None of my friends are in my class :(

TYBoy9991

None of my friends are in my TY class. I find it hard to make friends so how am I supposed
to make new ones? I'm not good socially at all. What should I do? People say TY is supposed to be fun but how is it going to be fun for me if I have no friends in my class?

freshpopcorn

Are your friends in otber T.Y classes or gone straight into fifth year?
Could you transfer classes? Have you asked?
From my understand you'll be with the other T.Y classes for activitys.
You'll also be with them at lunch time.

Dee01

It will be good for you and part of what TY is supposed to be all about. You'll be out of your comfort zone trying something new. You will make new friends and you will he able to socialise with your other friends at lunch and in mixed classes/activities. Embrace it and be open to the new experience. You'll be thankful if this experience when you go to college/work. This is coming from experience! Good luck.

Xterminator

Hi OP

dont panic
Making friends is a skill like riding a bike or swimming. i bet you didnt pull a wheelie the first time you rode a bike.

Make a conscious decision to step out of your comfort zone; and make an effort to join in groups and discussions. sit with people you don't know well, and simply mix. i can be a little off putting, but if you try it a few time you will find it gets easier, and most people respond to you making the effort.

You'll be fine.

Something you'll find in time is that people move away or move on. This is just a factor of life and something everyone copes with. This is likely your first time experiencing this.

Just start fresh with some new people. Get to know them. They might end up being your friends for life. Enjoy TY for what it is.

Noo

Its a blessing in disguise. When i was in 1st to 3rd year you were in classes with all the same people, all very cliquey. Groups didnt care about other groups and everyone would keep to their clique. Once TY came we were all split up and forced to interact with peopple whose name we barely knew. We all agreed that 6th year was the best (excluding exams obviously) beacuse by that stage the whole year was one and we all got on great. You also become older and more mature which makes you more accepting and appreciative of everyone's differences.

Not saying this is the case in every school but try see the potential positives.

Sunny Dayz

TY can be a tough year, while you don't have the exam pressure, there's still a lot more to it. It's a year of great changes and learning. It's not easy trying to make new friends, I would be similar to yourself. But it will be like that when you start college also. A lot of transition year is doing mixed activities, working with groups of people you don't know that well, community work, work experience, helping younger students etc - there are going to be lots of times during the year where you will have to deal with people you don't know. But with TY being slightly more relaxed, there's ample opportunities to get to know people better.

Big Bag of Chips

Your school friends were never going to be always in your class! You will go to college, or start working, or move house, move county/country maybe and you will meet new people all the time. TY is a year, where in the safe environment of school and under supervision, you are allowed grow, mature and experience things that you haven't had the chance to yet.

You will be completing projects. You will be going on work experience. You will be dealing with the adult world and having to make arrangements for yourself for jobs, you will have to contact and negotiate with businesses for projects you will want to complete. This is a huge year for you and for your personal development. What you get out of it will absolutely depend on what you put in to it. Not having the safety net of your friends is possibly the best thing that could happen to you. Especially if you're the type to hang back and not put yourself forward for things. It would be all too easy to hang around with your friends and rely on them to do the majority of the work, and you blend in to the safe background.

This will be a fantastic year for you. I've never met a person yet who regretted doing transition year. It's called "transition" for a reason. You should participate in it as much as you possibly can, and this time next year you'll be very proud of your achievements, and the changes in you, as a person. Even if the only change is that you are not quite so afraid of putting yourself into unfamiliar surroundings.

Delirium

TYBoy9991 wrote: »

None of my friends are in my TY class. I find it hard to make friends so how am I supposed
to make new ones? I'm not good socially at all. What should I do? People say TY is supposed to be fun but how is it going to be fun for me if I have no friends in my class?

The same happened when I did TY, all my friends went on to 5th as I was the only one in our group that was accepted to TY.

The year I was in had 100+ students, whereas TY had a single class of 20 (it was the first time TY was available in the school).

I was also pretty poor socially at that age but TY was the right thing for me at that point. It pushed me to interact with guys I wouldn't have talked to much at all in the previous three years.

And my friends not being in TY didn't mean I couldn't interact with them at all. It just meant we wouldn't be in the same classes. After school, lunch and weekends were still an option for hanging out.

OUTDOORLASS

Hi, my teenager is worried about same problem. They have.nt gone back yet. So I bet there are others in your base class that feel the same. So dont be giving out to yourself for feeling like you do. They were told that no swaps would be given unless for very important reason.
Maybe give it a chance, then go to your class head and see if she/he can do anything for you.
Best of luck and I hope you enjoy the year.

spurious

One thing you could ask your TY head to organise is a 'Come Dine with me' competition, within your TY class.

Your group prepares a meal (one to three courses, depending on numbers, time, space etc.) for the other groups and a few days /week later they return the favour. Like the TV show, people vote on their meal at the end. A bit of fun and a great way to get working closely together with your class.

tuisginideach

Child no 1 came home day 1 and week 1 with same worry - at end of year he had 30 new friends and still had the old friends. Child no. 2 was left with his group of friends - at end of TY he was still with same friends - hadnt developed a wider circle at all. TY is all about new opportunities. .... put the effort in and you'll love it, I'm sure.

Ursus Horribilis

I remember what it was like to be your age. TY wasn't a thing when I was in school but if I'd been plucked out of my cosy familiar class and plonked into an unfamiliar group, I'd have been going up the walls too. But you know, with the benefit of hindsight I can see a lot of benefits to it. Thing is, after you finish your leaving cert you're going to have no choice but to develop social skills. Your friends aren't going to be by your side when you start college or get a job. At least if you're forced into a situation where you've got to learn how to talk to new people and work with them, you'll find the transition to college/work a lot less traumatic when it happens. And you know, most people don't bite

LimeFruitGum

Your friends are doing their thing. You need to do yours.
It is unrealistic to assume you & your mates are going to be 'together forever' throughout school. If you are so close, then you will still see each other at the weekends anyway.
There are bound to be perfectly nice people in your new class. It will be fine, honestly.

TYBoy9991

Thank you for all the replies