This year the sixth year retreat took place overnight from Thursday 6th to Friday 7th of December. It gave students the opportunity to relax and recover after a strenuous set of house examinations. For this years retreat students visited Esker in Athenry. 

While on retreat students took part in a wide variety of different activities that were all designed to promote team building and encourage stress management. Some of the activities that students took part in were team games, meditation, clay modelling and life reflection. Students also had some free time where they could relax with their friends and play board games whilst listening to music.

A big thank you to Mr. Maguire, Ms. Cunningham, Ms. McCormack and Mr. Lawlor who accompanied students on the trip. 

Chaith lucht na séú bliana an mhaidin ag déanamh dul siar ar na sraith pictiúir. Bhain siad an-taitneamh as an seó. Rinne siad cur síos ar gach sraith ar bhealach beomhar, spreagúil agus suimiúil. Bhain siad úsáid as púipéid chomh maith le cúpla duine ón rang séú bliana. Thug sé bealach nua do na daltaí dul siar a dhéanamh ar na pictiúir. Is léir go raibh an-mhaidin go deo acu. 

On Thursday 22nd of November Greystones First Responders paid a visit to the Transition Year students of St. David's.

The First Responders outlined the important role that they play in the community before allowing students to get involved in some practice. The students covered what to do in the event of someone going into cardiac arrest, choking, and also how to operate a defibrillator. Hopefully these skills may never be used but it is certainly no harm to know the basics.

A massive thank you to the First Responders for taking the time to come in to teach the course.

On Tuesday 6th of November all TY students took place in a forensics workshop. The purpose of the workshop was to solve the crime based on the evidence that was presented. Students worked in small groups to attempt to come up with the evidence required to prove one of the suspects guilty.

Currently, there are 9,841 homeless people in Ireland including 3,867 children. This figure is increasing everyday.
 
Throughout the completion of the CSPE Action Project , we researched information about the homeless and the organisations that help the homeless.The Simon Community is crucial in helping the homeless crisis in Ireland. Our school invited a speaker from the Simon Community to give our 3rd year group a talk on the work they are doing for the homeless. The Simon Community is based in four counties; Dublin, Wicklow, Meath and Kildare.
 
They provide over 30 services including,
-Giving out blankets.
-Provide housing.
-Emergency Reponse
-Addiction Treatment
 
They have another branch of sevices called Emergency Outreach, some of services they provide:
-The Rough Sleeper Service.
-Soup Run Service.
-Social Club Service.
-Needle Exchange Programme.
-Emergency Shelter.
 
Simon Community collect their funds through donations from us, the public. They rely on fundraisers such as Home Run or Sing for Simon 24hr Carolathon, to raise money for the foundation. You can get involved by participating in Sing for Simon, this year’s carol service. It is suitable for all ages- so you can get the whole family involved! By donating as little as 5 euro towards the Simon Community, you could help someone get off the streets and have new, clean clothes and a shelter for the night.
 
This is a huge crisis in Ireland at the moment. Through this action project we have learned so much about the Homeless Crisis and the many areas in which charitable organisation help the community. In addition we now know how we can be more active citizens for our communities.  
 
By Kristian Currie, Jake O’Gorman, Dan Fan, Hollie Kelly and Sophie Johnston.

On Thursday 4th of October Transition Year students took part in a variety of team bonding activities. Students completed games using grass skis, wheelbarrows, and planks. They also got the opportunity to try their hand at archery. All activities were designed to promote teamwork and problem-solving skills. The day was a massive success and gave students the chance to interact with some of the new additions to Transition Year. 

TY Song School has been taking place in St. David's for the past few days. Song School is a Create Schools workshop run by Peter Baxter. During this workshop the TY students had to write a song that also included a one take music video. The workshop will run over eight days in total and has proved to be an extremely enjoyable experience for everyone involved. 

Some more photos!

And finally photos from 2nd of October!