Classmates set to start Irish exam late due to funeral
Tadhg Coleman was due to have started the exams yesterday along with more than 120 others at Midleton CBS in East Cork.
The cause of his death at the family home in the village of Killeagh, between Midleton and Youghal, is not yet known. A family member found him collapsed in the early hours of Tuesday morning but efforts to revive him were unsuccessful.
After the National Educational Psychological Service advised staff on Tuesday about helping students cope with the tragedy, exams went ahead at Midleton CBS following a prayer service yesterday morning. The State Examinations Commission said it is liaising with school authorities to put appropriate arrangements in place for exam candidates.
The 15-year-old, son of John and Ursula Coleman and brother of Kelly, was removed from the family home in Killeagh last night and his funeral Mass takes place at 2pm today.
However, students due to sit the second Junior Cert higher-level Irish paper at 1.45pm have been permitted to begin the exam later in the afternoon.
It is understood they will be taken by bus to and from the funeral in Killeagh, about 15km from the school, and that they will not have access to phones or other potential sources of exam details before returning to their exam centres.
“The integrity of the exams will be maintained throughout, that is our big focus as well as the welfare of the students. Everybody at the school is still in shock at the terrible news,” said principal Pat Hurley.
An SEC spokeswoman said it makes every effort to accommodate students who suffer bereavement or trauma immediately before or during the examinations.
“These kind of arrangements can include early or late sits of scheduled exams with appropriate supervision so as to ensure the integrity of examinations remain intact,” she said.
Meanwhile, additional exam halls were set up at a West Cork school where a number of teenagers have been affected by a recent outbreak of measles.
Many of the 53 people to have got the disease in the area are students at Schull Community College, where almost 150 teenagers began the Junior and Leaving Certificate exams.
Principal Tim O’Connor said one exam centre was catering for a small number of students who were recovering from measles and another as an option for anybody sitting exams who had not been vaccinated.
