Transition Year

St. Joseph's offers Transition Year (TY) as an optional one-year programme taken after Junior Cycle and before the two-year Leaving Certificate programme.

TY is a long established and very popular program in St. Joseph's. Ty is a unique program acting as a bridge that helps students to make the change (transition) from  Junior Cycle to the more independent learning environment associated with Senior Cycle. TY promotes the personal, social, vocational and educational development of students and it prepares students for their role as independent, participative and responsible members of society. It encourages the development of a wide range of critical thinking and creative problem solving skills.
St. Joseph's we design our own Transition Year programme, within set guidelines, to suit the needs and interests of our students. There is no state examination at the end of Transition Year. Assessment is carried out on an ongoing basis and includes a mix of school-based assessment of projects and portfolios, oral, aural, practical and written activities. Evaluation of activities such as work experience or community service includes reports from the providers or hosts of such activities. Some subject modules have their own assessment arrangements. In TY there is a high level of self-directed learning in the context of co- and cross-curricular interaction. At the end of each year the programme is evaluated with an input from TY students, staff and parents.

Core Subjects and highlights of the year include:

Choice Subjects for the Leaving Certificate - Students get the opportunity to try out modules in a variety of Leaving Certificate subjects

  • A variety of rolling and fixed modules

  • TY Musical

  • Work Experience

  • Gaisce

  • Projects/Presentation/Guest Speakers

  • Community Involvement/Year Bonding Activities

  • YSI (Young Social Entrepreneurs)

  • Green Schools/Environmental Awareness

  • Chineese

  • Safe Food for Life

  • School Digital Champions Programme

  • TY Bonding Experience

  • Enterprise Education (TY Mini-Companies)

  • Build a Bank competition

  • Forensic Science Day

  • Field Trips

  • SVDP Project

  • Junk Kouture

  • Transition Year Tour

St. Joseph’s we design our own Transition Year programme, within set guidelines, to suit the needs and interests of our students. There is no state examination at the end of Transition Year.

Assessment is carried out on an ongoing basis and includes a mix of school-based assessment of projects and portfolios, oral, aural, practical and written activities. Evaluation of activities such as work experience or community service includes reports from the providers or hosts of such activities. Some subject modules have their own assessment arrangements. In TY there is a high level of self-directed learning in the context of co- and cross-curricular interaction. At the end of each year the programme is evaluated with an input from TY students, staff and parents.