T R A N S I T I O NY E A RI N T R A N S I T I O NI began as TY coordinator in 1996 and enjoyed the energy andcommitment of the students both to have fun in education in TYbut also to address the serious side of learning.The tradition of a TY in <strong>Cabinteely</strong> was laid down by BryanMcMahon who was responsible for the unique “look” of theyear with its emphasis on personal development and opennessto new experiences in life and in education. He, with LiamRyder, the then principal, built the year around the traditionalcore subjects and then added a variety of modular units, such aswoodwork, metalwork, film studies, photography etc much ofwhich continues to this day. A special feature of that time werethe “Civics Weeks” where the whole senior cycle, but particularlythe TY students, were given a week of lectures, discussions,workshops and debate on issues and topics of contemporaryinterest.During my stewardship of the year I was struck by the positiveattitude shown by TY students. They always wanted to be doingsomething or finding out something new. We had a motto duringthese years, “Say Yes to TY!” which was meant to embody aspirit of adventure where you did not judge a new course oractivity until you had finished it – a difficult thing for the young toachieve!The two “big things” that TY students enjoyed in those yearswere the cultural events and outward bound trips – “When are wegoing? When are we going, Mr O’Neill?” was the refrain in thosedays.Two outward bound trips were of specific note. The first, a trip tothe Burren in Co. Clare, hosted by Mr. Carter was based aroundGeography and Geology. I recall one terrifying moment as the TYstudents took turns to peer over the Cliffs of Moher. Despite myhorrors, all these trips went well and safely.Another trip was to follow the Wicklow Way from Dublin to theBallinastoe Woods. This trip was hosted by Mr Ryan and wasbased around P.E and health education. For weeks before the twoday walk, students could be seen in training around the <strong>Cabinteely</strong>and Ballybrack area, walking briskly to increase fitness. Whenwe got to the youth hostel there was the cooking to be done.The range of meals was mind boggling as was the ingenuity ofstudents in cooking them given the fact that each student had tocarry all the ingredients necessary.On the cultural side the met with such characters as Bisi Adigun,an artist and musician from Nigeria who introduced them toNigerian music, percussion and story telling. He had the uniqueknack of getting 20 TY students singing African songs andaccompanying themselves on twenty percussion instrumentswhich Bisi would pack into his small car.Another popular cultural event was the annual visit of TeamTheatre who gave us live and lively theatre in St. Angela’s Hall.The final event of the year was a visit from The Dance Theatre ofIreland. After a spirited performance the troupe would teach danceto the students for the rest of the day.All in all I thoroughly enjoyed my time with TY and I think mostof the students did too.22 <strong>CCS</strong><strong>Unlimited</strong>Declan O’NeillSCIENCEWORKSLast November our <strong>CCS</strong>Transition Year sciencestudents participated in the‘ScienceWorks’ workshop heldat the UCD Conway Institute. Agreat time was had by all!It was such a wonderfulopportunity for our sciencestudents to partake inthis event. The entire daywas ‘jam packed’ withactivities. It allowed thestudents to participate inpractical, hands-on scienceinvestigations in state-ofthe-artteaching laboratoriesas well as tour the facilitiesmeeting UCD staff fromvarious disciplines whoshared their scientifi c skillsand viewpoints.TRANSITION YEAOn Monday 12th November two membersof my class spent a week in Deansgrangelibrary with the transition year Arts andLibraries Project. There were studentsfrom a few other schools around the area,like Clonkeen and Oatlands. The projectaims to get young people like us interestedin reading and making us aware of thefacilities our local libraries have to offer.The week was jam packed full of thingsto do. Each morning we had a speakerin from different walks of life. Somewere authors, fi lm makers, actors andteachers. One of the speakers was a mancalled Brian Keenan who has had a veryinteresting life and came in to tell us<strong>CCS</strong>UNLIMITED2008.indd 22 13/06/2008 10:49:29
