Transition Year Schedule of Events 7th October - 11th October
Monday 7th Oct
Students travelling to Royal Hospital, Donnybrook LIFT workshop 2 at lunch Beginning of Academic Block 2, option classes change Final round of auditions for St Michael’s Play “Clue” in St. Michael’s from 4pm. Cooking group 1, double lesson, starting at 2pm.
Tuesday 8th Oct
2 Selected students making their way to take part in Living Well with Dementia initiative.
Wednesday 9th Oct
Driver Theory – Leinster – All Day (wear tracksuit as some elements take place outdoors) Spanish class – Special guest native speaker Cooking group 2 after school
Thursday 10th Oct
All groups travelling to Zeminar Coach carrying all students leaves school at 9am, returns to school for 4pm. I recommend downloading the Zeminar app, and visiting the Zeminar website to maximise the experience. Full uniform for the occasion, and students can bring a packed lunch, but there will be food units at the venue.
Friday 11th Oct
No activities
Future Activities
Oct 16th, Dec 4th, Dec 5th – Driver theory experience for remaining groups
Oct 17th – Zeeko Internet Awareness talk, walking tour of Dublin, Dáil Éireann
Oct 24th – Coding course, Dáil Éireann, walking tour, and communication course
Other Information
A Message from the Year Head, Ms. Gilmore I would like to congratulate all of our students on your wonderful Junior Cycle results. Myself, and all my colleagues, are extremely proud of you. Your hard work and dedication to your studies is to be commended. Also a huge thank you for your patience in the last few weeks, waiting for your results to be released. Enjoy celebrating with your family and friends.
Procedure for Academic Block 2 Students will change their option choices on Monday. Students were walked through their options in assembly today but just to clarify for all concerned the details for moving
3.1 (Block 1 did Economics) go to Business 3.2 (Block 1 did Business) go to Accounting 3.3 (Block 1 did Accounting) go to Biology 3.4 (Block 1 did Biology) go to Chemistry 3.5 (Block 1 did Chemistry) go to Physics 3.6 (Block 1 did Physics) go to Economics
4.1 (Block 1 did Classics) go to Art 4.2 (Block 1 did Art) go to Home Ec 4.3 (Block 1 did Home Ec) go to Yoga 4.4 (Block 1 did Yoga) go to Music 4.5 (Block 1 did Music) go to Philosophy 4.6 Philosophy
With regards to the options “4.1” , as we have restructured classes to keep in line with the other option block, it may appear that 1 or 2 students will have to go to the same block again. Don’t worry, those very few students affected by a perceived double up will be sent to the appropriate option, and the system will even out for block 3.
Reports for Academic Block 1 Staff are currently compiling the report for the end of block 1. Students will receive a grade in their option subjects (e.g. Art/Accounting etc), a comment in their more pastoral subjects (RE, SPHE etc) and a comment and grade in their core subjects, English, Irish, Maths and Language. You will also see a comment from their ECDL supervisor as to how many modules they have completed. History and Geography will rotate from block to block on their reports (History block 1, Geo block 2 etc). The rationale for this is to ensure reports reach you as soon as possible following the completion of an academic block, and to devote more class time to quality, experiential teaching and learning. Should a more in-depth impression of performance in a certain option be needed, the subject information evening in March affords the perfect opportunity for student, parent/guardian, and teacher to discuss the subject. Report 1 should be available in the next week.
Hosting Exchange Student from France A message from Ms. Walsh – If there is anyone willing to host a French exchange student from October 12 – October 26, could they contact Ms. Walsh on jwalsh@mountanville.ie An unfortunate series of events has occurred and we would hate to not be in a position to accommodate an international Sacred Heart student.
Junior Cycle SEC Examination Appeals Please see below an important note concerning appeals: “The State Examinations Commission has decided to remove the opportunity for Junior Cycle examination candidates to get access to their scripts in advance of making a decision to appeal. This change has been made following a review by the SEC of opportunities to shorten the timeframe for the issue of the final (post-appeal) outcomes of the Junior Cycle in order to facilitate the preparation and issue of the Junior Cycle Profiles of Achievement. This change allows SEC to implement a short deadline for lodging an appeal application of Friday 11th October. Appeal applications at Junior Cycle continue to be school based and require the approval of the Principal. Candidates and their parents will be able to make individual data access requests for copies of scripts under Data Protection Legislation (see Section 10 of the circular which accompanies the results) but they will not have received copies of their scripts under a data access request in advance of the appeals closing date. Requests for
scripts under a data access request must be made individually by the candidate and their parent or guardian to the SEC and there is no role for schools in making such requests.”
Extra-curricular Activities A message from the extra-curricular team that all extra-curricular activities (hockey etc) will be going ahead as per normal on Sat 5th Oct. Attendance and performance is vital to ensure that they maintain their positions on teams.
CS Sparks I will be sending documentation to those interested in the CS Sparks computer science programme in conjunction with UCD in the next few days. CS Sparks will be running from 2.30 to 4.30 PM on November 8, 15, 22, 29 this year. As Nov 8th is our work experience Friday, I have been informed that our students can merely attend weeks 2,3,4, but if they finish work experience early, they can of course attend week 1. The link for signup can be found on Schoology and closing date is Monday evening.
St Michael’s Play Final audition for St. Michael’s play is Monday 7th Oct @ 4pm.
European Tour Please see attached letter from Ms. Walsh pertaining to the European trip to Athens, Greece in May 2020. Myself and Ms. Gilmore wish to thank her for her hard work in putting together an exciting package. Any queries can be addressed to jwalsh@mountanville.ie