‘Worried’ pupils relieved after long wait

THERE was great excitement in secondary schools across the country as more than 61,500 students received their Junior Cert results.

Pupils in Malahide Community College and Mount Temple Comprehensive were full of anticipation as they began to open the brown envelopes containing their results yesterday.

The majority of students appeared happy with the outcome, including Erin ni Fhionnalain (15) from Malahide, who was “relieved” with her maths result.

“I was worried that I was going to fail, but I ended up getting a C. I’m relieved,” she said.

Her friends Orla McCullagh (15) and Jane Adkins (15) were also delighted with how their exams went while adding they were “happy” that they were finally over.

Also delighted with their results were Nikki Lynch and Fiona Ryan from Malahide Community College.

Fiona managed an impressive 10 A’s, while Nikki achieved nine A’s in her exams. Students at the Mount Temple school in Clontarf shared their excitement, with Rachael Neale (16) managing to secure all A’s in her subjects. Karin Mukasa (16), from Clontarf, was happy with her results, in particular her distinction in English. “It’s definitely more practical and is a better way to do the exam, it is not just all about writing from a text,” Karin said. A total of 240 students received top marks in 10 subjects or more this year, compared to 423 in 2016 – this is a drop of 43pc. However, the junior cycle reforms got off to a good start with a higher number than usual scoring above 55pc in the new-style English written assessment, at both higher and ordinary level.