Loreto Foxrock prides itself on the Transition Year experience we offer to our students. Each year students are involved in a range of activites that help to develop new skills and open them up to new experiences. We thought we'd allow the students to tell us a little about what they have been involved in so far this year. To read their accounts, simply click on the link.

Transition Year Activity Report

The activity I have chosen to report on is Cultural Education. Cultural Education is one of the modules for Transition Years to participate in. Every Thursday afternoon for the last three classes, one class goes by bus with Ms. Litton and Ms. McCabe to a surprise location that has cultural or historical connections to Dublin or Ireland. We do not know where we are going until we get there so we usually try to guess by the direction we are driving. Each week after each trip, we have to write a report on what we thought of the trip and what we learned.

On the first week, my class and I went to Farmleigh House in The Phoenix Park. Many of us had never been to Farmleigh House and knew nothing about it. The house was actually really interesting but because it's not in the public eye very much we didn't know what it does or what it is used for. The house takes care of the political or presidential guests from other countries when they come to stay in Ireland. It is where the Queen of England and President Barack Obama stayed when they visited the country earlier this year.

For my second Cultural Education trip, we went to The National Gallery in town. We got to look at different paintings by European artists and by Irish artists such as The Liffey Swim by Jack B Yeats. We also got to see an exhibition on the work of Jack B Yeats such as little notebooks that he carried around with him in case he saw something he wanted to draw and works by his sisters.

For the third week of Cultural Education, we went to The Botanic Gardens. This was the least enjoyable of all the trips because it was a very cold and rainy day and most of the plants were dead and rotting. Some of the plants had an interesting history but unless you were interested in horticulture, the trip couldn't keep your attention for any length of time. 

Personally, I enjoy Cultural Education because each week, you usually learn something that you didn't know about Dublin or Ireland. For example, I only found out that our actual national colour is blue and not green which is commonly believed. Most of the trips are intriguing, amusing and always educational. Out of all the modules I think Cultural Education is one of the better modules because it takes us out of our “bubble” and school and teaches us about where we live and the history and culture behind it. Cultural Education is also excellent time for the girls in a class to bond on the bus and get to know each other better and other people outside your group of friends. This is a benefit because one of the main points of Transition Year is to get to know the girls in your year and to bond with them.

By Gráinne Linehan

My Fourth Year So Far…

Coming into 4^th year I did not know what to expect. However, I am really enjoying it to date. This year is the complete opposite from 3^rd year and a great break from study books and exams! There have been so many things to do, that I would never have gotten the opportunity to do otherwise.

The year kicked off with our Transition Year Adventure Tour in Glendalough. The trip was fantastic. I never would have thought that I could have had that much fun, staying with 180 friends overnight in a hostel! The days were packed with exciting activities including mountain biking, orienteering, archery, obstacle courses and survival skills. The nights were full of scary stories and lots of sweets. This was a wonderful experience and was a great time to bond as a school year.

Soon after this, our Junior Cert Results came in. The painful waiting began in the morning and lasted until 3 o’clock. When we were finally handed our results everyone let out a sigh of relieve! Overall, I think everyone was delighted and pleased with their results. Congratulations girls!

A few weeks later, I was lucky to have been chosen to spend the morning in Dublin College University. There was a talk presented by Shane Kimbrough, a NASA Astronaut. This was an unbelievable experience. Shane was very interesting as he told us his stories of his week spent in space. Including his little emergency when his toolbox floated away into space while he was trying to repair the outside of the Space Shuttle! He was also kind enough to give us a signed photograph for the school.

Fourth year is mainly made up of 6 week modules. Each of the 5 classes has a triple class on Thursday afternoon. This is for Leisure, Cultural Education, Culinary Skills, Community Care and Song Writing with Mr.Delahunty! So far I have been to Pompeii Paints, bowling and Q-zar in Stillorgan. Also, I took part in zumba dancing, samba drums and yoga. I have visited Farmleigh House, The Guinness Storehouse, The National Gallery of Ireland and The Botanic Gardens in Glasnevin and Croke Park. As well as these fun trips out of school each week, there are great things happening in school too. Such as Bridge competitions, Fencing, First Aid, Film Studies and Photography.

Ms. Early has been very good and has organised many seminars in St. Vincent’s Hospital. These have been on different issues relating to young people. Already this year I have been to two of these talks. One was on ‘Alcohol, Depression and Cannabis’ and the other was on ‘Smoking’. I learnt a lot from these talks and now have a clearer idea on each of these topics.

As a year, we have picked ‘The Cancer Clinical Research Trust’ as our chosen TY charity. To start off our fundraising, we all took part in a 10km hike from Bray to Greystones. This was enjoyable and everyone felt good afterwards as all the money raised went to this significant charity.

Altogether, I think this year has had a great start! However, none of this would have happened without the help of Ms. Early and the TY Team.

Vanessa Rigley 4R

Report on Glendalough Trip.

Earlier this year, our whole year went on a trip to Glendalough as a team building exercise. We all had to meet at the school at 8.30, everyone was on time and we had roll call and at about 9.15 we got on our bus. The bus journey didn’t feel like it took very long. The bus stopped and we were in what felt like the middle of nowhere so we all clambered off the bus eager to see what was outside. Once everyone was off the 3 busses Ms.Early made sure we all had our bags for the two days and then told us it was a 2 mile walk to where we would be leaving our bags. Everyone complained but started walking anyway, about 10 minutes afterwards we were at the first hostel. We were told to put our bags in a room at the back of the hostel and then go back to the canteen. When we were all back in the canteen they gave us our teams, each team was a colour and you had to wear the colour of your team. I was in team orange. Everyone went outside in their teams and went to their first activity. We had orienteering first, thankfully no one got lost but unfortunately we didn’t finish first.

The orange team was then brought over to the obstacle course where we were timed and the two fastest people in the class competed for the fastest time. Everyone then went back up to the cafeteria and had lunch together. By our second lunch break we were beginning to get tired but kept going regardless. By the time it came to our bus journey to the hostel we would be sleeping in everyone was getting very tired, with quite a few people falling asleep on the bus. When we arrived we were told we would be able to sort out our rooms ourselves. Everyone ran inside to put the names of people down for their rooms and then when everything was sorted everyone went and brought their bags to their rooms. We had about an hour and a half to get ready before the night hike. When everyone was ready we lined up in two’s outside the hostel. Once we had all been counted we set off on the hike, the hike wasn’t too hard and turned out to be almost everyone’s favourite part of the trip. After the hike everyone went back to their rooms and lights out was at 11.

The next morning everyone woke up and went to breakfast, most people had toast and either jam or butter. We then packed all our bags and got on our busses again and drove back to the first hostel. Everyone put their bags back in the room we had put them in when we had first arrived a day earlier, got their bibs on and went down to their first activity of the day. The second day was not as long as the first which was good seeing as how everyone was so tired, everyone was chatting to their friends about the activities they had had during the day as everyone walked back to our three busses.

So far this trip has been my favourite part of fourth year, I really enjoyed it and did think it brought the year closer.

Aoibheann Duffy

4R