Transition Year
Transition Year provides a bridge between Junior Certificate and Leaving Certificate. It offers a broad educational experience promoting the personal, social, academic and vocational development of each student. It provides us with opportunities to create new learning environments in which each girl can discover her own individual talents, aptitudes and abilities.
Dominican College has had compulsory Transition Year for many years and we try to ensure that it is an experience that helps our students develop skills and grow in ways that will aid their experience in their Leaving Certificate courses in 5th and 6th Year and beyond.
Transition Year has 4 component parts – core subjects, subject sampling, TY specific subjects and subjects that take place at certain times of the year. This way of organising the programme helps students to carry on with the core subjects that they need for the Leaving Certificate curriculum. They also get a chance to sample subjects that they have not done before e.g. various Science subject etc. There are subjects done which the girls won’t get to do again unless they choose to do them outside of school e.g. Yoga among others. Finally, there are subjects which are organised in terms of the calendar year e.g. trip to Carlingford in the Spring, bonding day in September to settle them into the new year.
Our aim is to prepare each girl for her role as an independent, responsible member of society. We encourage the involvement of parents, employers and local community in the Transition Year Programme, specifically through our Charity and Work Experience Programmes.
The absence of examination pressure gives us the opportunity to develop new skills and to lay a firm foundation for Leaving Certificate. It is possible to start some work on the curriculum for Leaving Certificate and this is done towards the end of the year.
The following aims are interrelated and interdependent and are reflected in our programme:
- Education for maturity with the emphasis on personal development including social awareness and increased social competence.
- The promotion of general, technical and academic skills with an emphasis on interdisciplinary and self-directed learning.
- Education through experience of adult and working life as a basis for personal development and maturity.
The girls do Enterprise and take part in the local Enterprise competitions. They also run a Christmas Fair which gets stronger and stronger each year. Alongside this students do week long modules of Work Experience placement throughout the year, which takes them into the World of Work on a regular basis.
We encourage the girls to be involved in the Community and there are many opportunities to do charity work, help with special needs children and other worthy organisations.
We try to provide a well rounded, broad and engaging programme. It is educational, developmental and fun! Outings, visits of various groups to the school bring the outside world to the girls and help them to see that there are many and varied opportunities to learn beyond the classroom.
The programme is regularly monitored and reviewed. Where and when necessary and possible we introduce new subjects. There is a constant striding for improvement of the TY programme. We recognise that it needs to be renewed and made vibrant continually. It is a wonderful opportunity for students to take time out of the pressure of examinations but in doing what they do in TY they become better able to take on the Leaving Certificate courses with a focus and an ability to take care of themselves when they return to the more pressured work of 5th and 6th Year.
For further information on Transition Year see the following links: