Category: Transition Year

Part of the Transition Year 08/09 Updates

Let The Words Flow
T.ys this year have been fortunate as we began a creative writing class. Once a week every week we do a class to improve our personal writing skills. Since starting this class we all noticed how little writing we do outside the mandatory English essays. This class has really shaken us up and has gotten more about writing on topics or feelings because we want to instead of having to like homework. The class is provided to us by a poet who encourages us every week.During the classes we really get taken out of our comfort zone in a good way as we have to read aloud stories or poems we have written during the week. We write about whatever comes into our heads or we can write about pictures or items that were shown to us. All I know is once you start writing you cant stop as your creative side bubbles out. From this class we even learn that writing a poem does not have to have rhyming words at each end this is slowly surely growing us out of our primary school haunts!

Part of the Transition Year 08/09 Updates

Saddle Up!!
Every Wednesday, for the past two weeks we have gone horse riding. The name of the horse riding school is Kilabraher riding school in Dromina, Co. Cork. The people that were helping us were Alex and Lucy they were very helpful and they took everything slow so that we could keep up. When we got there we went and got our helmets. The two horses we would be riding would be riding would be Kal and Supremo. Then they split us up into two groups, the people have ridden before and the people who hadn’t. The first thing we did was just some walking and then we did some trotting. Then we came back the next day and today the horses we were using were Misty Supremo and Kal and today the people who had ridden before were riding without anyone leading them! The people who hadn’t were perfecting their trotting. Once we had finished we thanked them for everything, it was a great experience and is something I would love to do again!

Part of the Transition Year 08/09 Updates

Stop and Stare
The stop and stare theatre group came to school to work with the transition year class on Wednesday, the 5th of November. Using up nearly most of the school day with the help of Liam Doherty, Brien and James, the transition year students had to put together a number of scenes and have it ready to present it to the first years. Behind all these scenes, there was a meaning to them. The meaning was telling us and the first years about the peer pressure and the choices that our friends put on us such as your first cigarette, Bullying and how that we don’t try our best because the people we hang around with don’t try their best.
The different scenes we performed for the first year pupils taught us that we should choose very wisely who we should and shouldn’t hang around with because they will influence us in our lives whether it’s a good influence or a bad influence that will be the choices that we will make in the future.
Before we began going through the script, we had to take all the tables and chairs out of the room and set up the lights. We also had to do vocal exercise by talking out as loud as we could while looking at a certain point on the wall. After everyone had a go at the vocal exercise, we then began going though the different scenes and then Liam chose people for the different parts. After people had received their characters, we then started to go through the scenes and started acting them out. We practiced for about 4 hours, and after all of that we then brought the first year pupils in to perform the piece we had prepared for them.
By Suzy Boyle, Lewis Hodgson and Margie O’ Conner.

Part of the Transition Year 08/09 Updates

Safety First
From September 2008 our six-week first aid programme began. In week 1. We learned how to deal with bleeding and wounds and how to manage an accident scene.
In week 2. We were taught how to deal with an unconscious person. We were thought how to place an unconscious person in the recovery position.
In week 3. We learned the treatment of a choking casualty. When to do C.P.R and we were shown a demonstration of C.P.R and the defibrillator.
In Week 4. We learned how to do C.P.R on a Baby.
In Week 5. We Learned how to Handle Fractures and Broken Bones, Sprains and Strains
In Week 6. We learned all about how to treat burns properly and we had a test on all we did in our 6 week first aid programme.
We enjoyed every lesson thoroughly and would thoroughly like to thank Ms. Mary Martin for her great work and guidance.

