Sun shines on the end of Hilary term

As the Hilary term draws to a close and the sun begins to shine, pupils are in holiday mood. Today the intrepid Mr Sherwood, Ms Kilfeather and Ms Caulwell are leading a mystery expedition which will involve much work and water. No doubt a tale will be told at the end of it all.

For the TYers the holiday period will incorporate work expeience, recuperation after a busy term and of course some time for fun. As the ad for Mars bars would say, 'work, rest and play.'

Pupils should not return to the college until the second week of the Trinity term i.e. Sunday 29th April for boarders and Monday 30th April for day pupils. We hope that they will find their work experience enjoyable and informative.

 Next term sees the Transition Year Academic Prize. Many entries have been submitted and the shortlist for actual presentation on 3rd May is as follows: Sadhbh Sheeran, Siobhan Brady, Rebekka Kehrwald, Helene Peters, Anna Herrero Tejada and Marcia Kettern. 

They will present their thoughts and findings on Organ and Tissue Donations in Ireland, Jacqueline du Pre, Factory Farming, Street Art, Genetic Mutations and Martin Luther King Junior.

We wish a  happy and peaceful Easter to all.                 

TY Quiz

The inaugural quiz was held in the BSR on Tuesday evening with ten teams pitting their wits against each other in rounds of general knowledge, sport, history, film & TV, the USA, music and some quirky questions on the college itself.

At the end, the floor of the BSR was dripping with knowledge as a closely fought contest left two teams, Aristotle and Descartes neck and neck going into the final round. The winners soon emerged and it was Aristotle who came out on top. How the teacher of Alexander the Great must be smiling in the Elysian Isles of the Blest.

The winning team memers were Molly Buckingham, Harry Fitzgibbon, William Wood, Gerardo Escauriaza, Ifueko Bello-Asemota and Emily Speckter. They were presented with the TY Quiz Trophy, kindly sponsored by the Parents' Association.

Pictures will follow...

Inaugural Annual TY Quiz

Who shot JFK? Who shot Lee Harvey Oswald? Whatever happened to Jack Ruby?

These are some of the questions that will not be asked in the inaugural TY Quiz which will take place next Tuesday evening in the BSR.

The form have been divided into ten teams, each bearing the name of a great philosopher. So the likes of Socrates, Plato, Marcus Aurelius, Voltaire and Rousseau will live again. The name of the winning team will be engraved on the TY Quiz Trophy, kindly sponsored by the Parents' Association.

Mr McCarthy and Mr Swift have devised a series of fiendishly perplexing questions, such as ..... Oh I've run out of time. All will be revealed on Tuesday evening.

Mandarin Classes

As previously reported beginner's Mandarin has been offered to TY-ers one evening a week. A group of regular attendees emerged, namely Brendan Dickenson, Ugo Onwurah, Lasse Schaefer, Harry Johnson, Tosan McLarn, Pia Gromotka, Clara Booth, Tara McCormick, Alex Owens,  Molly Dunne, and Sadhbh Sheeran. Well done to all for supporting this initiative and to Mr. Coldrick for driving it. They say your reward will be in heaven but in fact the group are going to into Dublin with their tutor Mrs. Fang Wang next week for an authentic Chinese meal. 

Evidence of Teaching & Learning on the White Board

Tosan's Turn

First Aid in Action

Our TY pupils receive training in first aid from Ms Maybury. One of them, Siobhan Brady recently had occasion to put this skill to very good effect indeed. Below, she tells of her experience.

On Friday the 17th of February I was sitting in Insomnia, St. Stephen's Green having a cup of tea and waiting for a few friends to show up. I was minding my own business and half-listening to my iPod when two girls walked into the coffee shop. They both looked hardly older than myself, probably around nineteen or twenty years of age. Both of the girls had infants with them, both infants were girls, the older girl being around two years old and the younger one being just six months old. The six month old girl was wearing a blue denim dress with pink flowers and bright pink tights with her tiny wispy hair tied up in a bobbin on top of her head. I noticed how one of the women was putting some food on a small plate for both of the girls.

I didn't see straight away what the food was but I then realised that it was Haribo sweets that she was giving them. Honestly, I thought nothing of it at first, because I assumed that the mother knew what she was doing. But as the six month old began banging the little table of her high chair with her little fist, flinging her plate at the ground, her face getting slowly redder and redder and all the while as she was making a strange rasping noise, I knew something was wrong. The mother of the baby started to pat the infant on the back but that seemed to be making the child worse. She stood up and exclaimed that she didn't know what to do, that she wasn't trained in First Aid. The other girl was busy cleaning up the mess that the child had made, she didn't see how big a problem this seemed to be.

