Work Experience – Leaving Certificate Applied
One of the main aims of the LCA programme is to prepare the students for adult and working life. Students in LCA in Ashbourne Community School engage in 1 full day of work placement every Friday of the school year, with the first placement commencing on Friday 7th September. LCA students will also complete 1 week long placement from Monday 8th to Friday 12th October 2018.
It is the student's responsibility to find a placement of value in an area that interests them from a career point of view. An extension of a part-time job is not suitable. Community involvement and volunteering in an organisation are also encouraged as an appropriate work experience work opportunity.
A timetabled class once per week will be used to help monitor and evaluate work placement in addition to offering guidance.
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Please note that 13% of the overall credits for LCA Certification is awarded for work placement, based on a weekly assessment of their work placement diary in the LCA Work Experience Folder and the completion of the host employer's report.
Students must register their work placement via the Programme Coordinator, Ms Mathews, by completing the Work Placement Summary Sheet. Students should also complete the relevant work placement section in their LCA Work Experience Folder.
LCA Module Descriptors/Syllabi
IMPORTANT: The placement MUST be school approved, otherwise it will not be covered by the State Indemnity Insurance.
Before you go on Work Placement
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Register your placement by competing the Work Placement Summary Sheet and returning it to the Programme Coordinator, Ms Mathews.
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Fully complete and process the necessary Garda vetting forms if required (see guidelines in work placement information pack).
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Learn as much as you can about the company where you are working.
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Make sure you have all of the necessary documentation completed.
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Listen carefully to the guidance from your coordinator/tutor.
During the Work Placement
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Dress appropriately for the type of work to be done.
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Always be on time.
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Have a positive attitude.
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Listen carefully to all instructions given to you.
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Carry out all tasks to the best of your ability.
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Inform the employer and the school immediately if you are unable to attend work placement.
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Complete the work placement diary and ensure that both the employer and parent/guardian sign the work placement form.
After the Work Placement
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Make sure that the employer completes the employer evaluation information in the LCA Work Experience Folder.
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Complete the student evaluation pages in the LCA Work Experience Folder.
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The Leaving Certificate Applied is a separate 2-year Leaving Certificate programme aimed at preparing students for adult and working life.
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The programme aims to recognise the talents of all students and to provide chances for developing personal responsibility, self-esteem and confidence.
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The programme concentrates on the talents of each student and helps students apply what they learn to the real world.
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The 2-year programme is divided into 4 half-year blocks called sessions.
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Achievements are given credits in each session.
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LCA courses
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Courses are offered in 3 main areas:
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Vocational preparation, involving work experience, enterprise and communication
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General education, offering life skills, the arts, social education, leisure and language
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Vocational education
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LCA course arrangement
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Each course consists of a number of modules.
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Each module takes place over half a year.
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There is also a wide range of practical courses, called vocational specialisms, from which the student can choose.
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There is continuous assessment throughout the course and there is a final examination.
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Assessment takes place in modules and practical activities that allow the student to show the learning from different courses.
Students do final examinations in:
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English and communication
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2 vocational specialisms – in Ashbourne Community School students do ICT and Engineering as specialisms
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Mathematical applications
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Language
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Social education
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There are written and oral examinations in all languages.
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There are practical examinations in the work specialisms.
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The practical ICT specialism exams takes place at the end of May each year.
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The written examinations take place in June, at the same time as the examinations for the established Leaving Certificate.
