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






Thursday, March 29, 2012

Music Night

On March 28th, St. Wolstan's held its annual Music Night and TYs got the chance to perform in it.

Banba and Eriu, taught by Ms. O'R, were singing the amazing 'Shake It Out' by Florence and the Machine and Fódla, taught by Ms. G, were singing the 80's classic 'Wake Me Up' by Wham.
Over the past few weeks, the music teachers and their classes have been working hard to perfect their performance and as a result, all the TYs sang brilliantly.
Read what Sarah B, Grace and Síofra had to say about the night by clicking the links to their blogs!

It was a new experience for a lot of the girls and we would like to thank the music teachers for all their help - we really appreciate it. :)

Thursday, March 15, 2012

A surreal week for Jenny

Jenny writes about her work experience in RTE.
I still can't believe that I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to go on work experience to RTÉ last week. It was the most amazing experience and made me even more realise how much I really do want my dream of becoming a journalist. I made loads of great new friends and met some of my idols aswell! So here's a shortened version of an account of my week, because we did far too much for me to even remember!

Monday:
We didn't have to be in until 9:30, which was perfect for Meg and I as the bus stopped literally right outside our houses and then right outside the RTÉ studios so getting to and from was no problem. When we got there we met 16 other TY's who we were going to be with for the week. We were all very excited but a little quiet, but that soon changed and by lunch we were all chatting as if we'd known each other for years. That morning we were given an introduction to RTÉ and then a tour, where we saw all the studios like The Late Late Show, Prime Time, The Frontline, The News, etc. We also went out to the the Fair City set and met some the cast. We also visited the radio studios where we met Pat Kenny, Marty Whelan and Joe Duffy. At lunch we went to the canteen, where we all sat amazed at the fact that we were sitting in a room full of people from the telly! After lunch we went to Publishing, where we saw how the RTÉ Guide is made and how they use photoshop.

Tuesday:
We arrived as excited and enthusiastic as the last day and we couldn't wait to see what our day in radio had in store for us! In the morning we worked with two presenters from Lyric FM where we made our own radio show. I was the Director and we made a show with movie theme, so we played songs from the movies. In the afternoon we went to meet with the producer of 2fm who showed us around the whole studios and we got to be on Rick O'Shea's show. We also met Miriam O'Callaghan!
Wednesday:
We had been told that we wouldn't be finished until 5 so we were expecting to be tired but no where near as tired as we were. We were making our own TV show which was an experience and a half! We were split into two groups and in the morning we had to come up with our story line, write our script and pick our locations for shooting. I was the production assistant! After lunch we began shooting our show, which very long, tiring and cold! We didn't finish until nearly 5:30 and even though we ran we missed our last bus so it meant that we had to get a bus into town which decided to stop so we had to run to another bus and then wait for ages for a bus in town back home. We didn't get home until nearly 8 but it really gave us the full experience of TV and how much hard work is involved!
                                                                                   
Thursday:
After our tiring day before, we maintained our enthusiasm and didn't have to be in until 10. At ten we set off to the National Concert Hall on the bus, to watch the National Symphony Orchestra rehearse. It wasn't our most exciting part but it was a nice rest! At lunch we met Dara Quilty and Ryan Tubridy who we actually ran after to get a picture! After lunch we had a talk on Saorview which was good cause I had no idea what it was about! And we thought of marketing and advertising ideas for them.
Friday:
We were all very sad that our week was ending but we had no idea what an exciting day was ahead of us! In the morning we were in news, which I loved because that's where I want to be when I'm older. We wrote newsletters later that morning in groups. Towards the end of lunch we headed back to reception to have a look and see who was arriving for The Late Late Show rehearsals! We met Susan Boyle and The Wanted while we were casually waiting there! I also met Charlie Bird who just happened to be passing by. I had been waiting to met him all week as he is my idol and I finally did and got a picture with him! We then went to watch our TV shows that we had made together and we had some laugh! Then to our surprise we were told that Susan Boyle was prerecording her interview on The Late Late Show and they had tickets for us. So off we headed to the studio and got to sit in on Susan Boyle's interview! It was some day and I still can't believe all that happened.
So even though it doesn't seem like it that's my shortened version of my week in RTÉ, trust me there is loads more that I could talk about! 
It was the most surreal and amazing experience that I have ever had and I can't express how grateful I am to my school for this opportunity! 

Monday, March 12, 2012

Lollipop Day

On February 24th, all of TY took part in Lollipop Day. Lollipop Day is in aid of The Oesophageal Cancer Fund.  One of the main symptoms of this particular cancer is not being able to swallow - hence a lollipop is the motif of the charity. For more information, check out the official website of Lollipop Day here.

Decked out in Lollipop Day t-shirts and hats, all of TY spread out around Dublin City, buckets at the ready. If someone donated  €2 they would receive either a lollipop or a Lollipop Day badge. TYs spent the day belting out 'A little lolly goes a looong way!' or 'Be jolly and buy a lolly!' to name a few of our catchy slogans.
Emma, Alswyn, Alex and Aoife blogged about the day so be sure to check out what they thought.

Everyone enjoyed the day and we managed to raise a lot of money for this worthwhile charity so well done to everyone! :)

Work Experience Week 2

The TYs had another week of Work Experience from 27th February - 2nd March and once again, the girls really enjoyed experiencing the world of work.

There was a huge range of placements. Niamh went to a stud farm, Siofra went to high end store Brown Thomas, Shannon went to radio station FM 104 along with Sive and Sarah B and Sarah K travelled to Manchester to work in the adidas offices there. Read the girls' blogs to see what they had to say about their placements! Once again, it was each student's personal responsibility to obtain their Work Experience placement so well done to everyone.

This is their final week of Work Experience in TY so all the girls made the most of it. It allowed them to get the feel for the working environment and showed the TYs what careers they may or may not be interested in pursuing.
All in all, Work Experience has allowed all the TYs to personally develop and learn many new things. :)