Art Award Winner.

We are very proud to announce that Mia Butterworth in year 11 has received a prize for outstanding work in the annual St Helens Youth Open Art Awards. Mia won her award in the KS4 category for a beautiful textured sculpted dress she designed for her Art exam in year 10. The award was given at a ceremony held at the World of Glass where Mia’s work, along with all the other entries are on exhibition. We offer art students the opportunity to increase their creative challenge by sitting their art GCSE over 8 months in year 10, leaving year 11 clear to complete a photography GCSE, again over a shorter more challenging time scale.

Mia is currently concluding her Photography exam which will mean she leaves De La Salle with 2 creative GCSE’s giving her an advantage in college admissions, skills and knowledge.

Any Year 9 student interested in signing up for the Photography GCSE that starts after school in September should pay attention to any briefing notes or announcements that will be released in June this year. You do not need to have chosen art to study after school, this is an extracurricular route in addition to your options. Places are limited and applications are always high so be proactive!

Liverpool Archdiocese Secondary Schools’ Partnership Photography Competition

De La Salle have successfully entered work into the annual Archdiocese photography competition which has been held for 2 years in Liverpool. This year’s selected work will be exhibited in St Georges Hall, Liverpool until 28^th May for public viewing, and free admission has previously helped to gain a high attendance of visitors.

The theme students were invited to answer through visual photography is ‘We are valued, we are unique, we have faith, we are a family and we are the future’. De La Salle students took this challenge and created 2 beautiful pieces of work. Katherine Cheshire in year 11, and a group of girls in year 9 made up of Gabrielle Pouncey, Maisie Dalton and Rachel Burke produced mature, in depth and thoughtful work reflecting the arguably difficult theme. We are very proud of the girls and are awaiting news of their submissions.

“We are valued, we are unique, we have faith, we are family, and we are the future.”

At De La Salle all students are valued and appreciated as their own person, and are encouraged to embrace their individuality. The colours in the picture represent this: individuality, and the inner beauty of everyone.

In the picture we tried to include different types of people from different backgrounds, with different beliefs and values to show each person’s separate identity. The overlapping of the faces signifies that we are all one in our community, and as a school, we are stronger together.

We are all facing different directions to show that we all have our own views and in the future, we will all go our different ways, but we would still be a family. Everyone in our community has a voice to be heard and opinions to be respected. We tried to echo this through our piece, and hope that it is spread throughout the world.

My piece is about being represented. It is the feeling of being valued, finding someone who you identify with, and learning how to have faith in ourselves.

Having your voice heard.

But even today people are ignored. Left feeling broken and wrong because they are what they are. Whether that’s because of the colour of their skin. Or their mental health. Or their sexuality.

The list goes on and they are silenced.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

But without the media portraying them, they’re in constant danger of damaging themselves by feeling at a loss for who they are.

We have the power to change this attitude by tearing down the barriers that we’ve been trapped in. By accepting each other and accepting ourselves.

We are valued. We are unique. We are the change.

Most importantly, we are ourselves.

'Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.' – Oscar Wilde.