Watch: Last minute advice as exam paper boxes arrive at schools
Boxes of exam papers are arriving at secondary schools around the country ahead of the Leaving Certificate and Junior Cycle exams.
After months of hard work, pupils begin their exams on Wednesday morning with English Paper 1.
The exam papers will all be kept under lock and key until they are handed out to pupils in the exam hall.
At St Conleth's Community College in Newbridge, Co Kildare, Principal Patricia O'Brien said it is always a busy day at the school as final preparations take place.
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Irish Independent
10 hours ago
- Irish Independent
From the Kerry archives, June 9, 2000: Killarney explosion, Tarbert fire & Doms goes online
Killarney scene like bomb site after explosion Two fire units parked on the street with blue lights flashing, people kneeling beside a prone figure covered with a blanket, offering words of comfort, and ambulance sirens sounding in the distance. The scene outside Cronin's Restaurant in Killarney on Saturday night was for all the world like the aftermath of a bomb blast. Glass and wooden debris from the green shopfront lay scattered on the pavement but, uncannily, inside the restaurant, plates and glasses lay unscathed on the tables. The majority of those injured had been standing ion the footpath when the explosion occurred as the owner, Pat Cronin, had cleared the premises when he detected a gas leak. Five ambulances ferried 12 people to Tralee General Hospital after the explosion, which took place at 8.10pm, but just four were kept in hospital. Among those who were most seriously injured were Pat Cronin, Shirley O'Connor, who worked in the restaurant part-time, an English visitor from Nottingham who was staying at the Killarney Great Southern Hotel and an Irish woman who had injuries to her ear. Pat Cronin suffered burns while Shirley O'Connor sustained a leg injury. All those injured were Irish with the exception of the English visitor. Fire Officer in charge at the scene, Donal Grady, said the fact that the gas tanks were stored in an outside yard and that the front of the building was made of wood saved people. Mr Grady said the tank itself did not explode but it seemed as if a pipe had come loose and gas leaked. He said that in his opinion some gas leaked into the open air and some came into the building. "If it all came in, it would have blown the whole building," he said. Mr Grady, a Killarney town councillor, praised the initiative shown by Pat Cronin in clearing the building so promptly. ADVERTISEMENT Water gel was applied to the burns of the injured by the fire personnel, all of whom are trained in first aid, immediately after they arrived on the scene. The early treatment is credited with lessening the effect of the burns. The kitchen located behind the restaurant on [the ground floor in Cronin's bore the brunt of the ;damage. The force of the explosion to the rear of the building also damaged windows at the back of the Fáilte Hotel. The rear of Dan Corcoran's premises, which is next door to Cronin's, sustained some damage also. A Dublin-registered Rover car outside the restaurant had its driver's and rear windows blown in, while two cars parked near Scott's Hotel across the street were also damaged. Dr Norrie Buckley of the Arbutus Hotel in College Street was one of the first medics on the scene. Dr Buckley praised the work of a visiting doctor, who was on holidays in the area, in identifying the priority cases for the ambulances with her. "I turned around to thank him and he was gone. He was a guardian angel, The Guards, the fire service and the ambulance services were absolutely superb." she said. Dr Buckley said most people she attended were suffering from cuts and minor burns. "They were calm but quite a few were shocked, particularly the Cronin family, naturally," she said. Other doctors on the scene included Bill and Patricia Mangan, Donal Kavanagh and Jim Crehan. Fr Michael Fleming, Administrator, Killarney, attended the scene as well. Paudie O'Callaghan of the Failte, who is chairman of Killarney Vintners, was standing at his front door when the blast occurred. "My eye contact was towards Scotts and the first thing I saw was the window blown into the car," he said. "The force took a man outside the window (of Cronin's) off the pavement. I ran into