Senior Cycle

What is Senior Cycle?

In Bridgetown College, senior cycle consists of three options.

• An optional Transition Year
• A two-year traditional leaving certificate
• A two-year leaving certificate applied

Whichever senior cycle option they choose, students will develop holistically, building a stronger sense of their identity. They will learn with and from their peers, teachers, other adults, and various media. Over time, they will consider and make choices which influence what they might do when they finish school and begin their adult lives. Students’ experiences in senior cycle should contribute to their intellectual, social and personal development and their overall wellbeing. There are eight guiding principles in senior cycle:

• wellbeing and relationships
• inclusive education and diversity challenge,
• engagement and creativity learning to learn,
• learning for life choice and flexibility
• continuity and transitions
• participation and citizenship
• learning environments and partnerships.

Building on their learning in junior cycle, senior cycle aims to help every student to become more enriched, engaged and competent. Relationships with teachers are established on a more mature footing and students have opportunities for broad learning and increased specialisation. Senior cycle provides a curriculum which challenges students to aim for the highest level of educational achievement, commensurate with their individual aptitudes and abilities.

The educational experience in senior cycle should be inclusive of every student, respond to their learning needs, and celebrate, value, and respect diversity in line with the core values of WWETB. Students vary in their family and cultural backgrounds, languages, age, ethnic status, beliefs, gender, and sexual identity as well as their needs, interests, aptitudes and prior knowledge, skills, values and dispositions. Every student’s identity should be celebrated, respected, and responded to throughout their time in senior cycle. Senior cycle provides firm foundations for transition to further, adult and higher education, apprenticeships, traineeships and employment, and meaningful participation in society and adult life.

Senior cycle also gives every student opportunities to experience the joy of reaching significant milestones in their personal educational journey. The pathway students choose through their senior cycle and every subject and module students experience should contribute to the realisation of this overall vision for senior cycle.

A general introduction to all programmes on offer