TOP CLASS!

A roller-coaster of emotions swept through Wicklow on Wednesday as students received their Leaving Certificate results after a long summer wait.

The majority of those who entered their school buildings in the morning with anxious faces emerged with broad grins.

While some students decided to rise bright and early and discover their fate alongside fellow class-mates in school offices, others decided to stay away from the school grounds and instead find out their results online.

The atmosphere was very relaxed in East Glendalough School as the majority of students seemed quietly confident that they had reached their points target.

Friends Matthew Williams and Ruben Graham both look destined to attend college together, where they both hope to study physics.

‘I did much better than I first thought when I woke up this morning,’ offered Matthew.

‘I thought I’d get around 425 points but I actually managed 460. I got a B1 in Physics, which I am really delighted with. I’d no idea how my project work had gone so to get a B1 was great.’

Ruben was also ‘very happy’ with his results.

‘I wasn’t that worried but I’m glad I got what I was expecting. The only exam I sat where I wasn’t sure how I did was physics but I got a C1 and I’m happy with that.’

The lads weren’t too sure what plans they had in place to celebrate the results.

‘ To be honest all I was thinking about was what points did I get. I haven’t really had time to think about anything else,’ said Matthew.

Dearbhla Young and Kate McCormack collected their results from the Principal’s office but decided to venture beyond the school grounds and open up their envelopes together for the moment of truth.

‘I don’t know what my results are yet. I want to wait to open my envelope in front of my parents. I’m pretty nervous. I’ve talked to some of my friends who already opened their results envelope and they all got the points they were looking for,’ said an anxious Dearbhla.

Kate, who wants to do an Arts degree, was also looking for a bit of privacy away from prying eyes for her moment of reckoning.

‘I’m nervous but a lot of people who weren’t sure how the exams went ended up doing better than they thought.’

The principal of Dominican College Wicklow, Lorraine Mynes, wasn’t surprised at how well students did in the exam given the amount of preparation work they put into the Leaving Certificate.

‘I am thrilled for them because they worked very hard. Things seemed to go well when they were sitting the exams and all the students stayed until the very end of each exam.

‘Not all the students have collected their results yet but so far one girl managed 580 points, but there are more to come. We tried to prepare all the students for the exams, teaching them how to relax and holding mindfulness classes.’