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Ms. Mathews - LCA Coordinator and Information and Communication Technology Teacher
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Mr. Newman - Tutor and Vocational Preparation Teacher
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Ms. Gannon - Social Education and Religious Education Teacher
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Mr. Walsh - Engineering Teacher
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Ms. Butterly - English and Communication Teacher
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Mr. Glennon - Mathematical Applications Teacher
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Mr. Murphy - Leisure and Recreation Teacher
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Ms. Jupe - Hotel, Catering and Tourism
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Ms. Aiken - Art
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Ms. Vipond - Irish
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Ms. Rahilly - Guidance
LCA 2019-2020
Art tasks
5th year Class Vincents LCA art task coil pottery, research posters and task reports. Well done to all and thanks to Ms Aiken for anchoring this first of 7 tasks for our Leaving Certificate Applied students. Best of luck in your task interview this week. Class Vincents were examined on this Art task on Wednesday 5th February 2020. #LCA #art #PracticalSkills
Thomas Diem Pottery Visit Out
Thanks to Thomas Diem of Diem Pottery for facilitating a visit out by 5th year LCA Class Vincents on Wednesday 27th November 2019. For their first task this session, the students are creating their own coil pots in Art class. They learned all about being a potter and running a business. Thanks to Ms Aiken for accompanying the students. #LifeSkills #PracticalSkills #ActiveLearning #LCA
First Aid Certificate Course
TY classes Ash and Oak and 5th Yr LCA class Vincents had a 1 day first aid certificate workshop on Monday 11th November 2019. Thanks to John and Peter, the facilitators from Medicore Medical Services for a great day. Great praise for the students from the facilitators. #LifeSkills #FirstAid
LCA Parent/Guardian Coffee Morning
LCA 5th Yr Class Vincents were busy baking in Hotel, Catering and Tourism on Monday 25th November 2019 in preparation for the parent/guardian coffee morning on Tuesday 26th November 2019. Great treats in store.... raspberry and white chocolate scones, brownies and lemon drizzle squares. Well done guys and Ms Jupe.
#ActiveLearning #LifeSkills #PracticalSkills
Team Building Day 2019 Class Vincents 5th Year LCA
LCA Class Vincents Team Building Day 2019 at Awesome Walls and Croke Park. Well done guys. Great day had by all. Fun 2 years ahead. Thanks to their tutor Mr Newman who commended the students on how they worked as a team and interacted with each other and staff at the venues. See you all at 8.42am on Monday 2nd September. #AppliedLC #LifeSkills
Feargal Quinn Outstanding LCA Achievement Award Winner 2019, James Fox for his incredible 98% Distinction Result in his LCA 2019
Receiving his award at the LCANA Conference in Athlone on Saturday 23rd November 2019. Also pictured are our Principal Susan Duffy and Philip Fox, brother of James who also received over 90% in his LCA, and Senator Gabrielle McFadden. #VeryProud #LeavingCertApplied
Ms Mathews, ACS Programme Coordinator was asked to write a paragraph about James, to be read out before the presentation of his award.
"James Fox has received the most successful result to date in the LCA Programme in ACS. We know that James is particularly proud to have followed in the footsteps of some siblings who also placed in the 90% in the LCA Programme! James worked diligently for all his years in ACS, and particularly during the 2 years of the LCA. He played a key role in our Senior Leadership Committee in 6th Year and was the first LCA student to apply for Head Boy, only narrowly missing out on the position. He was a super class representative and a support to fellow students and staff. Following promotion on our school's social media of our Engineering Task project in 5th Year LCA, James received orders from the public for the toolbox he created! He was a definite favourite with the senior citizens group who are invited to our school for a coffee morning for the VPG Enterprise Task in 5th Year. He received incredible praise for his work placements from employers. For his Social Education task on Mental Health, James arranged for another successful LCA past pupil of Ashbourne Community School, Rory O'Connor of Rory's Stories, to speak to TY and LCA students. James completed a Sports Leadership Programme with Meath Sports Partnership with some TY students when he was in 6th Year. He offered to work with senior management in May 2019, to promote the LCA Programme to the parents/guardians and has offered to continue this in the future. He spoke to parents/guardians about his experience of the LCA Programme and showed his key assignment and task work. These parents/guardians were extremely impressed by him. He is currently in full employment and looking into a suitable apprenticeship in construction. James is a punctual, respectful, diligent, kind, people person, with excellent planning, report-writing, organising and ICT skills. We wish James the very best of luck in his bright future. James is so deserving of this award in recognition for the incredible results he received. The management, staff and students of Ashbourne Community School, and the Ashbourne community as a whole, are incredibly proud of James and look forward to a continued friendship with him in the years ahead. Congrats James." #WeAreACS
James is pictured with another of our LCA past pupils, Rory O'Connor of Rory's Stories. Well done James. We are incredibly proud of you. A well deserved award. #LCA #FeargalQuinnAward
LCA ICT 2016-2017
In ICT class, the 5th years completed their Art task reports, as well as working on their VPG task reports and Engineering task reports. One task completed by 6th Year students was in ICT. These individual tasks included the design and production of a school calendar, the design and production of a cookbook, the design of websites linked to social issues being studied in Social Education and the development of the LCA section of the school website. Self-directed learning, time management skills, ICT skills and report writing skills all improved as a result of the tasks and key assignments completed in ICT class. Students in all tasks complete a report and attend for an interview, before being awarded a final mark.