<strong>CCS</strong> <strong>Unlimited</strong>SPECIAL FEATUREThe students explored theworld of genetics and isolatedbanana DNA. They alsolearned about the brain andhow memory works. Thearray of chemical illusions gota great response – makingbronze, using dry ice and theiodine snake reaction! ‘WOW’or what, eh?The Conway Institute ofBiomolecular and BiomedicalResearch founded in 1999 is amajor new enterprise at UCD.The research programme atConway Institute is heavilyinvolved in learning abouthuman and animal disorders,understanding the causes andeffects of diseases, diagnostictesting and effective medicaltreatments. The extensiveresearch conducted hereallows them to make excitingdiscoveries and contributionsto our understanding of thecauses and consequences ofdiseases such as diabetes,arthritis, Alzheimer’sdisease, cardiovascularand lung disorders as wellas breast and prostatecancer.Naturally Ms. Lyne and Iwere in our ‘ELEMENT’for the day – big sciencenerds that we are (andproud of it may I add!).Our students totallyimmersed themselves inthe Science workshop andhad a great time. It reallywas a fun and informativeday.Transition Year’s youdid yourselves and <strong>CCS</strong>proud.Well done! (Strike a pose! - Check outthe super snapshots fromthe day).Mary BeltonI became co-ordinator of TY in 2001 after seven years as Home<strong>School</strong> Co-ordinator. Declan allowed me to shadow him for thelast term of his time, so that I saw how fourth year worked. Therewere a lot of excellent procedures in place, which I thought were toovaluable to change, such as the portfolio day and the overnight tripsaway.The trips cannot be undervalued as bonding exercises and as a wayto develop the staff- student relationships. And, surprise ,surprisemany of the pupils said that they loved the bus journey just becauseof the fun they had!I introduced a computer qualification. At first this was the City andGuilds but later we turned to the E.C.D.L. I felt that to aim for oneexam in the year was a bridge between the exam-oriented third yearand the freedom of TY. The majority of pupils sit this exam.We also ran a number of overseas trips, namely to London, Barcelonaand Rome. Although only small numbers took this option it becamesomething they looked back on with fondness and enjoyment.Other pursuits they enjoyed were getting to know their capital city,hill walking, skiing and trips out. We usually travel to either Achill orCarlingford as part of the outdoor pursuits aspect of the programme,and again this is something which the students enjoy.As part of the social programme they are involved in fundraising fora number of charities; this was especially important when the schoolraised money to send a number of students to work in an orphanagein India.The benefits of TY may be hard to define and harder to measurebut the effects are obvious by the time the pupils reach sixth year.In general, these pupils are more mature, more rounded and morefocused. And they usually look back on fourth year with very fondmemories. For the TY co-ordinator it is sometimes very hard to seea group who have bonded well together go on as another Year head’s‘babies’ and to start again afresh.However, that has been the nature of the task…..until now. It’s greatto think that all the pupils of the school will have the benefit of whatwe see as a year of personal and educational growth in future.Frances DuncanYEAR ARTS AND LIBRARY PROGRAMMEhis story. In 1986 he was captured andheld hostage in the suburbs of Beirut.He was kept there for four and a halfyears. After he was released he wrote“An Evil Cradling”, an account of hisimprisonment. We all listened with greatinterest as he told us about this period inhis life. It was really mad to hear abouthis experience, because its strange tothink this kind of thing actually happens.Another day we had a woman calledClaire Reilly, of the Guildhall <strong>School</strong>of Music and Drama, in to work on ourpublic speaking abilities. She had a rangeof games and exercises to help build ourconfi dence about speaking in public. Itwas good fun because she had us doingmad stuff like pretending to shoot eachother. We had a good laugh.On Thursday we went to see a play inBewleys Café Theatre called “Is ThereBalm in Gilead” by Michael Harding,an Irish playwright. It was based on theworks of Edgar Allen Poe. It was a bitstrange and hard to follow, and none ofus really understood it, but it was goodcraic!Over the course of the week we hadto read a novel of our choice from thelibrary. At the end of the week we all hadto write a personal review of what wethought of the book and read it out to thegroup on the last day. With Claire’s helpon public speaking earlier in the week itwas no bother.It was a bit sad leaving at the end of theweek because we met lots of new peopleand it was a nice change from going intoschool everyday, It started later as well.We’ll miss our tea and biscuit breaksevery hour and the extra hours sleepevery day.All in all it was a really good experienceand we enjoyed it alot, it was agood laugh, and we would definitelyrecommend it to anyone.<strong>CCS</strong><strong>Unlimited</strong> 23<strong>CCS</strong>UNLIMITED2008.indd 23 13/06/2008 10:49:32
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