Transition Year

GARTAN EXPEDITION

Each year our Transition Year students travel to The Gartan Outdoor Education Centre which is superbly located on 87 acres on the shores of Gartan Lough, Co Donegal.

The course is run on a residential basis combined with the excitement of a variety of adventure sports with the fun and camaraderie of team building activities.

These activities include hill walking, kayaking, raft building and archery.  Pupils walk approximately 18km in total along the scenic route of The Glenveagh Valley. Raft building is a fun activity which develops team work and leadership skills. Students are given materials to build a raft which they then have to paddle around a short course.

The Transition Year Programme

The fourth in the six-year school cycle, Transition Year promotes the personal, social educational a and vocational development of the student. Its aims are threefold: an education toward maturity, an education through experience of adult and working life and a promotion of general, technical and academic skills.

The school has a compulsory Transition Year, during which students have the opportunity to try subjects not normally taught at secondary level and which may open them up to new career options. These subjects include horticulture, media studies, motor safety awareness, Chinese studies, oral communication, electronics, first aid and anthropology.  There are also many educational excursions with the annual trip to the outdoor activity centre in Gartan, Donegal, being one of the most popular.

Transition Year fosters academic achievement as students prepare for the Leaving Certificate. It encourages the development of critical thinking and creative problem-solving skills. Proven research has shown that students who complete Transition Year achieve significantly better results at Leaving Certificate.

Transition Year is a one-year programme.

Aims

1. To enable the students to grow at a critical stage of their adolescence, in terms of their overall personal development.

2. To extend each student’s range of learning experiences in a way which will enhance their intellectual development and give them a good foundation for their future academic progress.

3. To allow students to experience working life as a basis for personal development and maturity.

The Curriculum

Core Subjects:
English, French, German, Irish, Life skills, Mathematics , Physical Education, Social Personal Health Education, Tutorial

Modular Subjects:
Anthropology, Art, Business Studies, IT, Design & Communication, Drama, Electronics, History, Home Economics, Horticulture, Italian,
Media studies, Music, Motor studies, Oral Communications, Sports Studies, Study skills, World of Science.

TEFL and Learning Support will be available to those who require them.

*The curriculum content is reviewed every year to suit the needs of our students and is subject to change each September.

SAMPLE TRANSITION YEAR ACTIVITIES 

• Gartan 4 day trip.
• First Aid Certified Course
• Team Hope Shoe Box collection and organisation
• Work Experience – 3 weeks,  students had a variety  of work placements.
• End of Module Exams
• Various Charity ActivitiesMusic Workshop
  Gaisce
• Career Guidance visits to College Open Days
• French Breakfast
• Science Day
• Career Guidance Visiting Speakers.DATS Testing                                                                                                                                       
•  John Hooper Statistical
• Competition
• TY School SummitWasawasa Music Workshop
• Irish Wheel chair Association Workshop
• Student
• Bank
• Swimming
• First Year Mentoring Programme Training
• Peer Education Programme
• School Choir, TY students involved
• Many students involved in Christmas Concert
• French play
• Gárda Traffic Corp Speaker
• National Botanic Gardens Horticultural trip
• Dail Eiréann & Croke Park Trip
• ISPCC Speaker
• TY students help organise Seachtain na Gaeilge
• Drogheda Youth Network Speakers
• Portfolio Work preparation and various projects undertaken
• TY Interviews
• Speech & Drama/ Oral Communication exams (external exam optional)
• End of Year Fun Day
• TY Awards Evening

Project Hope Shoe Box Appeal

Drogheda Grammar school is the largest collection point in the North East and will process over 2700 boxes in the in November. Most of our boxes go to Eastern Europe. This year there has been a 25% increase in boxes processed.