An overwhelming feeling came over me that if I didn't do something at that very moment, this child could have suffocated to death. Fortunately, we had covered choking and what to do in a situation if someone was choking. I knew I shouldn't perform the Heimlich maneuver on such a tiny infant because that could cause me to break one of her ribs and perhaps puncture a lung which would have made the situation so much worse. I stood up immediately and told the woman to pick the baby up and to point her head to the floor but she held the baby upright which didn't help the child cough up the sweet at all and there wasn't enough time to explain to the mother what to do, so she handed me the toddler and I held her with her head facing downwards and her feet diagonally up in the air and the mother kept a firm hold of the baby's front, just under the diaphragm and I proceeded to thump on the girl's back. For a moment I thought nothing was happening and I was so worried I was making it worse because I had never practised this on a real person before, but the girl started to cough violently and eventually she started vomiting all over the floor and out popped the sweet! The woman was so grateful she started crying and I just told her to bring the baby outside to get some fresh air and I asked a passing waiter to fetch a glass of water. The woman insisted on buying me a hot chocolate as a gift of gratitude and I explained to her how it says on the packet of the Haribo "not suitable for children under 18 months" and she said from then on she would be far more careful with what food to give her child.

 

This day, Friday the 17th of February, was the single most terrifying day of my life. So many things could have gone wrong, but I just took a chance and luckily it paid off. I'm so grateful to Ms Maybury for teaching me these skills because although I am not an expert in First Aid, at least I had an idea  what  had to do. It's not every day you walk into a coffee shop and save a child's life so no matter what people say, everything you learn in Transition Year is valuable and I'm glad I paid attention to that SPHE class all those weeks ago!

Bravo Siobhan!

TY Geography/European Studies

Continuing our profile of TY subjects, Head of Geography Mr Sherwood writes:

To date we have adhered to the schedule as indicated in the European Studies Programme. In the Michaelmas Term we studied contemporary Europe from the end of the second W.W. We looked at the institutions that govern the E.U. and learnt the locations of countries, capitals. major rivers, seas, mountain ranges and climates.

We established Contact Sheets, drew up Personal Profiles and forwarded our European Celebrities as role models to our affiliated schools in Denmark, Norway, Northern Ireland, France and Romania.

Computing skills have been tested by each pupil presenting a PowerPoint presentation on a European country of their choice. A minimum of 7 slides was required to achieve this. The Michaelmas examinations tested the work to date.

Hilary Term has seen us embark on a researched, hand-written and portfolio-bound study of the European Treaties since the Treaty of Rome in 1957, outlining the significant changes that the five subsequent treaties have brought about. Each pupil also undertakes to present a PowerPoint presentation on an aspect of a European primary industry. The pupil must stand in front of the class and teach the subject they have researched to their peer group. This is a most beneficial undertaking employing many skills they will need in later life.

The second half of this term will see a similar research topic based on a European Manufactured Product, e.g. Ferrari, Chanel, etc. which the pupils present and grade each other in terms of computer proficiency and knowledge gained.

In early November we visited the European Public Information Center in Molesworth Street where we watched a DVD on today's Europe, enjoyed a quiz, and collected important resource materials for our coursework.

This stand alone course provides valuable material for a modern citizen of Europe. It tests and encourages independent thinking and enhances their computer skills while at the same time demanding they can present an accomplished piece of research to a known audience.                                                      

                                                                                                                                                                         

The Junior Play - TY Involvement

TY luvies winding down in the Green Room, l-r: Brendan, Moll, Siobhan, Aidan and Ugo

TYers are eligible to audition for our Junior play. It was very pleasing that many did and that five of them acquitted themselves on stage in 'The Field' by John B. Keane with dramatic distinction. Molly Buckingham played the widow selling her field, Aidan Chisholm played Mick the barman / auctioneer, Brendan Dickerson had no trouble with the west of Ireland accent as Tadhg, the Bull McCabe's son, Ugo Onwurah played William Dee the visitor from outside looking to buy the field and Siobhan Brady played the scary bishop. The production was a great success overall and another feather of achievement in the caps of already busy Transition Year chaps and chap-esses....?

Aidan (left) is worried about the smoking ban and new drink driving regulations

Trouble in paradise - Mick the barman doesn't know where to look

Wicklow Way - First Leg

Mr. Coldrick led a large group of intrepid hikers from college into the wilds of Wicklow two weekends ago. They were blessed with the weather. They followed the Wicklow Way and stayed the night in the An Oige hostel in Knockree. The following day they walked to Roundwood. In a few weeks time they plan to continue from Roundwood and do two days hiking which will bring them to the foot of Lugnaquilla. Mr. Coldrick was assisted by Ms. Caulwell and Ms. McNelis and by friend of college hiking Mr. Brian Bell. A more in-depth pupil account is imminent but in the meantime enjoy the photos.