6th Year Letter to Parents and Students

Dear Students and Parents,

We hope you had a good break over the Easter holidays, got to enjoy the good weather and were able to relax a little.

The Minister’s announcement over the Easter week end that the LC was being postponed until late July/early August must have been hugely disappointing and a source of deep frustration for you. It must have felt like the final nail in the coffin of an already stressful year. We know that your whole life revolved around sitting your exams in June, that your study plans were calibrated to working to the max in May and that all your emotional, physical and mental energies were directed at achieving your very best in June and then, getting on with your lives. You now have to get your head around sitting exams 7 weeks later, refocusing your study plans and steeling yourselves for a long, tough Summer.

There is a lot of talk about the new arrangements in the media and on social media. Some of it is true, some of it not. We have outlined below what we know as fact at the moment.

(i) The new Leaving Cert timetable will be confirmed in June

(ii) Students with special educational needs will be fully supported in sitting the rescheduled Leaving Certificate examinations in line with the reasonable accommodations as already arranged for them

(iii) Leaving Certificate oral language and some Leaving Certificate practical performance examinations had been scheduled to take place between 23rd March and 3rd April. These were cancelled and candidates awarded 100% for these components. The Minister’s announcement does not change that position

(iv) The deadline for the completion of the practical coursework in History, Geography, Art, Agricultural Science, and Home Economics(Textiles) will be immediately before the start of the exams in late July/early August

(v) The Art life Sketching and LCVP exam be rescheduled for late July/early August

(vi) It is likely that some candidates will be unable to take their examinations on health grounds, as they may be ill or in quarantine or isolation. The SEC and the Department are considering appropriate alternative arrangements so that candidates in this situation are not disadvantaged compared to their peers.

(vii) Minister McHugh has said the intention is to allow two weeks of class time, in school, before the Leaving Certificate examinations begin. The exact nature of how this will occur is the basis of discussions between the teaching unions and the Department of Education.

We will continue to update you as more accurate information becomes available from the Department of Education and Science and or the State Examinations Commission

We and your teachers will continue to do everything we can to help you through this very difficult period. You deserve nothing less. Your teachers will continue to engage with you on line, complete courses and help you build revision plans. Your Year Head, Chaplain, Guidance Counsellor, Ms Sheehan and myself are all available to advise or indeed chat if needed. Remember nobody suffers in silence!!

As you begin your final term, we advise the following:

 Engage with your teachers in this term as you would ordinarily have done.

 Work to the best of your ability until June and then take 2 weeks off.

 As the completion deadlines for projects (History, geography etc) have been extended until mid -July, take this time to refine and improve on them.

 Think positively, you now have extra time to get that Leaving Cert you deserve!

Kind regards

Colm Ó Corcora Marie Sheehan

Principal Deputy Principal