Leaving Cert decision welcomed
IT has become a year like no other for so many reasons. For the class of 2020 it will be remembered as the year that they didn’t sit the Leaving Cert exam and didn’t get to say goodbye to their school friends as they walked out the school gates for the final time.
When Taoiseach Leo Varadkar announced on March 12 that schools were to close no one would have imagined that they wouldn’t have reopened by the time students were due to sit their exams in June.
The initial announcement indicated that school closures were for two weeks, until March 29, but as the number of COVID-19 cases in Ireland increased, social distancing measures were brought into force which meant that schools weren’t able to reopen before the summer holidays.
This has had huge consequences for students, their parents and teachers.
Schools have turned to technology to deliver lessons remotely while teens suddenly find their parents approving of time spent online, either studying or communicating with their friends whom they could no longer see.
The big question which loomed over it all, however, was what would happened to the Junior and Leaving Cert examinations?
As the Junior Cert doesn’t have the same level of importance ( just don’t tell the students!) as the Leaving Cert, it was decided that all Junior Cert students would receive a certificate of completion, detailing the subjects which they had taken.
The Leaving Cert, however posed a bigger problem as the results determine the points which students receive for applying for third level places through the CAO system.
Following lengthy discussions with various stakeholders, it was announced on May 8, that all students are to be offered the option of receiving Calculated Grades for the subjects they are studying or they can opt to sit the Leaving Cert exam whenever the are held, subject to public health guidelines.
Students welcomed the news that a decision has been made as many found the uncertainty around what was happening very stressful.
Caoimhe McCormick, a sixth year student at St Louis, is glad that the long anxious wait to know whether the Leaving Cert was taking place is finally over.
‘It’s a massive relief that they have decided to go with Predictive Grades,’ says Caoimhe who is a previous winner of the Rotary Youth Leadership Award, admitting that she was ‘really worried’ that they would have to sit the exam without having completed the course.
She wants to study Speech and Language Therapy at UCD. ‘ The points are actually pretty high, 540, so I’m hoping I will get that. The teachers know my work so hopefully I will get enough.’
While she is happy that there is no longer confusion around the actual exam, she is disappointed that she didn’t get to say goodbye to friends at school.
‘Normally the sixth years have lunch with the teachers and there is a graduation ceremony with speeds and music.’
‘ The school did organise a virtual graduation and awards ceremony over Zoom.’ she says.’It was really really weird but lovely to see everyone at the same time.’
‘One of our teachers, Ms Elaine Byrne made videos of all the sixth years. She got everyone to send her their baby photos and also photos taken while they were at the school. As I only joined the school in TY, it was nice to see people when they were younger.’
Caoimhe says she has been keeping in touch with her friends through social media.
She is also worried that their Debs dance mightn’t go ahead as planned in August. ‘I have a dress so hopefully I will ge to use it some time.’
‘ The Debs would have been a nice send off as well as it’s the last time you see everyone before they head to college.’
Oisin Duffy, who is in sixth year at Bush Post Primary School, agrees with the decision to offer students predictive grades as ‘it would be unsafe for us to be sitting in an exam hall.’
However he fears that he may have shot himself in the foot as he didn’t study as hard as he could have for the pres and was hoping to improve his results by the time the actual Leaving Cert comes around.
He has changed his CAO preferences in case his grades aren’t as good as he had hoped, saying he would like to do creative media or English with a view to teaching.
Oisin isn’t too concerned that there was no last day or graduation ceremony at school as he feels that they can all get together when the restrictions ease later in the summer.
‘ The same goes for the Debs. We can have it in December, it could be a way of having a reunion.’
He too has been keeping in touch with his friends through SnapChat and Zoom calls and virtual quizzes, and jokes that his social life hasn’t changed that much since lockdown.