KTCS Careers News

The Guidance and Counselling Department in KTCS has had a busy month this October.

Senior Cycle students have had live presentations from TCD, NUIG, DCU. At these webinars students are having opportunities to engage with the speakers and to have their questions answered. Further presentations will follow next month

Students have been alerted to a variety of webinars and college events that will provide them with useful information and help with their research.

Yooni is a very useful website to help research over 1000 Level 8 courses, calculate your predicted CAO points, find out your eligibility for certain courses, fill out a mock CAO form, and connect with Guidance Counsellors for one to one sessions, all within the Yooni platform and all for free.

Synergy careers are offering very useful webinars on a variety of careers and college areas for students, their parents and Guidance counsellors. The next webinar ion CAO application and the Hpat is on November 2nd at 12.30. Registration is open at www.synergycareers.ie

The Guidance Counsellor has attended three workshops on promoting happiness and Wellbeing and the ideas are being shared with students in classes and through the school wellbeing coordinator. .

Shane Martin gave very useful tips to live a happy and healthier life. Forming habits like gratitude, developing a fun living disposition by doing things we like, being and staying social and developing a sense of spirituality all help us to live well. Shane’s website moodwatchers.com gives useful insights for all of us.

HSE Psychiatrist, Dr Brendan Kelly has produced a very useful booklet available through Amazon at a cost of €1 on How to Stay Calm. A memorable quotation from his presentation might resonate with some readers;

The Mental health workshops delivered by Jigsaw have been offered many benefits for second level students. In order to promote awareness of the KTCS Student support team, TY students were invited to design a graphic for display that would give students an insight into the Care team in the school. The winner of this competition was Brian O Dwyer for his highly visual image which will be displayed in the school to remind students of the support available in KTCS.

The class of 2020 2021 is a priority for the Guidance counsellor and to date 54 6th year students have had their career Guidance appointment. A list of courses/options have been drawn up for each student, target grades and points have been calculated and study skills have been recommended.

All students are at present registering for open days. All information can be accessed by students on the Google Classroom careers stream (Code mi4niqr) career Guidance classes cover self assessment, course research, college application, access schemes and financing third level. Application to apprenticeships, training programmes, Public service and employment is also covered in career class. One class per week is being held in the school IT room to facilitate career research.

A powerpoint presentation on Application to Third level will be posted on this website for parents to view. This presentation is being delivered to all 6th year students in their Career classes. It will also be on Google Classroom for all students to view at home.

Students applying to the UK have commenced applications. They are working on their personal statements, obtaining predicted grades and researching their 5 choice courses. The closing date for UCAS applications is January 15th 2021.

Transition year students have all completed a Careers project on Google classroom. The competition which is sponsored by Kildare Village gave students the opportunity to interview someone working in the area and to share their findings. Congratulations to competition winners Caoimhe Collins, Orla Mc Loughlin, CJ Mc Govern for their excellent projects and also to Amy Browne, Emma Comorford, Medena Considine, Rebecca Keogh, Ellen Finnegan and TJ Culbert who all received runners up awards.

Instead of a Careers evening this academic year, TY students are being asked to contribute to the KTCS video clip of A day in the life of the Careers in our Community. Each student is being asked to record a working person describing their career to date and to send the 3 minute clip into the Guidance counsellor. Students will have the opportunity to listen to the clips and broaden their insights into the World of Careers. A huge thank you to all adults who will contribute to the project. (GC Code yw2zei6)

We are updating the KTCS Wall of Fame and would love to get some pictures of the class of 2020 and the name of the college course they are pursuing (or attempting to pursue during this pandemic!) We know that It has been difficult and is difficult for you but we want to celebrate your achievements in our school and on our media channels. So please send in a picture to eurell@ktcs.ie and we will print and frame and display as an inspiration to our students that they too can do it.

If any parent has any question about any of the above, Please do not hesitate to contact Ms Urell at eurell@ktcs.ie

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KTCS Guidance Department Summary of September 2020

All year groups have been met by the Guidance Counsellor. The return to school focus is on wellbeing and a promotion of a sense of calm and support. The role of the school Care team was explained to the students as a source of support for students. The KTCS Care team which consists of the Chaplain, Guidance counsellor, SCP, SEN, SLTmeet on a weekly basis to look at individual supports, to identify Pastoral Care issues and special needs issues relevant to students.

Transition year students were invited to enter a competition to design a graphic for display in the school to explain the care team to the students. The winning graphic designed by Brian O Dwyer is displayed below

KTCS Student support

You can talk to your friends

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You can speak with your Meitheal / Prefect/ Student council representative

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Your subject Teachers can help you.

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You can speak to your Guidance counsellor or chaplain.

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Year Head

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Deputy Principals

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Principal

The class of 2020 has been prioritised by the school. A support clinic in the KTCS marquee on the results afternoon 08-09-2020 was held for students where they received support from the Principal, Deputies, Chaplain, Year Head, Guidance counsellor and some subject teachers. Advice from RACE/KWETB available for students/parents on the day. Guidance counsellor available from 08-09-2020 until 16-09-2020 for advice/support/guidance/information/references/evaluation of options. Huge congratulations to the class of 2020 on their results and college offers. Students are attending Universities and IT’s in Dublin, Carlow, Galway, Cork, Belfast, Waterford, Athlone and Limerick. Students have also taken up places in Colleges of Further education in Newbridge, Dublin and Carlow. Students have also taken up apprenticeships in construction and IT.

The leaving cert class of 2021 is now a priority . All groups have had Career Guidance Classes with the Guidance counsellor. CAO books have been distributed at assemblies and the process has been explained to students. A letter has been emailed to all parents with key dates for the 2020 2021 application cycle. Classroom password presentations from 3rd level colleges have commenced for 6th years with DCU and TCD making tailored made presentations to students and giving students a chance to interact and ask questions.

6th year students are having their career guidance appointments with the Guidance counsellor. At these sessions, students' aptitudes, interests, skills and aspirations are used to guide students towards a variety of post leaving cert options in further and higher education, towards the world of work, the Public service, apprenticeships and training programmes.

This is being supported by a study skills programme being made available for all students on our channels. It will cover

• Organisation of self, space, and time
• Setting goals
• Planning a block of study
• Study methodologies/memory training
• Organisation notes
• Coping with stress

TY career projects have been completed. These projects have been submitted on Google classroom. The competition is sponsored by Kildare Village and prizes will be awarded before midterm.

5th year students are settling into their subjects at senior cycle. Changes have been facilitated as far as is possible. It is recommended that all of our students engage with our study skills programme which is delivered as part of the wellbeing programme at junior cycle and which students can engage with on the website.

5th year students Aimee Murphy & Ríona O'Connor have been presented with their Webwise Google Internet Safety Ambassador certificates. They will continue to deliver Internet safety programmes in the school.

If any parent has an issue they wish to discuss with the Guidance Counsellor, they can email Ms Urell at eurell@ktcs.ie or contact the school.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_vmc3kDlWY&feature=emb_logo