Transition Year

Transition Year (TY) is a one-year programme taken after Junior Cycle and before the two-year Leaving Certificate programme. At Killorglin Community College it is coordinated by Ms. Lisa Cahillane.

Transition Year aims to:

Promote the personal, social and educational development of the student.
Provide the student with an opportunity for the study of topics outside the school curriculum free from the pressure of examinations and the constraints imposed by an examination curriculum.
Transition Year also gives students an opportunity to participate in work experience, educational outings and fundraising events.

Emphasis is placed on:

Education for maturity, and spiritual and personal development, including social awareness and increased social competence.
The promotion of general, technical and academic skills with an emphasis on self-directed learning.
Education through experience of working life as a basis for personal development and maturity.
To provide an opportunity for all students to mature intellectually, socially, physically and spiritually.
To consolidate and develop the learning experience of the student which has taken place during the Junior Cycle.
To develop study habits more suited to Senior Cycle and Third Level and to encourage the development of self-directed learning in all students so as to enable them to achieve at 3rd Level.
To foster a growing sense of responsibility in the student for his/her own life so that he/she may become a responsible socially conscious citizen, able to cope successfully with the demands of society and of life.
To encourage students to value inter-personal relationships and to inculcate this through team-work and project work.
To introduce the student actively to the world of work so that they will learn to work with others and develop a good working relationship with others and learn to engage in dialogue with others in a respectful way.

TY Activities:

Students are encouraged to enter in a wide range of competitions, from the Young Social Innovators Awards, The Student Enterprise Programme to the Gaisce Awards (Bronze Medallion). There is also a range of competitions from Junk Koture, Young Economist of The Year, BT Young Scientist to Debating, AIB Build a Bank Challenge and Bank of Ireland MoneySmarts. Other activities and projects include Schools Banking with Bank of Ireland and AIB, work with Tidy Towns, St Francis Special School, VEX Robotics and The Architect in Schools Initiative.

Some facts about Transition Year:

At the end of Transition Year the student is generally more focused and more mature. Statistics nationally indicate that students who have completed Transition Year score higher points in the Leaving Certificate than those who did not take the course.

Transition year students are also less likely to drop out of college in their first year than those who have not completed the course.

The curriculum is broad and balanced.

Students participate successfully in a range of competitions at county, regional and national level.

Assessment:

There is no state examination at the end of Transition Year. Assessment is usually carried out on an ongoing basis and can include school-based assessment of projects or portfolios, oral, aural, practical and written activities.

Evaluation of activities such as work experience or community service will often involve the providers or hosts of such activities.

Pupils will receive a Christmas and end of year report as in any other year. There will be exams in the core subjects in December & May.

Work Experience:

Work Experience is a major element of TY. Students have a Careers Guidance class once a week, but the onus is on the student to organise work placements.

Where possible, students find placements in work related to the career in which they have a special interest. It is the responsibility of each student to make her own application and to find their Work Experience Placement as this is an essential element of preparation for the world of work.

Students are monitored by the school and assessed by the employer.

At the end of work experience each student is required to complete a Work Experience Diary.

Please click HERE to check out more information on TY

Runners-up of the Generation Euro Competition for a second year in succession, 2020 and 2021. The successful team members include Ethan Victor, Luke Diggin and Ivan Loi.