Principal's Letter to 3rd year Students & Parents

On Wednesday 17^th February, the Minister for Education and Skills, Norma Foley TD, announced the cancellation of the Junior Cycle Examinations for our Third Year students 2021. This decision was made on public health grounds as well as allowing for written Leaving Certificate examinations to happen for our sixth year students.

It is important for us at St. Farnan’s to acknowledge the frustration that you as students must feel, having prepared for an examination that has now been cancelled. It is important that we as a school community congratulate and thank you for the dedication, commitment and resilience which you have shown since the beginning of the school year and more specifically since Christmas with your on line engagement. Your attendance and behavior has been very good and commented on at our weekly Year Head meetings.

At St. Farnan’s Post Primary School we always place a significant value on the grades achieved by our students in the Junior Cycle. These grades are used to assist students in decision making relating to subject choice for Leaving Cert Traditional, or whether a student should consider doing Transition Year or Leaving Cert Applied. We also use these results to track your progress and performance since you joined us as a first year student along with Christmas and Summer exams completed by you in the three years that you have been a student in St. Farnan’s.

In order for us support you in subject and course choice etc., we will continue to assess your work on an ongoing basis for the remainder of your Third Year. These results will be important as we support, guide and advise you throughout your senior cycle. With this in mind, we are planning an online Information Presentation for students and parents on traditional Leaving Cert, Transition year and Leaving Cert Applied over the coming weeks. We will be in contact closer to the time with details on how to log on to this presentation.

For all the reasons stated above, it is vitally important that you continue with one hundred percent commitment to your studies and on line class engagement until further announcements are made about the remaining classes returning to school.

In the meantime, stay safe and remember the importance of adhering to all the guidelines issued by the HSE in order to help continue the reduction of Covid 19 infections in our community.

Yours faithfully,

Eddie Collins, Principal.