1. education
2. school

Transition Year
2015 - 2016
PORTMARNOCK
TRANSITION
COMMUNITY
YEAR
SCHOOL
2011 - 2012
Transition-year
Teacher says! “The opportunity of a lifetime
to be used with the lifetime of the
opportunity”
Student says! “…get involved in as many
things as you can, the year will be so
much better…”
WHAT IS TRANSITION YEAR?
• Optional first year of a three-year Leaving
Certificate Programme
• Strongly subscribed to by students, staff
and parents of Portmarnock Community
School
• Programme varies from school to school
WHAT IS TRANSITION YEAR?
…a unique one year programme that
promotes the personal, social, vocational
and educational development of students
and prepares them for their role as
autonomous, participative and responsible
members of society.
WHAT IS TRANSITION YEAR?
…a bridge to enable students to make the
transition from the more dependent type of
learning associated with Junior Cycle to
the more independent learning
environment associated with Senior Cycle.
…encourages the development of a wide
range of transferable critical thinking and
creative problem solving skills.
• T.Y. Year Head : Mr Dempsey
• Tutors: Mr O’hAonghusa, Mr
McDermott, Ms Tynan, M Curran, Mr
McNieve
• T.Y. Co-ordinator: Ms. Molamphy
Some key dates from
2014/2015
• Exams –4th and 5th December ‘14: – TY exams
(Gaeilge, English, Maths and Continental languages)
• Exams – 14th and 15th May ’15 : – TY exams (Gaeilge,
English, Maths and Continental languages)
• Work-experience 8th Dec. ‘14 (two weeks)
• Community-care 2nd Feb. ‘15 (two weeks)
• TY Night Monday 18th May ’15
• Work-experience Diary due date: Monday
19th January 2015
• Community-care Diary due date: Monday
9rd March 2015
• Late diaries will be penalised
• Planned week for Play
- Week of November 16th 2015
WORK EXPERIENCE - AIMS
• To experience the nature and realities of
working life…
• To identify skills and abilities required for
particular jobs…
• To achieve a realistic knowledge of their
own interests, abilities and social skills…
• To achieve a knowledge and
understanding of job application and
selection...
THE WORK PLACEMENT
• Students are advised to begin their search
for a placement as soon as possible…
• During the work experience students keep
a diary of each days work...
• They are monitored by teachers through
telephone calls to their employers…
Community Care
...to give students a greater
understanding of volunteering in their
community…
...a time set aside to in the transition
year calendar for pupils to give back to
the community…
EVALUATION
– Initiative in finding a placement
– Full completion of diary
– Presentation of diary on due date
– Report from employer
– Oral presentation to class
10%
25%
15%
30%
20%
Your Tutor is responsible for this evaluation
Wednesday Modules
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Animation – Ms. Tynan
Film Appreciation – Mr. Higgins
Heritage - Mr. Dempsey / Mr. Curran
Model making – Mr Behan
Life-skills – Ms. Richardson First-aid –
Civil Defence
TY Reports
• Irish / English / Maths / Continental
European Language
• You will sit two formal examinations
(Christmas and Summer) and receive two
reports with a percentage grade in each
subject
May TY Report
Divided into three parts:
• The Modules (except life-skills / First-aid)
= 400 marks
• Academic options (six subjects plus I.T.
and P.E.) = 800 marks
• Participation
= 500 marks (Work-experience (100),
Community Care (100), Portfolio(300)
Modules and Academic options
You teacher will clarify with you the nature of
this assessment and its due date - this
may be online or as a verbal presentation
or a poster, etc
Last year (2014/2015)
•
•
•
•
1050 - 1,500
825 – 1049
600 – 824
1 – 599
- Distinction
- Merit
- Pass
- Fail
A small number of students got a “fail”
certificate last year, many got a distinction.
• TY Reports – as usual in January and
June. This will include your absences.
• May TY Report – on the TY Night – a
significant certificate crafted by Mr.
Higgins
Gaisce
There are 4 different challenge areas. To earn an award, you will
need to participate in each of the 4 challenge areas. You might
decide to build on an activity you’ve tried in the past.