LCA Vocational Preparation 2016-2017
The Leaving Certificate Applied programme prepares Leaving Certificate participants for the world of adult and working life. The use of active teaching and learning methodologies helps to give students transferrable skills and qualities relevant to college, working life and self-employment. These include self-confidence, responsibility, co-operation, teamwork, problem solving, independence, decision making and initiative. Work experience provides an important opportunity to apply and further develop these qualities. LCA students in ACS complete 1 day a week of work experience across the 2 years which is monitored by the VPG teacher. The Student Task is a practical activity and/or process of reflection through which the student integrates and applies learning experiences gained from undertaking LCA. One task was completed in VPG. The 5th Year students divided into groups. One group set up a car wash and valet business in the school which they ran for 3 days in February 2016. The other group planned and organised a coffee morning to link in with the local Senior Citizens Group in Ashbourne in February 2016. Through both these group tasks, the students learned the value of effective planning, organisation of resources and working with others. Their self-confidence increased and they learned to make effective decisions and solve problems.
5th and 6th Year LCA students have worked hard all year and continue to achieve in all subject areas, as well as ensuring that they have 90% attendance – which will be so valuable in the workplace in their futures.
Open Days
Our LCA students learned a lot at 2 Open Days in 2017:
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Liberities College Open Day featuring all the Colleges of Further Education was on Tuesday 7th February 2017
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Plunket College Open Day was on Wednesday 8th February 2017
LCA Art, Craft and Design
LCA students had had such fun learning to knit this year with Ms. Aiken.
Irish Red Cross First Aid Certificates
Congratulations to the 6 students from LCA Class Jade who received their Irish Red Cross First Aid Certificates in March 2017. They completed the 9 week course before Christmas as part of the Evening Classes at Ashbourne Community School, for their Practical Achievement Task with Mr. Leahy. A great qualification to have on their CVs. Well done to Ann, Katelyn, Shannon, Philip, Yanni and Erlandas.
Session 3 Results 2017
Well done also to the 6 LCA students in Class Jade on their excellent results in their tasks and key assignments in Session 3 ending in January 2017, with many students achieving the full 10 marks for their tasks. This is a big achievement, as they even had the DES inspector sitting in on some of their interviews! As well as completing a project, they compiled task reports and did an interview with an external examiner. These tasks were completed in ICT with Ms. Mathews, Social Education with Mr. Coyle and Ms. Casey, and Practical Achievement with Mr. Leahy.
Well done to Gavin King, Shannon Bradley, Dean Clarke, Sean Moore and Ciara Holton from 6th Year LCA, who received their Irish Red Cross First Aid Certificate in early 2016.
During Session 3 of the LCA before Christmas 2015, they completed the Irish Red Cross First Aid Certificate course which is one of the Evening Classes at Ashbourne Community School for their Practical Achievement Task.
They attended 2 hour classes for 8 weeks and completed an exam at the end. Well done guys. Ciara is missing from the photo.
Sky Sports Living for Sport with Shaun Berne
Sky Sports Living for Sport
As part of the subject Leisure and Recreation, our teacher Mr. Simon Cullen arranged for 5th and 6th Year LCA students to become involved in the Sky Sports Living for Sport Initiative.