Part of the Transition Year 08/09 Updates

Lucca Leadership
On the 20th October the TY1 class from Hazelwood College headed to Curraghchase to participate in Lucca Leadership. We went there unsure of what to expect. All of us went with an open mind and a willingness to participate. On arrival we were welcomed by Rob the CEO of Lucca leadership and our group leader Paul Moriarty, Paul organised the trip and offered the service of Lucca leadership in Limerick. Firstly he briefly outlined the values of Lucca then we signed the rules agreeing to respect them. We then went outside and did some team tasks, one which could be described as jumping off bins – we know this sounds dangerous but trust us, we were safe as houses and it was fun!! We then went inside and discussed our leadership skills and everyone gave there opinion. We watched influential videos to inspire our leadership skills. We returned back to Curraghchase on the 21st to continue on with our course, we furthered our knowledge on how to be a good leader and the qualities needed. We also participated in more very ‘dangerous’ but never the less good fun outdoor activities. Towards the end we discussed putting our leadership skills into practise. We all agreed that Lucca leadership was really enjoyable and extremely beneficial. We would recommend it to everyone. We shall finish this with one key thing we took away from this course “Health and happiness is everyone’s birthright not just the “many” or the “few”.
BY Michelle Lane, Emma Purcell, Aisling O’Brien

Part of the Transition Year 08/09 Updates

“Psycho Spaghetti”

On Thursday 23rd of October last, Hazelwood College Transition Year group attended a performance in Friarsgate Theatre Killmallock Co. Limerick. The performance had an unusual name “Psycho Spaghetti” which made us wonder what we would be faced with when we got there.
We were to watch the play with a number of other schools. The stage was set up, it contained a students desk and chair, a teachers flip chart and a teachers desk.
A man appeared on stage and introduced himself as Gerard Carey. He began the play by talking about how teenagers act in such strange ways. We then realised that we were the victims and he would be talking about us through the course of the play! The play was about what teenagers go through during their transition from childhood into adulthood. It was about the experiences they have and the apparently how badly they deal with them!
The theatre was full of laughter throughout the play. Gerard kept us entertained with many jokes and some smart comments! All of the transition year group truly enjoyed the play and would recommend it to viewers of all ages.

Written by
Danielle Curtin and Sophie Brouder

Part of the Transition Year 08/09 Updates

Hazelwood’s TY students showed that they are a class act on the radio. The usual day time show “The Jukebox” on West Limericks 102 radio station was hijacked by the TY1 students of Hazelwood College. The students had a wide variety of music, news local and worldwide and a lot of laughs along the way. The usual presenter Ronan was in studio to give them a hand. This live programme was set up by the radio programme after being impressed by a few students who had gone on air the week before, again on Ronan’s day time show.

Part of the Transition Year 08/09 Updates

Flower Power

We the transition year students of Hazelwood College have took part in many interesting and exciting events over recent weeks. One of which was a one day course on herbal medicine. We undertook this with Christine Best, a medical herbalist from Tralee, Co. Kerry. This herbal medicine course took place for the first half of the day in the organic gardens of Springfield Castle, Broadford, Co. Limerick. Here we learned various different medical uses for different types of plants, herbs and even the occasional wild growing weed. We learned that even something as simple as a dandelion can be of use medically. A dandelion is a brilliant aid for the liver and urinary problems. The dandelion is also extremely nutritious because of its plentiful supply of Vitamin C, Iron and Potassium. Over the course of being at the gardens we picked different plants, herbs and weeds and then brought them back to the school for the second part of the day. When we arrived back at school we went to the Home Economics room, where we learned how to make herbal teas and infusions, how to produce peppermint and orange lip balms, ointments and therapeutic creams with comfrey and in turn made our own products to take home. We also made a home Spa treatment, a bath bomb using citric acid powder, rose water and dried rose petals. We as a group all immensely enjoyed the day and learned of many interesting facts, and above all had a great time.
Written by:
Susan O’ Brien and Michelle Browne