the bar for help at that stage and I rang the Guards. It was just mayhem It was for all the world like a bomb scene. It was frightening. How someone wasn't killed was beyond me,' he continued. Michael Looney of San Sebastian Guest House, just two doors away from Cronin's, was at his front door also when the blast occurred. "There was just a bang and glass and rubble flying out," Mr-Looney said. "I ran out and checked to see were people OK and helped around a bit until the ambulance came. There were a lot of cuts from glass and a lot of blood. The Guards came then and cleared the street." The Gardaí evacuated nearby premises including the Fáilte, Murphy's Bar, the Jug of Punch bar, the Bombay Palace Restaurant and Scott's Hotel for a short period as well as cordoning the street off until about 9.45pm. Student escapes blaze before sitting exam Tarbert Comprehensive's 'Student of The Year' Mairead Enright got the first day of her Leaving Cert exams off to a dramatic start, when she and her family escaped from an early morning fire at their home above the family restaurant at Main Street, Tarbert. Gardai in Listowel are still investigating the cause of the fire, which broke out at 5.40am on Wednesday and which gutted the upstairs of the building where the family were sleeping. Luckily, all the Enrights escaped unscathed and Mairead, showing the strength of character which won her the recent acclaim of her peers, went ahead and sat the first paper of the English Leaving Cert exam. There was no such drama for Deirdre Twomey of Killarnev. one of the 174 students who sat the Leaving Cert at Killorglin Intermediate School. She and her classmates were very pleased with the first paper. "The essays were fine overall. I did one on 'Saving the Planet' and I just made it up as I went along. I feel it went quite well," she said. Her fellow student Brendan O'Sullivan from Killorglin was equally pleased with the first English paper, pronouncing the choice of essay titles 'grand'. Brendan, who took the higher Level paper, was keeping his fingers crossed for a question on Kavanagh or Yeats in the afternoon paper. There were smiles all round also at St Joseph's Convent of Mercy in Abbeyfeale, where Mary Anne Mulcahy from Templeglantine sat the higher level English paper. "It went fine and we got a good choice of essays. I think the prose passage suited everyone as well," she said. Mary Ellen Lane from Graigue, Abbeyfeale, was also quite pleased with the first paper. "The prose passage was nice enough but I found the essay titles a bit hard. They were different from other years. I'm hoping we'll get a nice question on Kinsella in the afternoon," she said. Both students chose the essay title.'Opening Doors' while 'Saving the Planet' was the second most popular choice among students who spoke to The Kerryman on Wednesday at lunchtime. Dominicans the latest to go online The Dominican order in Tralee has signed up to the electronic age by opening its own web site. The 'Domstralee' site has information about Masses and other services, a local history of the order, and a series of high quality images of the church and its environs. Tralee Dominican Prior Fr Ambrose O'Farrell said the order were being trained in the Internet and had felt they needed a website of their own. You can take a guided tour of the Dominican Church in Tralee, or contact the Dominicans by email. The Irish Dominican order has been quick to wmbrace the Internet and already has two national sites, one based in Tallaght and the other in Cork. "Our own site was on the one in Tallaght but we decided we would open our own here," Fr O'Farrell said. The site also contains information on Fr Thaddeus (Tadhg) Moriarty, who has been nominated for beatification. One of three Kerry people who has been entered into the process of canonisation, he is also the only Dominican. The Domstralee site was designed by a member of the Dominican congregation in Tralee, Frank Byrne, who is putting the finishing touches to the site. It can be accessed at You can also link into the Cork based site from the Tralee website, gaining access to religious resources, including a popular Jesuit site. "It's not a missionary kind of site," Fr O'Farrell said of the Tralee website, "but you can link into the national Dominican sites which have an explanation of the nature of the order and its mission."
