Students celebrate Junior Cert results

Mayo students happy with Junior Certificate results


Áine Ryan

THE fact that the Junior Cert may be significantly reformed probably wasn’t on the minds of the thousands of young County Mayo students who received their results on Wednesday last. They were among the 57,000 students from around the country to sit their first State exams, which can involves studying ten different subjects.
By all accounts students from Louisburgh to Belmullet, Ballina to Caslebar were generally happy with their results.
Unsurprisingly, the top student at St Joseph’s Secondary School in Castlebar, Louise Dervan was walking on air after she received 10 As and 1 B.
Acknowledging her fantastic achievement, and, moreover that of each individual student, the recently-appointed Principal, Marie McCabe  said: “I would have to say our results in general were exceptional. Regarding the current debate about Maths, our students did very well and I can confirm that all our Maths teachers are fully qualified.”
Speaking to The Mayo News yesterday, she said she agreed with the introduction of more project work and continuous assessment.
“While I believe such an approach is beneficial for a student, this must be backed up by the provision of more personnel and funding by the Department of Education.”
Meanwhile there were great celebrations in Westport’s Rice College after Prinicpal, Michael Rabbette distributed the results.
“Most people tend to focus on the classic A student and there were quite a few within the class of 2011. Indeed, while the results were strong across all subjects, substantial numbers of students secured the coveted A grade in Higher level Maths and Science. This is very reassuring for students, parents and teachers given the importance of these subjects for the development of the knowledge economy,” said teacher Pat Dunne.
“However, it is also important to recognise the achievements of every student as each one has a unique story, which will enable him to face the future with confidence,” Mr Dunne added.
He confirmed that while the majority of the Rice College Junior Cert 2011 class have entered Transition Year, some have chosen to enter the Leaving Cert Applied programme and the traditional Leaving Cert.