Tears of joy and relief as Cork Leaving Cert students celebrate results 

She was one of the many happy students the Irish Examiner spoke to as the Leaving Cert class of 2023 received their results.

Aoife now hopes to pursue a post-Leaving Cert course (PLC) in art at Cork College of Further Education's Tramore Road campus. She is also interested in pursuing a career in social work. “I felt caught between the two, I couldn’t decide.” 

“Instead of trying to rush the decision, I decided to do the PLC and take my time to figure it out next year. It’s already stressful enough going from secondary, and finishing the Leaving Cert, so this is the best for myself.”

At Coláiste Fionnchua in Mitchelstown, Ashling Malmstrom was also happy with her results. “I’m very happy, got on better than expected,” she said.

The student from Tipperary is now hoping to study art and design at the TUS Limerick School of Art and Design, specialising in fashion design.

“I love making clothes, I’ve made dresses myself and I know how to draft patterns, and I like textiles. I want to bring my hobby into my career.” Having completed a portfolio course, she knew what result to aim for to secure her place in the college.

Principal of Coláiste Fionnchua Edward Cronin said this was an "exceptional" year for students. 

They didn't sit the Junior Certificate, they had a full lockdown and online learning. The results today were exceptionally high but they were in line with the expectations we had for our students.

Eight students at the school completed Leaving Cert Applied (LCA), achieving five distinctions and three merits. The LCA programme saw an increase in students opting to sit LCA exams this year. "The pathway to third level is very clear," Mr Cronin said. "It eliminates an awful lot of stress associated with the traditional Leaving Cert." 

At Bishopstown Community School, Presly Jeche was “delighted” with his results. “I was expecting less than what I got so I was in tears when I saw them. It was some experience.” Unfortunately, Presly fell ill before his exams in June. Luckily, he was able to sit his exams after his principal Edwina Gottstein arranged a special exam centre for him. 

He now hopes to study pharmacy at University College Cork (UCC) and has his fingers crossed for an offer when the first round of the CAO is issued next week.

His classmate Saoirse Walsh was also stunned with her results. “After maths paper 1, I thought not a chance,” she laughed. “Biology was a bit iffy as well. I was not expecting it, I opened the results and I was just in shock.” 

She now wants to study finance in UCC, and planned to celebrate her good results with her family and friends. “My parents were delighted with my results [Friday] morning, we all couldn’t stop crying.”

Sebastian Sikora was feeling relieved. “It’s finally all over,” he laughed. He is now hoping to study sport, specialising in fitness and bodybuilding. “I’ve a competition coming up in Mallow in November so I’m really looking forward to that.”

Principal Edwina Gottstein said there wasn't a huge concern about results this year, except for maths paper 1. "They all came out of paper 1 and said it was so different to what they expected, but they were able to manage it." 

Computer science was examined for the first time this year at Bishopstown Community School, with quite a few students taking it as an exam subject. "We'd a small cohort taking it on as a pilot subject, and three students received H1s so we're over the moon with that." 

At Gaelcholáiste Charraig Uí Leighin, an encouraging set of results this year shows the benefits of Irish-medium education, according to principal Donnchadh Ó Cróinín.

People often think Irish-medium education is a challenge to students, but it definitely wasn’t a challenge to our Leaving Certs anyway. We’re thrilled with that. Over the last few years, we’ve had really good results.

"Learning a subject through Irish can be a concern for some parents, but not for the students themselves.”

“They are a very mixed group; We have some going on to further education which is brilliant as well. There are so many different pathways for them. We keep saying that to the kids here as well, CAO points are one thing, but there are 101 different ways to get to the same destination, and there are great options.”

Gaelcholáiste Charraig Uí Leighin student Kara Dunne was also pleasantly surprised with her good results, and now hopes to study Irish for secondary school teaching in UCC. “I didn’t go to an Irish primary school and I decided to try an Irish secondary school, and I really just fell in love with the language," she explained.

"I want to share that with other people, because people often complain that it's taught wrong, or it's too hard of a language to learn, and its not really. I’d like to change that.”

Her classmate Liam Jordan is also hoping to pursue a career in teaching, specialising in PE and Irish. “I’m delighted to get my results, it was a long enough wait. We finally have it all done.” 

“I’d be fairly active and I didn’t really see myself sitting in an office all day. I wanted something where I would be on my feet, and something sociable as well.”

For brothers Evan, Cameron and Isaac Lee a little bit of sibling rivalry didn’t go astray when it came to hitting the books, often betting each other a fiver here or there on who could do better in exams.

Their friendly banter paid off as the three brothers, who have shared a class together since senior infants, received their Leaving Cert results.

Youngest brother Isaac was feeling “pretty happy” when he spoke to the Examiner. He hopes to study maths and computer science in Edinburgh.

Evan, who really enjoys physics, is hoping to study maths and physics, while his twin Cameron is hoping to study biomedical science, both at UCC. The three siblings were students at Presentation Brothers College.

Attention now turns to next Wednesday, when the first round of college place offers will be issued to students through the CAO. From 2pm, students will be able to log into the CAO online portal and view their available offers.