Transition Year

Transition Year (TY) at St. Brigid’s College is an optional one-year programme taken after Junior Cycle and before the two-year Leaving Certificate programme. It is designed to act as a bridge between the Junior Certificate and Leaving Certificate programmes. Transition Year promotes the personal, social, vocational and educational development of students and prepares them for their role as autonomous, participative and responsible members of society.

St. Brigid’s College designs its own Transition Year programme, within set guidelines, to suit the needs and interests of our students. As well as classroom work, sampling subjects, project work and assignments, the TY students take part in lots of out of school activities throughout the year, for example:

• School Musical - Grease
• Petersburg Activity /Team Building Days
• Ploughing Championships
• Fashion Show
• Poetry Aloud Competition
• Christmas Carol Service
• Green Flag for schools
• Team Hope Shoebox Appeal
• Christmas Fair
• Christmas Jumper Day
• Charity and Fundraising work
• Erasmus travel abroad
• TY Refereeing Courses (hurling and camogie)
• Hurling League
• Soccer League
• Volleyball Course
• Irish Wheelchair Basketball
• Certified GAA Life Skills Programme
• Certified Law Course
• CrossFit
• Gaisce (The President’s Award)
• Dance classes
• Debating
• Self-defence classes
• Talks and visits in from various organisations:
• The Jack and Jill Foundation
• Irish Society for Autism
• Goal
• ISPCC
• Minding Me - Cyberbullying/drink/drugs
• Young St. Vincent De Paul
• The Defence Forces
• Loughrea Caring and Sharing Association
• Loughrea Arts and Recreation and Culture
• Road Safety Awareness
• Alcohol and Drug Awareness
• Loughrea Youth Project
• Car Safety Demonstration
• Writers in Schools Workshops
• Youth Advisory Council
• Youth Conference
• Podcasting workshops
• Visit out to Derrybrien Windfarm
• Loughrea Credit Union/AIB/Bank of Ireland
• The Globe Project
• Certified Defibrillator Course
• Croagh Patrick Climb
• Driver Education Programme
• Driver Theory Test Preparation
• Limerick Prison
• Cinema Trip
• Volunteering
• St. Brendan’s Nursing Home
• Special Olympics
• ICT Skills to assist elderly members in the community
• Ice Skating
• Junk Kouture Fashion Competition
• Bake Sales for Charity
• Movie Afternoons
• TY Valentines Magazine
• TY Open Night
• Formula 1 Competition
• Coding and Animations
• Volunteering work
• Cause Farm
• Baysports, Athlone
• Bodhran Making
• Cycle Against Suicide Congress
• Colour Fun Run
• Microsoft Academy Training and Certification
• Media/Film Studies
• Educational School Tour – Barcelona, Spain
• Safe Pass
• TY Ball
• TY Interviews
• Four weeks of Work Experience

What is the purpose of the Transition Year Programme?

To promote maturity:

• Maturity in studies by making students more self-directed learners through the development of general, technical and academic skills
• Maturity in relation to work and careers by developing work-related skills
• Personal maturity by providing opportunities to develop communication skills, self-confidence and a sense of responsibility
• Social maturity by developing greater ‘people’ skills and more awareness of the world outside school
• Maturity that will help the student make a more informed choice of subject for their Leaving Certificate studies

TY Programme at St. Brigid’s College

Examination

There is no state examination at the end of Transition Year. Assessment is carried out on an ongoing basis and can include:

• Summative assessment
• Formative assessment
• Written, practical, oral and aural assessment
• Report of work experience
• Projects, portfolios and exhibitions of work
• Pupil TY journal recording personal progress
• Records of skills and key competencies attained

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St. Brigid's College Students Presentation to Crumlin Childrens Hospital, 2017

Picture below are Transition Year students from St Brigid’s College Loughrea who presented a cheque for €3082 as a result of their fundraising activities to the management of Crumlin Childrens Hospital Dublin last week while on a school visit to the Hospital.

Back Row: L to R: Mark Daniels, Jack Lawrence Flannery, Graham Curley, Ali Mc Gonnell, Emer Shaughnessy, Sean Fahey, Zoe Broderick, Leah Mc Grath, Jonas Baur, Eric Downey and Andy O' Connor.Middle row: L to R: Damien Mc Glynn, Selina Murphy, Stephanie Broderick, Rebecca Mc Ghee Ruane, Leah Manning, Saoirse Starr.Front row: L to R:Laura Headd, Erin Whyte, Shane Skelly, Ronan Mitchell, Arlene Earls, Sarah Coen and Cathal Gaffney.

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St Brigid’s College Students Presentation to Crumlin Childrens Hospital, 2016

Transition Year students from St Brigid’s College Loughrea presented a cheque to the value of €4040 as a result of the fundraising activities to Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children Crumlin at a presentation ceremony held recently at the school. Twenty five students were involved in the project and the money was raised by a number of means, most notably a bucket collection in Loughrea town and a Christmas Fair held in the school’s sports hall.

Rachel Daly accepted the cheque on behalf of the Hospital and highly commended the students and their teacher Ms Linnane on their fantastic achievement, and the students were presented with a special gold medal on the day in recognition of this major achievement.

An invitation was extended to the students and their teachers to visit the Hospital and see how this money will be spent and this visit will take place on April 26^th. The Transition Year students at St Brigid’s College would like to thank all in the school and local community who supported their fundraising initiatives.

Pictured at the Presentation of a cheque by Transition Year Students at St Brigid’s College for €4040 to Our Lady’s Hospital, Crumlin are L to R: Conor Flanagan, Shonagh Gilligan, Dylan Daly, Rachael Daly (Our Lady’s Hospital, Crumlin), Eva Prendergast, Rachael Gacquin, Eimear Loughnane, Ms Mary Linnane and Mairead Loughnane.

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Transition Year fundraising

A number of Transition Year students got involved in Fundraising for the Pieta House Charity in conjunction with the Galway2Norway Land Rover charity drive. THE Galway2Norwaygroup aimed to raise €20,000 and with the small help from St. Brigid’s College students, the group managed to raise in excess of €27,000 for the charity. Events took place in school such as a Movie day and Bucket Collections were also held. Congrats to all involved on raising some much needed funds for a very worthwhile charity.