On Tuesday, 4th May, over 300 excited transition year students from 20 secondary schools across Dublin filled the Old Dining Hall in Trinity College to celebrate their graduation from the Bridge 2 College programme, an initiative developed by Suas Educational Development in partnership with the Trinity Access Programme and the Centre of Research for IT in Education.

Each week over the past 8 months, groups of 25 students from schools involved in the Trinity Access Programme have participated in workshops at the Bridge 2 College premises on Westland Row. Working in teams of five, facilitated by a volunteer mentor, participants use technology to develop creative projects, such as movies, animations and web-pages.

This year 100 participants were selected to participate in an extension of the programme which saw them applying the model of team based learning in their classrooms and included a day of outdoor team-based activities.

Speaking after the graduation, Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Eamon Ryan TD, said, “I support this approach; I think it makes elemental sense. Maybe it will provide that missing ingredient that really allows our students to gain confidence in working with other people to achieve objectives. This is the sort of progress we need to make now in our education system."

Next on the agenda for B2C is the primary schools programme which will see some of the transition year students returning as mentors, giving them an opportunity to share what they have learned over the year.

Over the next year, the programme aims to expand the pilot application of the group-based learning model within secondary schools.

If you are interested to learn more about the Bridge to College Programme or to volunteer your time as a mentor, please contact claire@suas.ie