520 SITTING EXAMS AT GCS
AFTER a last-chance Mass in the school oratory at 8.30 a.m. on Wednesday morning, some 520 students will head over to their exam centres at Gorey Community School for the start of the Junior and Leaving Cert exams.
With 280 students sitting their Leaving Cert, and 240 doing the Junior Cert, it’s Ireland’s largest exam centre. ‘Every single classroom and office will be taken up with exam centres,’ said principal Michael Finn. ‘We have over 60 special centres this year. The school is going to be as busy as it is during the year, but with fewer students.’
Each special centre, which is organised for students with particular needs, has a superintendent. It’s a massive undertaking. Two members of staff work as exam secretaries during the year, organising the main centres, the special centres, the superintendents for the special centres, and the administration. A team of people look after the ‘reasonable accommodation’ requests, which determine which special centres will be required. Each main centre also employs two student attendants to assist the superintendents.
During the exams, two examination aides look after the smooth running of the process, overseen by the principal and vice principals.
Michael said they’re all set to go, and had some words of advice for those sitting their exams. ‘ They have been attending, sitting in classes, and listening to their teachers,’ he said. ‘ They do have a certain amount of information. For the last days, and particularly in the days between exams, I advise them to use every day and minute to prepare and then go in confidently. Stay there for the entire time allotted. If you keep working for the time allocated, then the chances of doing well are significantly improved.’
Gorey Community School offers almost every subject on the syllabus. This means that towards the end of the exams, some students will have a timetable clash, and will have to take a supervised break before sitting the second subject. One student is taking both Polish and physics, both scheduled for the morning of Monday, June 20, so he will sit his Polish in the afternoon. Three students will be affected by the clash of Japanese and technogy on the morning of Friday, June 24, so will sit the Japanese exam on the afternoon.