Welcome to our blog about the Transition Year in St Wolstans Community School, Celbridge, Co Kildare. Here you will read all about what happens in Transition Year. You will get a good idea of how busy our year is!
Follow individual student blogs as well and see how they are getting on.

All contributions come from the students themselves and the TY Coordinator.
Enjoy






Sunday, October 31, 2010

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Blog Action Day 2010

I took this extract from the Blog Action Day email that was sent to St Wolstans TY......

"From river conservation to the water crisis in Africa, people couldn't stop talking about water on Blog Action Day. The final count for Blog Action Day stands at over 5,600 bloggers from 143 countries, reaching more than 40 million readers. It was a remarkable display of support for an issue that gets woefully little coverage in the mainstream media. "

By being a part of Blog Action Day 2010, TY helped focus the world's attention of the vital issue of water rights and water access. Well done to the 6 Transition Year’s who posted something on water.

Mrs L :)

Monday, October 18, 2010

Rugby in PE

Niamh C tells us about playing rugby in PE this year.....

"For P.E on Wednesdays we've been doing tag rugby with some of the coaches from the IRFU. At first I was kind of like ewww effort but it's actually pretty fun. We're just learning how to pass properly and the basic rules of the game at the moment but in a few weeks we're going to be playing mini matches. It's harder than it looks but when everyone tries and gets stuck into the game it makes it so much more fun. There are a few girls who are really good at it, myself definitely not included, so there might even be a rugby team in St.Wolstans this year..."

Niamh xo

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Colour Me Beautiful

Eimear from class Amina writes about her Colour Me Beautiful workshop this week………

“Yesterday, we had a workshop with two women from Colour Me Beautiful. It was really good. We were divided into groups depending on our hair, eye and skin colouring. There was a model from each category selected to go to the top of the room where the women put collars of different colours on them. It was really obvious that some colours are not meant for certain skin tones.
I was told I am a "soft". I would never have thought of wearing some of the colours they suggested, and it was good to find out what didn't suit me. I won't be throwing out my whole wardrobe or anything, but it's good to know for when I'm buying new clothes :D”

And Laura K of Emnet says of her workshop……
“The two TY classes were introduced to two ladies from a programme called Colour Me Beautiful. (They reminded me of Trinny and Susanna).
At the start they told us what skin type we were, deep, clear, soft, light and more. Each of these groups were shown what colours were suited to them, I found this very useful :)

Emma from my group (soft) went up and the colours that suited her were very obvious, they made her skin light up and the colours that didn’t just looked weird.

We also did a style personality survey, to show us how we shop and what we like to buy, I got a mixed result which wasn't very good :S haha, Finally they went through body shapes such as pear (bigger on bottom), and hour glass (equal on top and bottom but curvy). They told us what type clothes would suit these figures too :)
Overall I found this really good.”

Les Projets Francais!

Ailbhe was blogging over the weekend about her favourite subject, French....

"French is one of my favourite subjects and I love doing the projects in French. Our first project was to do with French artists and I was paired up with Hayley who wanted to do the artist Edgar Degas and was she right to pick him or what because his paintings are so amazing and just so pretty!! I love impressionists and Degas is an impressionist. I loved doing this project because it was truly interesting to learn about the life of Edgar Degas. We had to do it as a PowerPoint presentation in front of our class and it was definitely nerve wrecking because we had to have the accent and all the information right! We presented the PowerPoint to the class and it went extremely well. I was very happy with it so in the end it all turned out for the better. Now we are waiting for the result so hopefully it will be good!

So after we finished this project we were immediately told about another PowerPoint presentation that we have to do and this project is all about French designers and guess who I got.........Coco Chanel .....practically one of the best and most influential designers. I was so so so happy when I found out that I was doing Coco Chanel! She is such an amazing designer and I absolutely love her fashion as do most people. We are in the middle of doing this project and it is turning out brilliantly so hopefully the class will enjoy the presentation as much as I enjoy doing it. I will keep you posted on how it goes....."

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Blog Action posts

I'm delighted to say that 6 TY's remembered to write a post about Water for the Blog Action Day yesterday.  Well done Stephanie, Siobhan, Aisling, Leah, Bebhinn, and Michelle :)

Here are the links to their posts:

Stephanie, Siobhan, Aisling, Leah, Bebhinn, and Michelle

Mmmmm, I wonder what happened to the other 52 TY's?????

Here is a snapshot showing that we took part in the Blog Action Day website. (click on the image to enlarge it)








Of the 5,565 bloggers writing about water yesterday there were only 17 from Ireland ....and we were among them! Well done girls.

Friday, October 15, 2010

Aisling (class Emnet) posted this for Blog Action Day. It's called Water!!!

