Transition Year

Click here to view this year’s subject choice booklet.

TY is an extra year at Senior Cycle which allows the students to mature as a person, develop a wide range of skills and experience the adult world of work. It is a year of opportunity for the students to become a more self confident and efficient person.

Core Subjects :

  • Modules including new areas such as Personal Development,
    Drama, Spanish and Road Safety.

  • Work Experience (3 weeks)

  • Voluntary Community Involvement in the following centres:
    Nagle Centre, St. Patrick’s Hospital, Day Care Centre, King’s Deli,
    Scoil Aonghusa and St. John the Baptist Girls’ Primary School

  • Outdoor Pursuits

  • Workshops including Study Skills

  • Musical

  • Guest Speakers

  • Competitions

  • Outings e.g. Young Scientist Exhibition, Ploughing Championships,
    French Theatre/Film, Maynooth University etc

Benefits:

  • Exams twice a year (Modular Assessment). A detailed report home follows tests.
    School Certificate awarded at the end of the year, based on continuous
    assessment, in the following categories: Excellence, Distinction,
    Commendation, Merit, Participation.

  • Allows students to realise their potential

  • Enables students to make informed choices for 5th Year

  • Students develop a greater social awareness.

  • N.C.C.A study has found that students perform better academically when they do TY

Transition Year activities in Cashel Community School from a students viewpoint

The first activity the TYs did this year was a walk in Dundrum Woods which took place the day after receiving the Junior Cert results. That morning seventy tired tired TY’s and three slightly more enthusiastic teachers set off on the short trip to the woods. After around five minutes though, we were feeling a lot more energetic and everyone chatted and laughed their way through the walk. After some minor navigational difficulties we all managed to find our way back to the bus and back to school.

The next, and arguably the best trip so far, was to the Ploughing Championships in Athy. An early start meant we were at the championships by eleven o’ clock and, with everyone in their best wellies, we were ready to get down and dirty! There were celebrities in abundance, with Brian Cowen being spotted by a few people. We came home weighed down with free stuff ranging from yoyos to luminous jackets. This years Ploughing was a wet year and there were several people who almost needed to be hosed down before getting back to the bus! We arrived back to the school at six, exhausted but delighted after a great day out.

In early October, a trip to see a one man show called ‘Psycho Spaghetti’ was organised as part of our English class. The Simon Ryan Theatre in Tipperary Town was an excellent setting for this brilliant show which dramatised the ups and downs in a teenager’s life. The show, which was attended by Transition Year groups from various schools around Tipperary, managed to be extremely accurate while also being hilarious at the same time, with everyone able to relate to what the actor touched upon. It was a great outing that many of us still talk about.

Our latest expedition took place in January when we all travelled to Dublin for the Young Scientist Exhibition in the RDS. Here we spent hours wandering around the exhibition taking in the fabulous displays which students, many of them Transition Years like ourselves, had spent months working on. There were many weird and wonderful things to be seen that were discussed in class afterwards with enthusiasm, including a snail the size of a man’s hand! Personally, the highlight of my day was meeting Ryan Tubridy, who I have to say, is just as friendly in person as he is on television! The Young Scientist Exhibition was, without a doubt, a fantastic trip for us.

While these are some of the official trips taken by the TYs, there were more, that many Transition Years got involved in. Any Transition Year student who took part in the schools production of the musical Hairspray got the chance to travel to Dublin to view the British National Tour’s production of the musical, starring Michael Ball, a huge West End star. The TY students studying French this year went to see a French film, Persepolis and there was also a trip organised to see Manchester United play Wigan in Old Trafford, a hugely successful tour.

We are all looking for forward to the upcoming trips planned for us including a chance to see a production of John B. Keane’s famous play, The Field, starring Brain Dennehy, and a two day trip to the Burren to take part in various fun activities.

Overall, this year has been action-packed and we can’t wait for what will be thrown at us next.