Each participant must participate in at least one new activity to earn
an award.
The 4 challenge areas are:
1. Community Involvement
2. Personal Skill
3. Physical Recreation
4. Adventure Journey
Gaisce
• Presidents Award Leader: Mr. Dempsey
• Face to Face and Online requirements
with both Mr. Dempsey and Gaisce
• Deadlines are deadlines
Internal programmes
• Various Talks e.g. Garda road-safety
• DATS Aptitude Tests
• Thinking Outside the Box
• Law Day
• Titanic Trip
Other Activities
• Mini-companies, mentored by Fingal
Enterprise Board
• AIB Build a Bank
• An Gaisce Award (€10 extra)
• The Play 2014 “Much Ado About Nothing”
• Musical 2014“ The Phantom Of The
Opera”
• Fundraising – Walk in my shoes/ RNLI
Other Activities
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Create-school – movie/video making
Compute TY DCU
Department of Foreign Affairs
Law library
GAA coaching with local Primary-school
Pupil participation in the Arch Club
Rotary Club – youth leadership
Variety show
Links with Third-level
• DCU Compute TY (thirty places 2014)
• UCD – Physics workshop (one place)
• RCSI – Mini-Med (one place)
• RCSI – Innovations exhibition (thirty places)
• Physics Department TCD – nanotechnology / Astrophysics (1 place
each)
• DIT Computing academy (five places)
The way students (you) are going
to college is changing
 DCU: Degree in Problem Solving & Software
Development (2013)
 General DCU entry requirements plus Maths – not an
accumulation of points
 We still encourage students to do well in their Leaving
Certificate exams, but we will select students based on
their passion, experience and ability
 Subjects + Portfolio + Interview
DCU Portfolio ideas
• Had appropriate computer-based experience
during transition year inside school
• Developed a web site
• Programming, participated in initiatives
outside school e.g. ComputeTY, DIT
Computing Academy etc
TCD & the CAO – trial from 2014
• ...a new system will take into account Leaving
Certificate results, a student's performance
ranking in their own class, and a personal
statement written by the student.
• ...want to get a raw honest enthusiastic
assessment or account of why the person wants
to study these particular things, who they are
and the context in which the results were
achieved
Sports programmes
• …emphasis on Coaching
• …emphasis on skills development
• … Scuba Diving (extra cost) Certificate
• …Sailing (extra cost – National
Certification)
PE Assessment
Students will use….technology to present or
display information on the skill component,
psychology, or nutritional aspects of
Physical Education. There will also be a
unit on Sports Science.
Deadlines are deadlines for submitting
projects…
Extras
• Ski-trip (participants selected in Thirdyear)
• South Africa experience (participants
selected in Third-year)
• Surfing in Mayo (with an marine
awareness module) • Sailing with Malahide Yacht Club –
certification – excellent value for money
Unscripted opportunities
• Film
• Gardening
• Student Council
• Fundraising
Portfolio
• The Portfolio is the purposeful collection of
your work
• To show your effort, progress and
achievement in ten areas of learning
• You will select the pieces of your work that
best show learning, not necessarily the
best pieces
Portfolio Interview
Portfolios submitted to Tutor on Friday April
24th 2015
Interviews: By tutor
Monday 27th April and Monday 11th May
Transition Year fee
• A fee of 250 euro
• “easy payments” on the school website
• Letter going home in April/May
• Pays for a range of activities
Activities from the fee
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•
•
•
•
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•
•
•
DATS
Law Day
Play
First Aid – Civil Defence and equipment
Ballymun School Christmas trip
European Youth Parliament
DCU Compute TY
Thinking Outside The Box
Portfolio Prep days
• Irish Books
• Glendalough trip as part of their Gaisce
Award, buses and hostel
• Jean Gill – JC results day
• Textiles and model making equipment
• EcoUnesco application
• Day out – cinema and bowling
• Samba drums
• Create School – movie and video making
• Supervision for TY activities when
teachers are out
• Buses – Glendalough, cinema, Titanic
• Titanic trip