Spooky Outings for Transition Year

Our TY pupils had a great night last weekend when they travelled to an unknown location in Co. Meath for some scary set pieces...

Many thanks to Mr. Ted Sherwood who organised the whole affair and who took the photos below, where thankfully everyone  looks relatively calm and content!

We're off for half term for the coming week, returning on Sunday night for boarders and Monday morning for day pupils but there may well be a post here at S's and D's between now and then.

An Academic Transition Year

In St Columba's College we emphasise that TY is a strongly academic year, building on previous years' experience. Normal classroom work takes place alongside the hugely diverse activities recorded on this blog. As half-term and the parent-teacher meeting approach it is appropriate briefly to focus on this vital aspect of the college year.

Each TY pupil has so far received three sets of effort marks signalling their level of effort in their academic subjects. The Michaelmas examinations will take place at the end of November and TY will undertake these alongside all other forms. At the end of this term parents will receive a full report on their academic performance.

Here is just a short sample of some subject wok being undertaken by TY pupils this term:

Geography/European Studies have been engaged in powerpoint presentations on European countries and will visit the European Commission Offices later this term.

Music pupils have looked at the origins of music and are also singing in a harmony group - we anticipate a TY Music concert later in the year.

The History class are immersed in World War I.

The Physics class have looked at optics and have started on mechanics.

Art/Photography afficionados are putting together scrapbooks containing their work and thoughts on their chosen pieces.

English pupils are hard at work on their Extended Essays and are also well into Twelfth Night in class.

Les eleves Francais are working their way through verbs and tenses while also studying three French songs and the Spanish pupils are researching Spanish artists in advance of a visit to the National Gallery.

Finally, the Classical Studies group have meditated upon the thoughts of Marcus Aurelius, have endured Greek Tragedy, enjoyed poetry from the ancient world and are currently examining religion in Rome.   

Later in the year individual subjects will present themselves more fully on the blog.

Muffin time...

The culinary arts will be revisited this evening as Ms Kilfeather takes a group of eight pupils and indulges in a spot of muffin making. The venue is her classroom (appropriately named Rice) and armed with a bagful of ingredients, two mini-ovens and a determination to cook and eat, no doubt the participants will be satisfied at the end of the evening.

Bon appetit. 

French Department Cinema Outing

 

TY French sets have recently been studying a module on Paris so as a tie-in the French department is organising a cinema outing tonight to see Woody Allen's latest offering Midnight in Paris. By all accounts it is a return to form for the veteran New York writer/director and in this film he is said to use the stunning Parisian urban landscape to beautiful effect...we'll see.


Update: Well we didn't see. In fact, we had to be evacuated from Dundrum Town Centre because of the much publicised flooding. Ah well - Midnight in Paris will just have to wait. 

Saturday Evening Activities - Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid!

Tonight the undisputed champion of 'out-of-the-ordinary' school trips is at it again...Yes indeed Mr Sherwood has laid on a mysterious Halloween themed expedition exclusively for Transition Year. Ask us no more questions and we shan't tell you any fibs...Needless to say though that all will be revealed in the fullness of time and in due course. Cackle, cackle, evil laugh..

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Cookery Demonstration

Louisa Gibbs was part of a group of TY pupils who participated in a cookery session in our very own kitchens this week. She writes about the experience below.

Derek waves the magic wand

On Tuesday the 18^th of October, six members of Transition Year took part in a cooking demonstration. Mr. McCarthy kindly arranged for a top Sodexho chef, Derek, to come in to school and show us how to prepare a three course meal. The menu read: creamy sweet potato soup with a wholemeal scone and grated cheddar; followed by chicken in a tomato and basil sauce with penne pasta; and dessert was an autumn berry crumble with custard. It was a wonderful experience which also tasted amazing. Derek went through each detail and also added in extra information, his special tricks and ideas, so we could learn more.

Molly Dunne - no stranger to professional kitchens

I now understand the stress of working in a kitchen. It was very hot and Derek explained that it gets extremely busy when catering for large numbers and that that’s how chefs get a bad name for being angry! He also explained that it was very different cooking for six people rather than three hundred. It was a very useful and productive afternoon. I am sure that my fellow classmates would love to do it again, I know I would. The end result was really tasty, something I would definitely make  again.

Fitzy goes to work!

Molly, Bradley, Siobhan, Louisa, Stevie and Harry with Derek - great headgear!

Glencree Reconciliation Retreat

For many years now TY Columbans have joined Transition Year pupils from other schools for a two day retreat at the Glencree Reconciliation Centre. This year was no different and Jessica Scott shares below her impressions of the experience. 

Mr. McCarthy brought us up to Kippure Adventure Centre on Tuesday the 4^th of October. There was a change of location due to maintenance work in the Glencree centre. We arrived at Kippure adventure centre shortly after 12:30pm to be greeted by a woman called Joyce. She showed us to our accommodation. The houses were amazing with a small kitchen, dining room and lounge area also with a balcony which had an amazing view.

There were six per house with two rooms with three beds and an en suite. Shortly after arriving Sadhbh, Brendan and I were introduced to the 26 other students who were also in Transition Year and came from various schools: Villiers School, Drogheda Grammar, Newtown, Wesley College, King’s Hospital, St. Andrews, Monaghan Collegiate, and of course St. Columba’s. We then went to lunch where we all got talking. After lunch, we went to the meeting room and were introduced to our mentors Gail and Yasser and they explained to us what Glencree is all about.

Glencree Reconciliation Centre is a non-governmental organisation dedicated to peace building and discussing violence in various areas such as the North and South of Ireland. It was established in 1974. Our mentors explained their main purpose was to strengthen peace between communities and involve more people in the reconciliation process.

We played games to get to know one another. There was an activity called ‘Secret Friend’ where you would get someone’s name and not reveal it to anyone and write little messages to that person and then at the end of the programme reveal yourself. This helped to get to know one another.

There was also a serious side to this, how we spoke about conflict, how it can start and possible solutions, people who are powerful/powerless and what we thought made a good leader. This was a life changing programme in which I learnt a lot about many other people’s opinions. Also I got a chance to give my opinion on topics such as the legal age to vote by doing a debate. Also our mentor Yasser was from Gaza in Palestine and he shared his many experiences of the conflict between his homeland and Israel.

There were other activities too, such as: Cushions, where three teams all wanted the same cushions, this activity was to show the different ways of approaching potential conflict situations. We used violence to get the cushions when there were other ways such as co-operation, sharing the cushions between the teams. This all required communication skills. We also did a rap in three teams where we picked a scenario where someone had been treated unfairly. The group I was in chose the scenario of a boy on our team who once found a trolley in a bush and then the Gardaí arrived and even though he wasn’t involved in it he was forced to walk two miles to bring it back to where it belonged. I enjoyed these activities very much!

There were evening activities after dinner. The first evening we watched the movie “Juno”. On the last evening we watched a documentary about the conflict between Gaza and Israel and the seriousness of this violence. This was a shocking documentary which taught us about a life of violence and conflict and made me appreciate what I have. Also that evening we had a table quiz with questions on music, movies and bizarre rules in foreign countries… did you know that in Switzerland it’s illegal to flush your toilet after 10pm!

It was a great experience to get to know other people and learn different things about the world today. I’m happy I got the chance to go!