Water, omg what would we do without it?? It’s a well-known fact that without water, you'll die in three days. Water keeps us alive, but it can also be the death of us. Only 2.5% of water is fresh, the rest is saltwater, and in 60% of European cities with over 100,000 people living there, the water is being used up far quicker than it can be replenished.
Every single person needs between 20 and 50 litres of water a day to ensure their basic needs are being met, but all around the world people are being denied that. One in six people worldwide don’t have access to fresh water.
Please, please, please, help to conserve water and next time you flush the toilet, have a shower or turn on the tap, think of all those people who cannot do this!!
*for more water statistics click here


Well done Aisling, very thought provoking. See Aisling's TY blog here.
Mrs L

Bebhinn's Blog Action Day post about Water

Below is Bebhinn's post for the Blog Action Day challenge. It's called Water is very very cool ;)

"Water has a taste that you can't describe.
I love it.
My mam used to say that water is the only drink that will quench your thirst, Yeooow!
Water is see through & Liquidie ;))
I love an 'oul glass now and again (7 times a day)!"


We'll make a poet of you yet Bebhinn!! Well done:) See Bebhinn's TY blog here.
Mrs L

Taking part in Blog Action Day - Water

Here are some facts from the Self Help Africa booklet on Water.


The Bigger Picture:
The amount of water in the world has not changed but due to pollution the quantity available has reduced by 30% since 1970.

In the meantime the numbers using the worlds water has increased dramatically. In the year 2000 the figure passed 6 billion – by the year 2050 the projected figure is 9 billion.

Today, more than 10 conflicts in the world are linked to water in Turkey, India, Egypt, Israel and other countries.

In the Antarctic an ice shelf (the size of Luxembourg) called the Larsen B came adrift from the mainland. It had been there for the last 12,000 years and it disintergrated over a period of 35 days.

If ice caps continue to melt at their present rate then within 10 years 17% of the land of Bangladesh will be under water, displacing 27 million people and the area of land available to produce food to feed a growing population will be further under threat.

In the developed industrialised countries of the world 60-80% of the water is used in industry.
In developing countries only 10% is used in industry.

1,000 litres of water are used in the making of 1 car.
9 litres of water are used in the making of 1 bar of chocolate.

Within 10 years 1 billion people could be given access to clean, safe water for less than the world now spends on weapons in 90 hours.

So these facts may have given you something to think about.....
How important is water to us?
How well do we use it?
How can we protect it?

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Get to know class Emnet

Let us introduce ourselves..........

Teenage Beauty....At what cost??

Rachel tells us something about her Young Scientist project.......

"As part of our TY Science curriculum we have to enter the BT Young Scientist Competition. We were all split into groups at the beginning of the year and given some time to decide what we wanted to do for our project. I was teamed with Hayley and so far things are going great, although we have all been warned that most groups disagree at some point!!!

We have decided to base our project on how the beauty products we use today affect our bodies both now and in the long run. We have made a survey asking students of all ages about their beauty regime, what products they use etc.

We are also going to create our own moisturiser or other beauty product that people can use as an alternative to the retailed product. This product will be 100% organic and will be made in accordance to the answers we get from the surveys.

I'm really looking forward to working on this project and can't wait until we start to experiment and make our own product. I'll keep you updated as we progress with our project. Fingers crossed we might actually get through to the competition!

xoxo Rachel "

That sounds very interesting Rachel. Good luck with the research.
Mrs L

Monday, October 11, 2010

Blog Action Day....a challenge for TY's

Here's a challenge for all the TY bloggers.

Make a post on October 15th on the topic of WATER. Watch below to find out more or visit the Blog Action Day site for more information.

I'll check your blogs over the weekend to see if you posted on Friday 15th :)


Blog Action Day 2010: Water from Blog Action Day on Vimeo.

Drama workshops...provided by our own students!

Aoife tells us about the recent drama workshop that Ms Guilfoyle and 5 of our own TY's did with class Emnet in their English drama class.....

On Thursday the 7th of November class Emnet had a workshop with the 5 students who went to a Drama workshop on the Tuesday at Holy Faith Convent, Glasnevin. (while they were gone.. We were getting the Cervical Vaccination done =[ ).

It was really funny with the different excerises. We did a trust excerise, eg everyone in a circle and really close together with our right shoulder facing into the centre, then we all leaned back into a sitting position and we all leaned on each other. This gave us trust, if one fell down the rest followed :P..

All this was to help us with the drama we are doing in English. Our class is creating a drama (which we are going to enter into a competition :D ). One group is doing a drama about a car crash while the other group is doing one based on an abuse victim.

We are having people in from Accord next week to help us with relationships and we hope that after the mid-term the Headspace drama group will come into us to help us with our drama :)..
Well I'm off..
Tyl :D
Aoife..x

See some photos of  the workshop from 'the other Aoife's' blog here :)

Mini Company websites

A few Mini Companies have set up their own blogs / websites this year so I have created a page on this blog so they can showcase their products. The Mini Company page will link to each Mini Company website.

I'm delighted they are bringing this new aspect of promoting their company into their enterprises. Afterall, doesn't every business today have a website? If they don't, they are passing up an opportunity to reach their potential customers!
Enjoy
Mrs L

Formula 1 In Schools

Stephanie blogged over the weekend about F1 .....

F1 in schools is a competition where students in each technology class have to get themselves into groups and we have to manufacture compressed air-powered racing cars.
Student teams will compete against each other in a National Championship to determine the best-engineered and fastest car in Ireland.
My team consists of 6 people, Me, Lauren, Grace, Chloe, Aoife and Niamh. We were all given specific tasks to do such as manufacturing engineer. Our team name is Turbo Speed.
Here is a link to the F1 in Schools site.