Part of the Transition Year 08/09 Updates

Bonding in Ballyloughran
On Tuesday the 9th of September, all transition year students headed to Ballyloughran for our first trip of the year. The first activity we participated in when we arrived was canoeing. Great craic was had by all, this included having races and the horror of toppling out of our canoes! Some did not participate but got involved by taking photographs and just having a laugh at the whole spectacle in general! After the canoeing we all joined in and took part in the orienteering. Finally we all headed indoors to do rock-climbing, which even our teacher Ms Beamish took part in – thanks to some strong words of encouragement! Some people found the thought of climbing a 30ft wall a bit daunting but thanks to support from the rest of the class most people made the climb up the wall. Once we finished the rock climbing we were able to play a bit of soccer. It was just like the old derby. Limerick V Cork. But I suppose you can’t be good at everything and Limerick won! All in all it was a great day and everyone enjoyed it. A great way to start Transition Year.
By
Donal O Callaghan, Gary Hanley, Stephen O Carroll

Hazelwood College Transition Year Students being Kept Busy

Since their induction day in early September, the two Transition Year groups in Hazelwood College have worked hard, developing personally and socially, as well as on a vocational and educational level. Students have developed general, technical and academic skills as well as interdisciplinary and self-directed learning. The students have achieved a lot and have gone on many educational trips. Some of their activities are outlined here. The first trip out was to Ballyloughran. Here students had great fun getting to know each other better.
Many weeks of dedicated work with Margaret, Mike and co. in West Limerick FM 102 has worked out well. As a result the students will continue working on putting together their shows. The student’s visits to the station in Newcastle West were also accompanied by many visits to the library. Students are very grateful for the informative tours they received from Aileen and other staff members. All students became aware of what a valuable resource the library can be to them in their journey through education.
Mary Martin taught First Aid to students over six weeks. These proved to be fun and very valuable lessons. The students are now awaiting certificates. Catriona from AIB is a familiar face in the school. Following interviews, six students were selected to participate in the Build a Bank Campaign. They currently have the school bank up and running. They will be competing at the regional finals in Galway on March 3rd .
Build A Bank: Donal O’Callaghan and Danielle Curtin guiding Declan Stack in choosing the right bank account for him.

Physical activity is of paramount importance in the college. Students have completed a GAA coaching course with Noel Hartigan. Students also completed a Boxercise course which was both fun and helpful for personal safety. On a bright fresh morning in early October the students enjoyed a trip to Springfield gardens in Broadford. Here they met Christine Best from the herbalistix clinic of herbal medicine and holistic health. Various plants and their properties were examined. Then various creams and make up products were made back at the Home Ec. room This trip was facilitated by teacher Ms. O’Flaherty.
A trip to Tralee Institute of Technology with Mr. Kiely was thoroughly enjoyed. Students were introduced to aspects of Multimedia, Games Development and Web Technology. Two two-day trips to Curraghchase on a Lucca Leadership course with Paul Moriarty and co. proved very successful and were enjoyed thoroughly by all students. The exercises and drills they took part in were very unique and helped bring the groups closer together. One student said “it helped me to become more involved in activities and conversations. It also helped me to be more confident”.
A trip to Friarsgate theatre in Kilmallock with Ms Murphy Reidy, to see Psycho Spaghetti was thoroughly enjoyed by all. The following week the transition years got an opportunity to put their own acting skills to use when they worked with the Stop and Stare theatre group to put on a performance for all of Hazelwood College’s first year students. On open day and at careers night in the college in early November, the transition year students worked extremely hard to prepare for the many visitors. The transition year’s excellent social skills shone through as they brought groups on tours of the college’s facilities. Student in the Concern debating team have worked hard and had a successful year having recently defeated students from Mallow and Charleville. But sadly they were knocked out by Mercy Mounthawk in Tralee through a very controversial decision.
In late November, after lots of preparation, phone calls and letters, the students went on their first week of work experience. This is a very important element of their diverse programme. The variety of subjects taken by students include Irish, English, Mathematics, Computers-ECDL, Chemistry, History, Woodwork, Technical Graphics, French, German, Engineering, CAD, Physical Education, Home Economics, Art, Geography, Religion, Career Guidance, Physics, Drama, Car Maintenance, Music, Business. With an equally busy time-table ahead, some transition years look back and recall some of their activities.

More Updates to follow