Transition Year in John Scottus School is viewed as an important bridge in the passage from adolescence into adulthood. We encourage our young people to take a stand and pick up the challenge of creating a world of their own. They are acknowledged as equal and included in making this year work for them. They can ask for advice when they need it, and they are treated as adults and as friends.

During John Scottus School Transition Year, we aim to help students become aware of their inner potential and chief talents, and to provide them with vision, so they can help make the world a better place for themselves and those around them.

TY 2008/09 End Of Year News 

TY PROGRAMME 2009/10


PROBLEM-BASED LEARNING
Problem-based learning (PBL) is a student-centred instructional strategy in which students collectively solve problems and reflect on their experiences.

• Learning is driven by challenging, open-ended problems.
• Students work in small collaborative groups.
• Teachers take on the role as "facilitators" of learning. Students are encouraged to take responsibility for their group and organize and direct the learning process with support from the teacher. We believe this method enhances content knowledge and fosters the development of reason, communication, problem-solving, and individual self-directed learning skills.

DEVELOPMENT OF REASON
Through PBL many topics, ideas and activities are introduced into Transition Year that do not get sufficient time in the normal curriculum of the secondary school.

The intelligent use of reason is enhanced through meditation, pausing between activities and the study of philosophy. These are all instrumental to the educational process in John Scottus Transition Year.

We train students in the use of higher-order skills. These include leadership skills, critical analysis, team work, individual learning skills, public speaking, personal development, problem solving, decision making and community service.

DEVELOPMENT EDUCATION
Each year since 2002 our Transition Year students have raised funds to travel to West Bengal in India and work with local communities in helping them develop education for their children. We have helped build a total of eight schools from scratch, plus extensions and classrooms onto twelve others, all in severely disadvantaged areas.

These projects have resulted in thousands more children attending school and bridges have been built between our students and local communities all over the state. This School Building Programme has now become an established humanitarian project. Because we maintain the links it is sustaining and encouraging to hundreds of very poor village communities.















DRAMA
A key ingredient in the success of the year in terms of the confidence it instils in students is the public performance of a Shakespeare play. We have a proud tradition of putting everyone on stage. Drama is highly important in Transition Year and the play creates for students a memorable and life enhancing experience. Productions have included The Comedy of Errors (2009), A Midsummer Night's Dream and As You Like It.

PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT
It is important that home, school and society hold the same point of view. This is vital in the creation of a unified person. Parents are asked to play their full part in helping students, by keeping in touch and supporting the events of the year.