Schools/Colleges Programme

Transition Year (TY) Programme

At Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind we believe the students who participate in our Transition Year (TY) Programme are potential future advocates for our Charity.

With this in mind, we have developed an interactive programme which aims to inspire students to consider a career with us or to support our work raising awareness and funds so they too can make a difference to others and change lives.

At the end of our week-long programme, each student will have a greater understanding of:

• our Clients and the services and supports we provide;

• our Dogs and their welfare and what is involved;

• technical training and what is involved;

• the structure, governance, funding and running of a charity; and

• how to undertake a fundraising event.

Schedule

Day 1 - Dogs: Meet our Dog Care & Welfare and Breeding teams and learn how we manage our Breeding Programme to ensure we are able to provide Guide and Assistance Dogs to as many people as possible each year. Meet our Puppy Raisers who bring the pups through the important first stages of their training.

Day 2 – Clients: Meet some of our clients who will explain how their lives have been changed since they received their Guide or Assistance Dog.

Day 3 – Training: Have you ever wondered how a Guide Dog knows how to safely cross a road? Did you know some dogs can be trained to detect if their owner is experiencing a medical emergency? Our fantastic Training team will explain everything!

Day 4 – Resources: Our Fundraising team will explain how they work with our network of Branches across the country to raise awareness for our work and to fundraise through various events such as challenges, on-street collections, raffles, quizzes etc. and even giving talks in schools and colleges.

Day 5 – Guide Dog Day Plan: At the end of the week we would like students to submit a plan for a fundraising event you will run in your school on our national fundraising day, Guide Dog Day, which takes place every May.

If you have any questions please do get in touch with Aoife Bulman aoifebulman@guidedogs.iewho will be happy to assist.

We hope you and your school can join our TY Programme and learn how you too can help change lives.