It has just occurred to me that starting tomorrow (13th of April) I only have 4 weeks until summer!!! Yep just four week left of fourth year and then I off to Italy for a week with my school and then my summer holidays officially begin. This is both a great thing and a terrifying one. If you’re not from Ireland than this might be hard to explain, but once we enter Secondary school or High school we have six years until we graduate. On our 3rd and 6th year we have state exams but there is an optional year just after your first state exam called Transition Year. This year is more about personal development then getting the curriculum done. Its more project based and there are loads of outings and guest speakers that come and talk to you. You get to do work experience and enter competitions and you have a bit more tie on your hands to do the things you enjoy because you don’t have homework every night. I personally have loved fourth year and got so much out of the year and I really don’t want to go back to a normal school environment.
I have made three lists below one for the good things about fourth year, one about the good things of only having four weeks left and one about the bad things of only having two weeks left. My personal pros and cons to Fourth year and school in general. So here I go.
Good Things About 4th Year
- Meet new people – we are put into different classes so you get to mix with more people from your year group and get to know them a little better.
- School trip – Unfortunately not everyone always gets to go on the school trip but fortunately myself and literally all of my friends got chosen to go to Italy and I’m so excited.
- Guest speaker- we have had some amazing guest speakers over this year some funny and others more serious but it’s always great having people tell you about their experience.
- Outings – being brought all over the country for walks, talks even farms! It’s great to get out of the school and just go somewhere new for a change.
- Competitions – there are a load of competitions you can enter from fashion, science and law there are loads of things to get involved in.
- The Play- most schools put on a fourth year play or musical and it was just so much fun. I had a pretty minor role but did have a couple of solo singing parts and it was just so much fun
- More time – without fourth year I wouldn’t have had the time to start my blog, to learn the ukulele to kind of figure out what I want to do in college, to get a part time job! (Which I got from my work experience) none of that would have happened if I didn’t have that little bit of extra time to just get things done.
- Try new subjects – this was both good and bad because I personally hate accounting and business subjects and you have to do it as part of a module but then you also have subjects like enterprise where we have literally just made card and arranged flowers and in PE we have had dance lessons, first aid training and self-defence training all of which we get certificates in.
- Fun – I don’t think I have laughed so hard in ages just having that extra time to do things with friends and other people in your year you end up just having so much fun.
Good things about only having 4 weeks left
- Only having a limited number of certain classes e.g. I only have 16 more Irish classes and only 8 more accounting classes!
- There are usually loads of last minute outings and guest speakers over the last few weeks.
- In four weeks I’m off to Italy!!!
- It’s the last time I will have to do certain subjects and have certain teachers. (some I will miss but others I’m okay not seeing again)
- At the end of 4 weeks I have 3 months of summer holidays!
Bad things about only having 4 weeks left
- It’s my last chance to do certain subject with certain teachers
- After the summer I have to return to the normal school environment
- 5th year is the hardest year in secondary school
- Between school, homework, part time job, friends and family I don’t know will I be able to keep my blog going.
- I won’t have as much free time.
- I won’t have as much time to do the things I love to do
All and all I am both nervous and excited about finishing fourth year. I would however encourage everyone who can do fourth year to do it. Now unfortunately all transition year programs aren’t the same and some are better than others, so if you are considering doing TY then maybe try to talk to fourth or fifth year student who have already done it and see what they thought. And if there is one thing I learned about fourth year it that don’t expect things to happen, join things, enter things, and put your name down for everything otherwise you won’t get out of it what you could.
I hope you guys enjoyed this post I know it’s more for people in Ireland but hopefully if you’re not from Ireland you enjoyed it as well. Be sure to like or follow to be updated whenever I post or you can follow me on twitter – @waitingflowers or Instagram – @waitingwallflowers I hoped you enjoy and be sure to leave a comment to let me know what you think about fourth year or if you have done fourth year what you thought about it. Thank you for reading.
Love Lex.
Waiting Wallflowers 