CTY Ireland
Dublin City University
Dublin 9
Tel: 01 700 5634
Director: Dr Colm O’Reilly
CTY Ireland is the only dedicated centre in the country serving the needs of young people with high academic ability aged between 6 and 17. The Centre provides enrichment courses to help stimulate and challenge those students who fall into the top 5th percentile. (The Centre also provides courses for bright and motivated students). Based in DCU, over 35,000 students have accessed CTYI courses since its establishment in 1992. Currently, it caters for over 5000 students per year.
The Director, Colm O’Reilly, has worked in the area of gifted and talented education for almost 20 years and has written articles and presented papers at numerous conferences worldwide. He, with the CTYI team, has experience in teacher training and has been involved in the design and implementation of many classes and initiatives around the country.
The CTYI website has a useful section for parents and teachers, explaining what it has to offer and links to useful information on high academic ability. We have pulled together the links to the various courses below for ease of use, but would encourage you to visit their website for much more information.
Primary School Students
Assessment process for primary school students
CTYI Programme:
CTY Ireland runs courses for primary school students who have qualified through assessment. The courses are designed to enrich the curriculum. The courses have a strong academic element. They move at a more accelerated pace to what the children are used to in school and cover topics that they are unlikely to have accessed elsewhere. Courses available at CTY fall outside of the curriculum. They are taught by lecturers, researchers and practitioners in each field. The courses are highly interactive and use a variety of teaching techniques to ensure students’ interest, motivation and understanding of the subject are extended.
Centre for Academic Talent (CAT) Saturday Programme:
CAT is a programme for primary and second level students who scored in the top 10% in our assessments. Saturday courses are available for primary school students. These courses take place in DCU.
Centre for Academic Achievement
The Centre for Academic Achievement (CAA) programme has allowed over 900 primary school students, from socio-economically disadvantaged areas of Dublin to attend special after school classes at Dublin City University since its establishment in 2006. This programme is a collaboration between the ACCESS Service and Irish Centre for Talented Youth (CTYI) at Dublin City University.
Wednesday Afternoon Programme (at DCU only)
Summer Programmes
Post-Primary School Students
Assessment for secondary school students
CTYI Summer Programme:
The CTYI Summer Programme is for young people aged between 12 and 16 years, who have been identified as having high academic ability (95th percentile in mathematical and/or verbal reasoning). The programme offers enrichment courses, which take the form of 3-week academic programmes. Students choose from a wide range of courses, usually only seen at university level learning. The programme offers these students classes that run at a much faster pace, with high level course material.
As well as having a strong academic structure, the CTYI summer programmes for second level students have an extensive social programme. Outside of classes, students participate in sporting activities, day trips, discos, table quizzes, and much more. We employ a team of residential staff who coordinate the social activities and ensure that the students settle in, have a balanced timetable and an altogether enjoyable time.
Centre for Academic Talent:
Based on the CTYI Summer Programme model, CAT is available to bright and motivated 12-16 year olds. The CAT programme runs over two weeks, but is similar in structure to the CTYI programmes.
Typically these are students who have scored between the 85th and 95th percentile (in mathematical and/or verbal reasoning) on the CTYI Talent Search assessment.
DCU Summer Scholars:
DCU Summer Scholars is run in cooperation with DCU Student Recruitment, and is available to any student aged between 12 and 17 years (1st – 5th year) who would like to take college style courses in a fun and motivating way. Like the CAT programme, DCU Summer Scholars is based on the CTYI summer programme model.
Correspondence Courses
- For CTYI Students
- For TY Students (no assessment required)
