Coláiste Abbáin is a Waterford and Wexford Education and Training Board School
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Waterford & Wexford ETB

Transition Year

Coláiste Abbain re-introduced the Transition Year (TY) programme in 2015.

Transition Year is a one year schools based programme, designed to act as a bridge between Junior and Senior cycle. The programme is designed to facilitate the smooth transition from the dependent learning of the Junior cycle to the more independent self-directed learning of the Senior cycle.

The programme offers the student the space and facilities to mature and promotes increased social awareness and social competence. The “TY” at Coláiste Abbain provides a broad variety of learning experiences both inside and outside the classroom.

The comprehensive programme at Coláiste Abbain aims to improve skills and encourage maturity by providing a variety of opportunities to:

  • Discover personal strengths
  • Learn about leadership, co-operation and dealing with conflict
  • Work as part of a team
  • Develop enterprising skills
  • Sample and discover new subjects
  • Make informed choices of the Leaving Certificate subjects
  • Gain knowledge and experience of the working world
  • Discover new career opportunities

As a result students explore their own talents and abilities beyond the classroom and are expected to take responsibility for themselves and their future.

Transition year is a wonderful opportunity for the student to mature and develop socially, maintaining the academic skills acquired throughout the Junior Cycle, which will benefit students substantially when the time comes to make decisions on the Senior Cycle. All Third Year students are eligible to apply for Transition Year.

A Student's Perspective

Why should you do T.Y? That’s a question I had to ask myself a lot before coming to my decision. My original thought was how if I didn’t, I’d be doing my leaving cert, how I'd have my job, or I’d be going to college that year quicker. So I'm asking you to think it through again, because I'm genuinely so happy that I decided to choose T.Y. When you’ve just finished your Junior Cert, that whole year having teachers telling you to study, the last thing you’d want is that to start all over again with stress starting about the Leaving Cert.

T.Y. helps you grow as a person and helps you choose what career path you would like to go down. A big part of this is the work experience we do throughout the year. You get to try out new classes that you might not have done before anything from dance, where we watched lads who I doubt have ever tried moving to a rhythm or for me I chose History over Home Ec for my Junior Cert so this year I got the chance to try baking which ended up with chocolate icing everywhere, even the thought of it makes me laugh.

We all had the chance to publish our school newspaper or try out music. We all had an opportunity to get involved with the panto, whether it be making props, dancing, acting or helping backstage. This was our first year doing Junk Kouture, where one of our dresses made it to the Helix for the South East competition. This was a proud moment for all of us. We all got to create our own mini company, which gave us a good idea on the business side of things and our profits weren’t too bad either.

There are various trips throughout the year which are definitely a bonus. Weve been to the Ploughing Match, Loftus Hall, Leisure Max, to name just a few. We also got involved around the village cleaning up and planting daffodils. We had the chance to do several interviews and also have had people come in to do interesting talks, we’ve also raised money and awareness for different charities.

In T.Y. you really get the chance to be involved in everything. T.Y. made me go out and talk to people I wouldn’t normally and as a class we became a lot closer. So, if you’re thinking of skipping T.Y. I ask you to think it through carefully as I highly recommend it.

Grace Hornick

TY 2019/2020

Transition Year Testimonial

Ruairi Galvin

Why should students do TY?

There is so many reasons why a student should do Transition Year (TY). I feel that the most important overall is that it allows you to grow and mature as a person in an environment that is enjoyable and safe. There is room to make mistakes and learn from them! Learning and education is about so much more than just books and classrooms and TY gives a student the chance to experience this first hand.

There is many benefits to TY and many experiences to be gained. Parts of the course, such as work experience and certification, will be useful throughout your whole life.

During the course of the year there are many trips out that are educational and fun. This year the TYs visited, amongst others, Wexford County Council to learn about how democracy works and to talk about career choices. This trip also allowed us to take part in mock interviews which are something you will have to face throughout your life. In this way TY prepares you for life.

The relaxed environment of TY really allows a person to develop and explore interests other than the academic. More free time allows the student to engage in extra curricular activities such as music, drama and sport. A personal highlight of TY for myself was the Panto. An fantastic opportunity to make friends across the school, to work together towards a common goal, to increase self-confidence and to experience, first hand, the sense of achievement that comes with bringing a project to completion.

Project work is a big part of TY. You are taught how to time manage, how to work independently, how to take ideas from paper to reality. This is important for self-directed learning in leaving cycle but also for college life and working life.

Throughout TY I personally feel that I have really learned, through hands on experiences, that education and learning is about so much more than academia. Its about being a part of a community, its about being yourself, its about preparing for life.

Adamstown, Co. Wexford Y21K039
053 924 0564
Waterford & Wexford Educational Training Board
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