Leaving Cert students scored ‘exceptionally high’ marks
By Alannah Kenny
Schools from Lucan and Ballyfermot were pleasantly surprised as the Leaving Certificate results rolled in early on Wednesday morning.
This was the first year that the new Leaving Certificate grading system had been introduced, a system that sees As and Bs replaced by H1, H2 etc order grades. The pass level was also reduced from 40 per cent to 30 per cent as an incentive for more students to push for Higher Level.
Principal Feargal Ó Giolláin of Coláiste Chillian in Clondalkin was delighted to announce that nine of his students achieved over 500 points. However, he claimed there were “no major patterns” in suggesting that this was due to the new grading system.
Mr. Ó Giolláin also noted that the sciences and languages carried very strong results in Coláiste Chillian and that the Ordinary Level students also did incredibly well.
Deputy Principal Shane Comisky of Adamstown Community College wanted to congratulate all his students, but in particular Shifa Ward who is 17 years old and achieved the highest points in her school at 564 points. It is Shifa’s ambition to study Medicine.
Mr. Comisky noted that there was “a definite uptake” in students sticking with the Higher Level subjects and that there were “very few failures in Maths”. He noted that Irish was not as strong as he would have liked, but saw an increase in the Higher Level classes.
Principal Diane Birnie of Lucan Community College commended a number of her students who scored exceptionally high marks in their results with “10 per cent of the students achieving over 500 points”. She also praised the achievements of all her Leaving Cert Applied students, stating that the class achieved four distinctions and nine merits.
At St Dominic’s College in Ballyfermot, Principal Mary Daly commented “we are delighted that most students were happy with their results and there was a significant increase in the number of students who attempted Higher Level in all subjects this year”. Students were also very successful in both Higher and Ordinary Level Maths which was very pleasing to staff and students.
Principal Ann-Marie Leonard of St John’s Community College in Ballyfermot stated that Home Economics and English stood out as the best performing subjects in her school with a “very high pass rate” across the board in all subjects.
According to Ms Leonard, there was a visible improvement in results for both Higher and Ordinary Maths also.
Across the board, all of the teachers advised that the next step is to wait for the CAO offers on Monday and that exam results don’t define your capabilities.
The Exam Helpline 2017 provided by the National Parents’ Council Post Primary and sponsored by Eir is currently available to all students who are uncertain of what their exam results means for them.
You can contact The Exam Helpline 2017 at 1800 265165 for more information.
