January 2019
What a busy month this has been!! Students have engaged in a range of new modules with these rotations last 8 weeks and all students have had 2 days Relationships and Sex Education workshops. Any students currently in Ms K Burke's rotation have started the fantastic Manuela Programme and feedback from parents and students has been really positive so far.
Jan 23rd saw the students across the Senior School engage with career options quizzing over 30 universities / apprenticeships / careers exhibits and experts. Subject options are coming up in March for our TY students so it was great to see so many of our students getting those wheels turning and starting to think about the future!
Jan 22nd Our wheelchair basketball team competed against 7 teams and finished a very respectable 3rd place after only a narrow defeat by St. Eunan's Letterkenny. Well done all and thank you to IWA Ireland for the opportunity to engage in Disability Sport and allow the students see and engage in this fun sport.
December 2018
TY Hoodies arrived!! Pristine white... but for how long?
Driving School at Advance Drive on Dec 4th and 5th
Congrats to Ronan, Alyssa and Cormac who won lessons on the first day of the driving school.
November 2018
Work Experience 1: Students are with employers the week 26th - 30th of November and discovering the world of work!
Any necessary documents can be found in the documents section above including your evaluation sheet, insurance and cover letter.
The Musical! Wow - what a fantastic experience for all involved.
The school hosted the TY 2018 'High School Musical' on Wed 21st - Sat 24th November and each night of the show as completely SOLD OUT. Students got standing ovations each night and these were of course, well deserved!
Check out our twitter page for snippets of the songs and scenes.
Thanks to all the staff that made the musical possible.
Musical preparations are massively underway but we managed to take a well deserved break to go to Zeminar in the RDS on November 13th.
Notes on the trip are here: ZEMINAR 2018
Follow our tweets about the event HERE
October 2018
September 2018
Thank you to all parents who came to the information evening on Sept 25th to see how best to maximise their student's potential in TY and also get some information about the Camino.
The presentation shown on the night is available above and here
Main points are as follows;
- GAISCE: Students should be encouraged to join GAISCE if they are willing to make the commitment in time to complete the courses. Registration costs €15 and must happen at home and can be done here: https://award.gaisce.ie/Public/Register.aspx
- Students have multiple new opportunities in TY that they should embrace to maximise their experience but it will only be a fulfilling year if they commit to make it that themselves. Encouragement into new and unfamiliar territory from home is a great idea.
- Work experience should be considered very carefully and not rushed. It is the most useful 2 weeks of the year and can lead to changes in subject options or summer jobs.
- Rotary Leadership Club are currently accepting applications for interviews and applications forms are available here: Deadline October 5th to Ms Nolan. Click here >>>> Application Form
- The Camino! Flights need to be booked to secure our trip at Easter 2019.The trip runs April 23rd - 30th (half of easter break) and the first deposit of €300 is required and can be paid by Way2Pay via the text which will be sent after Friday 28th Sept and must be paid before Friday 5th October. Details of the camino trip are available at the link above.
TY 2019 - I hope we are all ready for the BEST Year!!!
First trip of the year: Killary!
Killary Induction Trip: Sept Wed 5th (9am depart school) - Fri 7th (3pm return to school). Overnight for 2 nights, bring at least 4 changes of clothes, swimwear, sleepwear etc. Activities each day include team building, water activities and hiking. Food at breakfast, lunch and dinner is provided but there is no shop on site so bring some snacks too. There is 24 hour supervision but mobile phones are not allowed during the day, they are kept securely in lockers by the staff.>>>>>Killary's Recommended Activities and Packing List here
Check out some of the fun last year's group had in this clip.
Some other important dates to remember.
- The Musical! 21st - 24th November Rehearsals will be in the few weeks leading up to this so keep those free!
- Work Experience 1: Week Nov 26th - 30th. (to accommodate the musical) All students will be expected to have secured a placement and submitted details to their careers teacher by October 8th.
- Work Experience 2: Week Feb 11th - 15th. {If a placement is arranged outside of work experience weeks, the students must submit a letter of permission with details of absent dates to Ms Nolan to be approved in advance}
- Community Service: Wednesday Tuesday March 19th - 22ndStudents must locate a placement within the community to spend sometime learning about the benefits of working for others and vary their experience locally.
TY 2018 - A Great Year!
Transition Year 2017-18 has been a whirlwind experience so far, from our Kiliary trip at the start of the year to the driving course we all did in December. Each minute has been great, and there's still plenty to come. As a year group we've bonded, we've grown as individuals and now more than ever we're ready to face Senior Cycle and life after school.
TY so far has been months of testing new waters, getting out of comforts zones and widening horizons and its only January!
What is Transition Year?
Our TY is a one year school based programme between Junior Cycle and Senior Cycle which acts as a bridge between the dependent learning at JC and the goal of a more independent self-directed and motivated senior cycle student.
It is optional – All students are eligible but what a student gains from TY largely depends on what they put in – you reap what you sow!
Gives chance for development of skills in three key areas
- Personal Development – Maturity and Responsibility.
- Academic and Technical Skills – Focus on interdisciplinary skills and self-directed learning.
- Life and Social Skills – Finding your role in society, your contribution to the school and your peers.
There are many researched and proven benefits of completing Transition Year;
- Increased responsibility and maturity
- Availability of more varied opportunities than normally available in school
- Chance to catch up or fill in gaps
- Improved relationships with teachers and parents
- Increase Leaving Cert points
- Encourages independence
- Sample and discover new subjects
- Develop new interests, explore new career ideas
- Make new friends
- Take on challenges and develop new skills
- Get involved in the community
- Discover personal strengths
- Explore job opportunities outside of school
- Have a smooth transition into 5th year as a self-directed learner for LC
Some examples of what you get to look forward to in TY are -
- The start of year trip
- The school tour
-The Musical
- Work Experience
- Community Service
- Swimming
- More project based learning
- Workshops i.e. first aid
- TY trade fair
- Extra clubs i.e. Wellfest committee
- Leaving cert subject tasters
Some of the opportunities that we've enjoyed so far in TY are -
- Our trip to Kiliary at the start of the year
- Our trip to Zeminar
- Wellfest week
- The first aid workshop
- our first stint of work experience
- The school's musical, Back to the 80's
- The driving workshop
- Town and Ice skating trip
- GAA coaching workshops
- coding workshops
- Debating
Still to come:
- Film making workshop + TY film fleádh
- School tour to the Camino
- 2nd work experience stint
- community service
And lots more...