Irish Examiner
2 days ago
- Irish Examiner
Teachers praise Leaving Cert geography, but slam Junior Cycle history as 'illogical and unfair'
This year's Leaving Certificate geography exam contained no major surprises, offering students a "lovely" and well-balanced paper with reliable and current questions. However, the unfamiliar 'donut' graph format may have caused some stress for students, teachers who reviewed the paper said. On the third day of the 2025 State exams, Leaving Cert students sat geography on Friday morning, while Junior Cycle students took their history paper. The Junior Cycle history exam once again faced criticism from teachers, who say the continued absence of mark allocations and limited time remain significant challenges for students. The 2025 Ordinary Level geography paper was described as fair by Laura O'Sullivan, a teacher at Bantry Community School and secretary of the Cork Geography Teachers' Association. 'The short questions were really well scaffolded with images, which is really good for candidates, and the longer questions were very accessible," Ms O'Sullivan said. At Higher Level, she added, the short answer section was more balanced than in previous years. 'In previous years, they were looked for loads of answers for small marks whereas I think this year they were more realistic about what can be achieved in a short amount of time which is fantastic.' One graph question may have presented difficulty for some Higher Level students, she noted. 'It was just a different kind of graph than they would have come across before.' 'Your more able candidates would have been fine but the weaker candidates might struggle with it.' 'They just won't be used to having seen it, but if they treat it like they treat other graphs, and don't panic, then they'll be fine.' Students also needed to read a question on rock types and landscapes carefully, she said, as it required more than one example. 'If they only did one rock type, and one landscape, then they'll probably only get half the marks.' Overall, she described the paper as very fair and said she was 'very happy' with its structure and content. Margaret Fitzpatrick, a teacher at Midleton CBS, also praised the 2025 geography paper. 'The biggest challenge was actually completing it because they would have so much knowledge." "It was a lovely, lovely paper with each section nicer than the other.' 'If students had worked off their exam papers, they should have been well able for it. The only challenge would be getting it done in the time allowed.' Junior Cycle Meanwhile, Junior Cycle history continues to pose a major challenge, according to Studyclix subject expert Jamie Dockery, a teacher at Tyndall College, Carlow. Students are expected to answer eight questions across a wide range of topics within a strict two-hour limit. 'Not accounting for the time needed to pre-read the paper and review answers, practices teachers actively encourage, students are left with roughly fifteen minutes per question." "That's a demanding pace, even for the most capable candidates." 'This year, the difficulty was compounded yet again by the continued absence of mark allocations on the exam paper. Each of the eight questions carried different marks, yet students were given no indication of this during the exam." Mr Dockery added that under time pressure, students should have the option to prioritise higher-value questions. "A basic exam strategy they are taught in every other subject. Denying them this opportunity in History is both illogical and unfair," he added. 'It risks disadvantaging students in their results and may even deter some from continuing with History into Senior Cycle." Read More Junior Cycle English short story question sparks criticism from teachers
Irish Examiner
2 days ago
- Irish Examiner
Junior Cycle English short story question sparks criticism from teachers
English teachers have criticised the inclusion of an 'unwise and unfair' short story question that appeared on this year's Junior Cycle exam paper this week. Many students reported their surprise at the question on the higher-level paper, which asked students to outline how a setting has a vital influence oin a short story they studied. The Irish National Organisation for Teachers of English (INOTE) said it 'noted with dismay' the question exclusively on short stories. Students will have encountered short stories during their three-year study, and the study of short stories is required by the English specification, it added. 'However, practically in the classroom, short stories are rarely studied in the deep analytical way required of the exam paper.' Short stories are often read for enjoyment or as "stepping stones" to studying longer fiction texts, rather than for detailed narrative analysis, INOTE added. "Additionally, and sensibly, most students would instead have concentrated on their two studied novels, their studied Shakespeare play, their studied film and the array of poems they would have prepared for the exam." It would have been much fairer to pose a question about how the setting was used in a short story or a novel read by students, it added. "Narrowing the focus to short stories exclusively will have disadvantaged a significant number of students, something we absolutely reject as useful in a Junior Cycle exam." INOTE said it has felt disappointed every year with some of the questions asked in the Junior Cycle English exam, which are "either much too narrow in focus or much too ambitious in scope to allow meaningful student engagement." "Our students deserve the time and opportunity to showcase their learning rather than being punished by an exam that sometimes seems, whether intentionally or not, designed to catch them out," it added. A spokesman for the State Examinations Commission (SEC) it has been assured the exam, including the short story question, was "fully within the scope of the specification and in keeping with the aims, objectives and learning outcomes for Junior Cycle English." He added that commentary and correspondence on the examinations from students, parents, teachers, professional bodies, and other interested parties is a normal part of the examination process. "Such observations regarding test instruments are an intrinsic part of the feedback that we would expect to receive in any year. All observations received in relation to a subject are reviewed by the Chief Examiner in the context of preparing the marking scheme for that subject." The marking scheme will be published, as will the marking schemes in all other subjects, after the issue of the Junior Cycle results, he added. Read More 41646145[/readmore[
