawlor, Olann Burke. Back row left to right: Dan Hurley, Leo Walsh. Patrick Lynch.
The plan for this year’s proceeds are for them to go towards the school’s sensory garden and the area around the early years classroom.
‘Everyone is benefitting from it,’ Orla said. ‘It’s not just children in our autism classes that get access to these resources, lots of children in our school get the chance to use and enjoy the resources, whether it’s the go-karts, sensory room or OT resources.’
Everyone is welcome at the annual fun run, not just those involved in the school.
This year’s run takes place on Saturday, April 5th. Registration takes place on the day, with individuals paying €10 and families paying €20 – there will be a number of raffle prizes including family passes to Fota, Munster rugby tickets, with local businesses providing support to cover the cost of running the event.
This year will be the third fun run held by the school, with plenty of time and energy put in from a host of people in the lead up, all in the name of an inclusive community.
As Orla says: ‘It’s all about educating people and making the world better for everyone.’
