News & Events

TYTPN Newsletter Spring 2012

The Transition Year TPN Executive have produced and delivered their latest newsletter to school just before Easter. Included (see pp6&7) are details of the forthcoming TPN Conference in Athlone on Saturday April 21st. The line up looks both informative and motivating, so get registered as soon a spossible!

Transition Year teachers and students in the counties around Meath, who are looking for a fundraising venture, might be interested in the Kenya Project in Oldcastle. This project aims to raise an initial £10,000 and continued sponsorship for a new school in Moi'sbridge Kenya. Details available at from Angela at 049 8550860 or 086 8169349, or email thekenyaproject@hotmail.com

  National Career Skills Competition 2012

This popular competition is again open to all TY students.

Download details or visit the www.careersportal.ie

Let your TY students become Bloggers!!

The NCTE hosts school blogs at http://blog.scoilnet.ie/blog/, which means they provide the server space, and support, for schools who wish to set up a school blog. They also run training courses for teachers who'd like to start their students on blogging.

Noeleen Leahy, a teacher in St Wolstan's Community School, has been blogging with her TY students for some time now. She says

 The St Wolstans TY blog ( www.stwolstansty.blogspot.com) was started to help 3rd Year students decide if TY was right for them. Through the blog they would see what happened in TY - dispell the myth that TY is "a doss!" Initially students emailed me reports and photos about their activities for the blog. Then I allocated Author permissions to a few students and they kept the blog going. Last year all students kept their own blog. In IT class they are taught the technical elements of blogging using Blogger.com. Through the Edublogs 10 week Student Blog Challenge (http://studentchallenge.edublogs.org/) and Quadblogging(http://quadblogging.net/) they connect with students around the world. Teachers also get students to post projects on their blogs such as book reviews and geography reports which are then assessed. It is a great means of students documenting their year. Most students love it. I highly recommend it. 

Why not visit St Wolstan's blog and take a look at what students can achieve through writing a blog?

If your school's TY students are involved in published a blog, please let us know so we can highlight it.

Circle of Life Transition Year Assignment

This national project centres around the altruistic and socially enriching cause of organ donation, but has at its core, a very specific objective;  the involvement of young people, through the TY Programme, in the creation of a national garden of commemoration to organ donors, to be located in Salthill, Galway. While this project would have many national and local beneficiaries including the promotion of the life saving cause of organ donation, it could be of considerable educational/cultural and societal benefit to the students and schools involved. The project is being presented and organized by Strange Boat Donor Foundation who would very much welcome the views and response of TY Coordinators. Visit www.strangeboat.org or download details here