Mr. Cullen selected our class of 14 students. He set goals with us including asking us to lead our own sports event. At the end we will hopefully celebrate our group’s achievements. We will improve skills, such as teamwork, organising and practical.
Our plan is to run a handball tournament for 1st years before Easter 2016.
Shaun Berne is the Sky Sports Representative working with our class.
Shaun Berne
https://twitter.com/shaunberne
https://livingforsport.skysports.com/mentors/shaun-berne
Shaun spent 15 years on the pitch as a former professional rugby player in Australia, England, Ireland and Italy. During a highly successful career, he played for the NSW Waratahs, Bath Rugby, Leinster and Calvisano.
Whilst at school in Australia, Shaun enjoyed being active and played most of sports on offer to him including cricket, rugby league, football, tennis and athletics before choosing to focus on rugby union. His decision to play rugby union led to caps at under 19’s and under 21’s for the Australian national teams. At age 19, Shaun took his first professional contract with Bath and moved from his home in Sydney to begin his career in England. His proudest career achievements include representing his country in the Australia ‘A’ team for 3 years. In 2003 the Waratahs reached the Super 14 grand final. In 2004 he was captain of his club team in Randwick in Sydney, Australia winning the regional title and going undefeated all season. He was also part of the Leinster team that won the Heineken cup in 2011 and the Bath team that won the European challenge cup in 2008.
Now retired, Shaun is working as a rugby coach and enjoys passing on his knowledge and expertise to others. Having joined Sky Sports Living for Sport as an Athlete Mentor in 2015, Shaun commented: “Sport, and rugby in particular, has played a key role in my life. I want to share with others the ways in which sport can improve quality of life in so many ways.”
Shaun's Sporting Achievements:
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Professional rugby player for 15 years
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2011 - Heineken Cup winner with Leinster
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2008 - European Cup winner with Bath
Social Education Task
Road Safety Talk
Written by Katie Mason, Class Pascal, 6th Year LCA
For our Social Education Task, Dean and I organised for a local Garda, Frank Goodman, to come to Ashbourne Community School and talk to 5th year students about road safety. We booked this talk for Monday 12th October 2015 for 1.15pm. We booked the GP hall with the PE teachers as they use the hall for classes. During lunchtime we set up the GP with seats for students to sit on. We got water ready for the speaker. We met the speaker before the talk and thanked him for coming to Ashbourne Community School to talk to us. Garda Goodman was very friendly.
Garda Goodman spoke to us about road safety for about an hour. He was very honest in the information that he told us. It was hard to listen to the honest information. The details of the accidents he witnessed or came across were scary. We learned a lot from the talk about road safety including:
* Never use a mobile phone when driving.
* If you feel that you are falling asleep behind the wheel, you should stop, drink coffee and have a snooze for 15 minutes. Eating an apple is also good for waking you up.
* When you are on a bike or walking, it is important to look, listen and be aware of what is going on around you - if you have headphones in both ears, you will not be able to hear the cars. If you are walking and texting on your phone, you are not aware of what is going on around you - you need to concentrate when you are crossing the road.
* It is very important to wear high visibility jackets or arm bands when walking or cycling even during the day, especially if you are on a country road.
* Always wear a seat belt even if you are in the back of the car.
* Never ever drink and drive.
* Before you cross the road, look right, look left and do it again. Never take a chance if it is not safe to cross.
* Cross at pedestrian lights if there are any.
* If you are cycling obey the rules of the road and never go through red lights.
One story that Garda Goodman told us that was really sad was about Emma Joyce Hastings. It was about 2 weeks before her mocks for the Leaving Cert. Emma and her friends had been drinking and were invited by a group of boy racers to go for a spin in their car. Emma did not put on her seatbelt. After about 6 miles, the male driver, lost control going round a bend and hit a tree. Emma was thrown out of the front window. She died 20 minutes after the ambulance came. This shows the importance of never getting into a car with a boy racer or anyone who has been drinking. Speed kills.
We thanked Garda Goodman for speaking to us. We cleaned up the GP hall and wrote up a report on the visit in.
