A taste of Transition Year by Hannah O' Donovan

    Fourth year is the opportunity to try new subjects, and to retry subjects you have not done since first year. Fourth year is the chance to get more enjoyment out of classes than you would in second/ third/ fifth or sixth year, as it focuses less on studying and completing the course and more on learning and enjoying the modules.

Fourth years do the four base subjects- English, Irish, Maths and French/ German. The TY course has modules such as Economics, Marketing, Business and Accounting, and the three science subjects Biology, Chemistry and Physics, where students do many experiments to make learning easier and more enjoyable.                                   

TYs do Third World Development, Art, Swimming, Geography, History, Computers and Film Studies where we make our own short films. We do Home Economics, Careers and PE where we try new things such as boxercise and Zumba. Fourth years also have tutorial class where we meet with our class tutors to talk about upcoming events.                   

We do community awareness, where the year is split up into placements and go to Mt. Carmel, Bushmount, Cope, Care Choice or Digital 1-to-1 to help out in the community.                                                             

  We also choose between YSI, Mini Company and Junk Kouture- YSI allows groups of students to raise awareness and help tackle social issues such as the stigma around mental health, sexism, equality, etc.   Mini Company is where a group of students create and sell a product they make. For Junk Kouture students attempt to make costumes out of recycled goods or “rubbish”.                                                                          

     TY students can also participate in extra activities such as first aid training, journalism, BT Young Scientist, Debating and many others.