OUR TYs HAVE BEEN BUSY !!

Our Transition Year students have been busy over the last couple of months.

They kicked off their year with a trip to the beautiful Killary adventure centre. This annual TY trip aims to promote student bonding and friendship building. Students sampled the ‘Turf Challenge’, ‘Raft Building and Gorge Walking’ activities. Students loved the trip and were very thankful to the staff who facilitated the trip and travelled with them!!

Students welcomed Garda Michael Kelly and Bernie Avdic to talk to them about the ‘Stay Safe, Stay Sober’ programme. Students found the talk very informative and engaging. Afterwards, the class thanked both guests for giving up their time to visit the school.

The TYs welcomed back Garda Michael Gorman for the 2nd year to deliver the ‘Lifesaver Project’. It is a hard hitting and realistic road safety presentation, highlighting the devastating effects that road traffic collisions have on people’s lives. Thanks to Garda Gorman for the wonderful interactive tasks and for making this presentation so real for our students.

TYA cooked up a storm with a very successful breakfast morning back in October. The proceeds of €200 were later presented to Ann Nallen and Brian Mac Suibhne from Erris Defib. Well done to all.

Our TYs treated our 1st years to a fun-filled Halloween quiz to mark the end of a very busy first term in OLSS. A lot of fun was had by both TYs and first years on this collaborative experience.

TYB held their first fundraising cake sale where they had lots of delicious treats on offer! The class chose the very worthy Erris Defib Group as their charity of choice and will be making a donation to them in the coming weeks. Thanks to all the students and teachers for all their donations.

Back in November TYS took part in the Planet Youth Survey as part of a pilot programme initiated by the Western Region Drug and Alcohol Task Force (WRDATF), with the support of local partner agencies. Transition year students often participate in such surveys to gather data on issues that are relevant to their community, including substance misuse and related topics. Thanks to Emmet Major for all his help and support on this.

Our TYs also participated in the ‘Waste Warriors Workshop’ in conjunction with Eco Unesco, and sponsored by Mayo County Council. Sadbh, the tutor on the project, had our students engaged from the start with activities on a range of topics such as; the impact of waste on our planet, from climate change to pollution, is it possible to live in a zero-waste lifestyle?, identifying common sources of waste and exploring the concept of a ‘circular economy’. The students really enjoyed this workshop.

Our TYS took a well deserved break from the classroom and visited Mayo Leisure Point where they enjoyed an action packed day of fun-filled activities. First stop was a trip to the cinema to watch ‘Paddington in Peru’. Students will use this film to complete their English Assessment. They then went bowling and to play laser tag where they really showed their competitive sides. The day was topped off nicely with food and refreshments afterwards. A fantastic day was had by all!!

After an icy start to 2025, our TYs warmed things up with a barista coffee course, under the guidance of Maria Theresa. Maria has a whelth of knowledge when it comes to all things coffee related, and taught the students how to make espressos, lattes and cappuccinos. The staff were treated to individual coffees of their choice, to help the students practice their new skills. This was a fantastic course that out students really enjoyed. Thanks to Maria Theresa.