Alpha Youth is ideally suited to young people aged 11 to 17. In secondary schools, Alpha can be run with any year group but it is most commonly run in transition year and senior cycle.

When Alpha is run in a school, it is usually run in one of four ways.

• Teachers or Chaplains run it themselves for their students

• Teachers or Chaplains run it with the help of chosen student leaders.

• Local community volunteers or youth workers collaborate with the school and support the running of Alpha.

• Students lead it themselves on their own initiative at lunch time or after school with the permission and support of the school.

Thanks to the generosity of people who get behind the vision we are able to offer our resources and support free of charge. You may need to think about associated costs like providing food or snacks and the cost of facilitating the Day Away.

Alpha Youth explores the basics of the Christian faith in a way that is fun, relevant, and engaging. It also connects naturally with the aims and outcomes of the RE Curriculum across Junior Cycle, Transition Year, and Senior Cycle.

Junior Cycle

• Alpha Youth supports key skills such as communicating, managing information, self-management, wellbeing, and working with others.

• Topics in Alpha overlap with the three RE strands: Expressing beliefs, Exploring questions, Living our values.

• Small group discussions help students develop enquiry, exploration, and reflection and action.

Transition Year

• Alpha supports personal growth by providing space for reflection on questions of life, faith, and meaning.

• Small group discussions help students grow in confidence, care for wellbeing, empathy, responsibility, and leadership.

Senior Cycle (Non-Exam)

• Alpha connects most closely with the curriculum frameworks on Search for Meaning and Christianity.

• Interactive videos and discussion groups engage a variety of learner styles.

• While Alpha is not designed as an assessed programme, teachers can easily build in assessment for learning — for example through student reflections, journals, or surveys at the end of the programme.

(For more detail, see the NCCA curriculum documents: Junior Cycle, Transition Year, Senior Cycle).

Alpha Youth is intentionally designed to be a journey together and we highly recommend planning in advance to run the full experience for your students. There are times when this is not possible and yes, it’s ok to run a shorter version such as 5 or 6 weeks.

The day away is a key part of the whole experience. We understand that scheduling a day away can be challenging. Do what you can to plan ahead and review your plans each year to see what’s possible. Talk to the Alpha Ireland team about planning ahead and running shorter versions of the day away if needed.