Wave of elation and relief sweeps across Dublin school for Leaving Cert students

By Cate McCurry, PA

A wave of elation and relief swept across a north Dublin school as its students gathered to open their Leaving Certificate results.

At Donahies Community School, students gathered in huddles to open the envelopes which revealed how they performed in the exams.

Many students were thrilled and overjoyed with their results, the majority seemingly performing better than expected.

Teachers stood nearby, anxiously awaiting news.

Among them was Luke Kelly (18), from Darndale, who hopes to study law and criminology in Maynooth.

He said: “I’m actually happy. I got 350 points. I got a H3 in PE, which I’m very happy with. I got a H5 in biology, which I’m very happy with as I thought I failed that.

“Somehow I got a O3 in maths and I’m horrible at maths, so I don’t know how I somehow got that, but I’m very happy.

“I opened my results with my family and I prefer being with my family and experiencing it with them.

“The exams are stressful but you have to push through and know it will all be worth it in the end when you open the results and see the smile on faces.”

Alex Canning (18), from Donaghmede, said he was delighted with his results.

“I was feeling a bit nervous last night, but when I woke up and saw the results, I couldn’t believe it. I got everything that I wanted in the Leaving Certs, so I’m very happy with my results,” he said.

“I was with my mum and dad when I opened them and they were delighted. Very happy.

“I now hope to do primary school teaching in DCU.

“It was stressful coming up to the exams and doing them but now we are here and have the results, it’s worth it.”

Sophie McDonnell, also from Donaghmede, plans to do primary school teaching.

She said she was “over the moon” with her results.

“I’ve done way better than I thought I would, and I have all the requirements for my course, hopefully, now just have to wait till Wednesday,” she added.

“I got H4 in Irish for primary school teaching and I got all the requirements for maths and English. So everything is looking really good.

“The studying and exams are very stressful, it was very daunting if you don’t know what you’re expecting.

“There’s a lot of stress put on you, but the teachers here really helped calm us down and reminded us that we can only do our best, and that’s what we all did and look at us now.”

Charlie Gigg, from Donaghmede, said he could not sleep the night before because of the anticipation, but he was “delighted” with his performance.

“I’m over the moon. I got a text from my friend this morning saying they (results) were up at half nine, and I thought they were up at 10am, but when I logged in, my hands were shaking, I didn’t know what to do.

“I first saw H2 in Irish and I jumped up and down. I screamed the house down, I don’t know what was going on. Then I totted up the points, and I was delighted.

“I hope to study social studies in Trinity for four years and become a social worker and then hopefully join the guards.

“I think six years is quite an intimidating time in our lives, like college, debs, orals and obviously the Leaving Cert, but the mocks were really stressful and I really struggled with them.

“But coming to the Leaving Cert, I felt like I was kind of a little bit more at ease, because I wasn’t so happy with the way I performed in the mocks, but then getting the results, I was happy.

“We will celebrate by going out and then going for a family meal on Sunday.”

Jessie Brennan said she wants to study politics and history at DCU (Dublin City University).

“I had higher level in everything except for Irish and maths, so I did well. I got O2s in both of them, and then my English, I’m happy, I got a H2 in that. I am really happy with that because I put in a lot of work to that.

“Then my option subject, I had physics chemistry, which I got H6 in. I kind of did expect that because it was a tough exam. I felt that one didn’t go the best.

“Then biology was an H5 which I was happy with, because biology I was up and down all year.

“Music, I got my H3 and I was really happy with that.

“I will now celebrate by going to a GAA match later then we will go out with friends.”

Peter Keohane, principal of Donahies Community School, said he was delighted with the results.

He said that at first glance, many students received higher level results, with many achieving better than expected.

He said that transition to move away from grade inflation and back to pre-Covid levels is concerning for some students who may be left at a disadvantage when competing for college places.

“Of course, but we always had to go back to the norm. The journey has to be gradual,” he added.

“I suppose we have to accept that we are on the journey back to remove that grade inflation that took place in the Covid years.”

He added: “At first glance, I could not be happier with the results that we have here today. I haven’t analysed them in detail yet, but I will for the rest of the day, spend a bit of time on them.

“But genuinely, I do this every year, and I’ve been doing it for a long time. I have that initial glance, some years you’re, you know, coming out to see the students thinking, oh I wish they were a little bit better or thrilled, whatever the case may be.

“My gut initial reaction from this year is wow. Well done everybody here in this school.”