Transition programme a boost for ‘transfer stress’

By Maurice Garvey

STUDENTS are benefitting from a primary to post-primary transition, courtesy of a programme rolled out at St Dominic’s Secondary School in Ballyfermot.

According to Principal Mary Daly, research shows that transfer from Primary to post-Primary can be a “stressful time for parents and students.”

Over the years St Dominic’s has developed a tailored programme ‘Mol an Óige’, which means encouraging youth.

Mrs Daly said: “Since 2005, we have evaluated the programme each year and made many changes to meet the needs of the students and parents. This year we decided to have a workshop for parents/guardians, which has been a great success.

“This workshop was facilitated by our School Completion Programme team, and included input from Ms Green, our newly appointed Acting Deputy Principal, Ms Connolly, our newly appointed Home School Liaison teacher, first year SNA Aisling McKee, SCP Co-ordinator Sharon Cleary, and Margaret McGarry, attendance officer.”

The school’s fifth-year mentors, Amy Doyle and Ester Johnston, head girl for 2016-17, were also part of the team to ensure first-year students and parents felt welcome.

Kim Bates SCP Co-ordinator, said the transfer programme offers students a great opportunity to “become familiar with their new school and classmates before they actually start.”

The workshops covered a range of issues to acclimatise students for the new year.

Parents also learned more about the Vsware system, which enables them to track their daughters’ progress from any electronic device through a personal password.

Catie Byrne, incoming first-year student, thought the transfer programme was “really helpful” and said now she “will not be nervous to go into different classes with different students.”