Transition Year  

Transition Year Timetable TY Handout

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 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 Cert., further study and adult and working life. 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 Cert.

The Transition Year Programme 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 Subject:
English, French, German, Irish, Life skills, Math, P.E., S.P.H.E, 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.

TRANSITION YEAR ACTIVITIES 11 - 12

1. Gartan 4 day trip.
2. First Aid Certified Course
3. Calipo Workshop, 4 students`
4. Four students to Kippure Education Centre for the Compass Peace & Reconciliation Weekend
5. Ploughing Championships trip
6. Speaker T. Woods on “Prevention of abusive relationship training” from Drogheda women’s refuge centre
7. Collect shoe boxes for Team Hope
8. Work Experience – 3 weeks,  students had a variety  of work placements e.g. Lourdes Hospital, Rotund Hospital, Coke a Cola, Omnisys , Premier Perglase, many crèches and primary schools
9. End of Module Exams
10. German Speaker for students of German
11. Charity Activities e.g. Holly Days (€1375 raised) , Memorial tree with the Drogheda Rotary Club
12. Run Tuck shop
13. Paint balling
14. Song school
15. “Gaisce” – Presidents awards speaker
16. Career Guidance visit to NUI Maynooth & DCU
17. French Breakfast
18. Science Day – making rockets!
19. Career Guidance Visiting Speakers.
20. DATS Testing
21. Swimming Classes
22. Fencing classes
23. Irish Wheel chair Association Workshop
24. Linguistics Olympiad
25. TY students help run Library
26. Application to and involvement in Mentoring for First Year
27. Peer Education Programme
28. Dirt Busters Education Programme
29. School choir, TY students involved
30. Many students involved in Christmas Concert e.g. Anthropology students signed a song.
31. French play
32. Gárda Traffic Corp Speaker
33. Maths Trip, film in Drogheda Arts new centre
34. Lidl Speaker Michael Hennessy Past pupil, spoke on his career and college education
35. Dell Speakers on work life in Dell
36. National Botanic Gardens Horticultural trip
37. TY students involved in Pisa Programme ( Maths exam) for International Student Assessment
38. Dail Eiréann & Croke Park Trip
39. ISPCC Speaker
40. TY students help organise Seachtain na Gaeilge
41. “The story of Cotton” Speaker on Inequalities in the World
42. Rotary Club Speaker followed by fund raising by students
43. 12 students to Darndale Discovery Centre For cookery course and gym lesson
44. Drogheda Youth Network Speakers
45. DKIT Creative Media Workshop
46. Photographic Exhibition – “ Making our Truth Visible” A women’s photographic journey that seeks meaning from the past, reflects on the present and re-imagines the future organised by Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade an DKIT
47. Photo Journalist Competition Rowena Creagh has story & photo published. Her story was about the World Challenge trip to Jordon
48. Portfolio work displayed during year
49. TY Interviews
50. Speech & Drama/ Oral Communication exams 23rd May
51. End of Year Fun Day
52. TY Graduation Evening

Project Hope Shoe Box Apeal

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.

TY volunteers working in the Gym on the Project Hope Shoe Box Apeal