Good luck to Team Turbo Speed!
Mrs L

Sunday, October 10, 2010

A Village in Africa blog

Follow journalist Ciara Kenny as she spends a month in Africa for Self Help Africa and updates her blog each day.

TY's might find this useful for Religion or their Geography project. I know a few TY's were planning on volunteering while on their virtual round the world trip!

http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/avillageinafrica/

Friday, October 8, 2010

Some thoughts on the Millennium Development Goals

As we stand idly by
How can we watch them cry
while their water goes dry
and ours flows by.

Do we care why
HIV AIDS and other diseases
we're warm at home while the other half freezes.

by: Ciara Laura Grace Aoife

How can we give the little girl
the cold shoulder
when aids and hunger have taken
away those who should hold her.

Why do we ignore those sick
and dying
when we have the equipment
to keep them living.

By: Aoife b Rachel Rachel l Elaine Jessica


If we stand idly by
and watch as those kids die
One chance, one goal to make it right
so much to do, so little time.

We must use our time well
to help them build a wishing well
to lead them in the right direction
to help them find their way.

By: Katie Fiona Laura Zoe


How can we complain, when it's all our fault
How can they be blamed, when they have done no wrong.
It's us who cut the trees, who burnt the coal,
It was not them who decided to leave a big hole

How can we take no action
It will not give us any satisfaction
to stand and watch
as humanity hurts.

By: Sarah Niamh Rosette Sandra

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Geography world trip

Michelle posted an update on her Geography project this week....

"At the start of the year, we were assigned a Geography project. I had to pick two countries from the first world to present my project on. I chose Spain!! As I researched this country I found out that there was more to it then the gorgeous weather and golden beaches. I found out that in Castrillo de Murcia they hold a Baby Jumping Festival!! That's right, and it is a real festival!!!

Every year newborn babies are dressed in swaddling clothes and put on a mattress while grown men dressed in a devils outfit jumps over them. The idea is a scary one for all the babies parents concerned but many people flock to the event to watch this exhilarating event. The idea of the festival is that when the men (dressed as devils) jump over the babies they rid them of any wrong doings that they may do in their future life! Heres a picture ->"


Michelle

Fasinating stuff Michelle!
Mrs L


Home Economic projects

Stephanie S posted this on her blog today....

"In Home-Ec, we were assigned a project. The right side of the the room had to research John Rocha and the left had to research Louise Kennedy. Both of these are fashion designers, situated in Ireland.


Here is the link to John Rochas Site, click here, and Louise Kennedy here."

Steph S

These sound like very interesting projects.
Mrs L

Mini Company

Siobhan posted this on her blog today......

"On Saturday our mini company group all gathered together to work on our mini company. We had a very productive day as we made a lot of progress on our mini company. We sent e-mails to people that we would like to advertise with us, we designed a website, we made a facebook account and we also designed business cards and headed paper for our company. While the purpose of the day was to work on our mini company project we also had a lot of fun with each other and it all felt very businesslike with all six of us sitting around a table with laptops. We all felt like we were in the boardroom on the Apprentice. :)


On Monday we had a visit from the Oral O Carroll from the County Kildare Enterprise Board. She came to our school to talk to each group individually about our mini company project. This was great because she was really helpful and gave us lots of good advice and helpful hints and tips on how we could make our mini company better. Our mini company is starting to take shape as we begin to get the money from our advertisers and sponsors so that we will be able to afford to print the magazine. Mini company is great fun but it is also a lot of hard work too.

Lots of work still to be done but enjoying it all. "

Siobhán :)

Looks like Siobhan and her group are working hard on the magazine. Good luck to Green Hero!


Here is the link to Green Hero Facebook page. Why not check them out and 'like' them?

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Digi-I-Music

Watch the video from the Student Enterprise National Finals last year where Digi-I-Music won the national award of Young Entrepreneurs 2010.

Student Enterprise Awards

Blogging with videos

I'm posting this video of TY 2009/2010 at Lollipop Day in Dublin February 2010, just to show how video can be posted to a blog. Hopefully TY 2010/2011 will post some videos to their blogs this coming year. Maybe they will post videos of some of the activiyies they take part in, or post some of their class presentations, or even post videos relating to the subjects or projects they are doing this year.

Watch out for our conga line at :22secs! Enjoy

Mrs L

Saturday, October 2, 2010

TY blogs

This year I hope TY will blog in place of their Folder of Excellence so I have asked them to blog using Blogger ( www.blogger.com) Blogging can be a good, often reflective, habit to get into. Hopefully the blogs will develop into websites as we add pages to each blog as the year progresses.

I have put up a page of links to class Amina's blogs here and class Emnet here. Check out what they are doing in TY this year.

(The link will open in a new window and each blog will do the same.)

Mrs L

Friday, October 1, 2010

Carlingford photos

See the latest photos from Carlingford on the St Wolstans website here.

Looks like TY had fun!
Mrs L