Leaving results highest ever
It is inevitable that this year’s Leaving Cert grades will be the highest in the history of the examinations, local principals have said. A total of 1,461 Westmeath students received their Leaving Certificate results yesterday morning. Due to the Covid-19 related cancellation of this year’s state exams in the summer, for the first time students’ results were based on teachers’ predicted marks.
Overall, results were up across the board, particularly at higher level, where a record number of pupils received the best mark, a H1, in many subjects.
Malachy Flanagan, principal of Coláiste Mhuire, Mullingar, said that after what the class of 2020 have gone through over the last six months, it was only fair that teachers and the Department of Education “erred on the side of the student”.
“The class of 2020 will be remembered nationwide, as will their teachers and indeed their parents, who have to support the students right up until today. It has been a long wait but I have to compliment the Department of Education on the process.
“The phrases ‘unprecedented’ and ‘unforeseen circumstances’ have been used over and over, but I think they really got a very accurate matrix together and then they looked at what had happened in neighbouring countries and tweaked the system to make it as fair and equitable as possible.
“I really think that is fundamental to how the Department of Education in Ireland always operates. They always err on the side of the students and took into account the time delays, the wellbeing aspect and all the things that had gone wrong and caused anxiety.
“I would like to think that most students will get a route into whatever avenue they choose to go down, whether that is third level education, apprenticeships or the world of work.”
More than 60 per cent of Coláiste Mhuire students got over 400 points, while a number got over 600 points. Mr Flanagan says that 2020’s school leavers “have had it very tough” compared to previous years.
“We as adults can try to empathise with their situation but I don’t think you can fully empathise with what they have gone through unless you are in their shoes or unless you are a parent of a Leaving Cert student of 2020.
“I want to compliment all of our boys for the manner in which they conducted themselves – the amount of emails that came in today to their teachers thanking them not just for their Leaving Cert, but for all the things they learned and discovered during their time at Coláiste Mhuire, inside the classroom, but equally importantly, outside the classroom. We wish them all the very best in the future.”
Students have to wait until Friday morning for the first round of CAO offers. Mr Flanagan says that while this will cause anxiety for some, the fact that an additional 1,250 college places are being provided this year should ease many students’ worries.
More and more students had moved to receiving their results online in recent years, but it was still a tradition in many schools locally to collect results direct from the alma mater, as it had been at Loreto College until today.
“The results are in line with what we expected, they did very well,” says Loreto principal Marése Bell, who had 144 students getting results. “It was a worrying year for all involved, and a mammoth task for the teachers, but there were no real surprises.
“We have one student who achieved 7H1s, which equates to 625 points, or if you want to count the seventh subject, 725 points. These girls did brilliantly in their Junior Cert, so it’s not a surprise that they did so well in their Leaving Cert.
“When I think of last year and the joy and excitement among the students, it is very different. But students have been in touch with guidance councillors all day, either by telephone or email, and working out their next steps.”
CAO offers will be released on Friday, and students who may wish to appeal if their final mark was lower than what their teacher had initially awarded, can do so between Monday September 14 and Wednesday September 16.
There are of course some students who have chosen to sit a written exam in November, but Marése says this has nothing to do with the school.
“That is between the students and the department. We have no knowledge of which students have chosen to do that because we were told that the teachers were to have no further contact with their students.
“The whole process this year has changed the teacher student role completely. In a sense, teachers had to become judge and jury.”
The principal of Mercy Secondary School, Kilbeggan, Garrett Farrell said this year’s results day “was a very unusual experience”.
“I hope it is the only time I have to experience results being shared independently of the school. I hope that everyone out there that got their results are happy, but it is impossible to make everyone happy all the time. We hope the results they got reflect what the students deserved.
“It’s been weird not having family out the front. They have been able to get them online for the past few years but they always turned up at the school. There was a great sense of occasion and closure. It’s been another very weird step in a very weird year.”
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While the number of students getting high marks is higher than ever before, Mr Farrell says that it will even itself out for most people.
“I think we are lucky we have a points system that responds to the results and given that it is in place, it was always inevitable that there might be a little bit more of a relaxation in terms of accepting optimistic results.
“I think the points will move with the results. The main thing is that if everyone has gone up in the grades and then the points go up and there should be no net negative effect, if everything moves at the same level.”
Mr Farrell said that while results may be higher than ever before “it’s better to be over fair given what our sixth years have gone through this year”.
Teachers have a pastoral and emotional role in supporting their students as well as an academic role. When you have those responsibilities for your students you don’t want to let them down, you want what’s best for them. It’s like a family member, you want to do the best you can for them. It is very difficult but I think everyone is very happy that while we are not at the very end of this process, we’re nearly at the end – because no one wants to revisit it.
“Teachers did what they had to do. We are lucky here in that we have a committed and devoted staff,” he said.
Seamus Mohan, principal of Mullingar Community College, said it was a relief to many students that the whole process is over and done with.
“It was completely different this year, and we’ve been contacting each of our 55 students throughout the day to have a chat with them, but overall they got what they worked for and got what they deserved,” he said.
Like the majority of principals, Seamus was planning to examine where teacher grades differed to the final grades awarded.
“Not many of us have had a chance to look over the results because this is the first day the entire school is back. I’m sure, like many, we’ll all be sitting down this evening to have a look through them, but from my initial look at them, results are on a par with recent years.
“Once the students are happy, we’re happy, and it will be good to see them embarking on their chosen career paths.”
In Columba College, Killucan, principal Dermot Brady felt students in the 2021 Leaving Cert class are likely to take a more intense approach to in-house exams and assessments over the coming academic year.
“The will be aware that every exam could well end up being their last,” said Mr Brady. For the 40 who received their results there, the outcomes were in line with nationwide trends.
“We were happy with the results and the students were happy also,” says Dermot.
“All the students worked hard and the results they got were well-deserved, and they got them on their own merit.
Ambitions were varied: some of the candidates will be looking forward to receiving their college place offers on Friday – but others were not relying on their results: “Some of our students are already working – some of them are farming; some have apprenticeships,” says Dermot.
Looking to the future, and the fact that no one knows what way the pandemic is about to pan out, Dermot predicts that for the class of 2021, there may be a requirement that practical projects are submitted earlier than has traditionally been the case.
There are again around 40 students in Leaving Cert at Columba College this coming year.