Wallace welcomes Ashbourne Community School Report
Meath East TD Mary Wallace warmly welcomes the publication of the school inspection report on the Transition Year programme at Ashbourne Community School.
The report was written following an evaluation of the Transition Year programme in Ashbourne Community School in October 2007.
Ashbourne Community School is the only post-primary school in Ashbourne. The school was opened in 1994 and has a current enrolment of 948 students. The Transition Year was introduced into the curriculum of the school in 1996 and currently here are three class groups comprising eighty students following the programme.
Minister Wallace understands that inspectors from the Department of Education held meetings with the school principal, a core group of teachers and a small group of students. The evaluation was conducted over two days during which the inspectors liased extensively with the programme coordinator and visited classrooms to observe teaching and learning.
Minister Wallace stated “the report is highly complimentary of a whole school approach to the Transition Year Programme, one that involves management, teachers, students, parents and the local community. The programme is well co-ordinated in the school and the teachers work well together as a team. A striking feature of the lessons reviewed was the variety of teaching and learning methods employed”
“Many parents and indeed students often wonder about whether or not to participate in Transition Year after the students Junior Cert. Parents and students will welcome this evaluation of Transition Year in Ashbourne Community School and I would like to congratulate the school on this positive report and for their participation with the Dept of Education in the evaluation”.
“I would like to complement the principle, teachers, students and parents involved in the Transition year programme. This one year programme is crucial for students who have completed the Junior Certificate and acts as a bridge to enable them to make the transition from the more dependant type of learning associated with the Junior Certificate to the more independent learning environment of the senior cycle” she concluded.