Relief mixed with disappointment as the class of 2020 gets Leaving Cert results

Pictured with their Calculated Leaving Certificate Grade results at St Aloysius School in Cork were students Rameen Siddique, Amanda O'Driscoll, Domikika Hachula, Emma McCarthy, Jiang O'Neill, Maham Aziz, Diamond Nzekwe, Samira Sikder and Emily Murphy. Picture: Howard Crowdy

While calculated grades brought with them a very strange results day for students across the country, we also saw the same bittersweet mix of relief and disappointment seen in every given year. 

A far cry from the traditional celebrations, many schools invited students to attend via appointment only to discuss any setbacks, or to offer their congratulations.

Coláiste Éamann Rís Principal Aaron Wolfe and Coláiste Éamann Rís Deputy Principal, Kevin Barry, with student who received their results. Picture: Jim Coughlan.

While initial evaluations put the overall 2020 results as the strongest on record, some students and schools the Irish Examiner spoke with were left scratching their heads as to how their results were calculated. Close to 17% of all grades were downgraded, and a further 2,500 weren’t issued, approximately 0.6 % of the total 408,000 issued. 

At Christ King Girls' Secondary School on the South Douglas Road in Cork, students and staff believed the results received were fair and an accurate estimation of how students would have done should they have sat the exams. 

Principal Richel Long told the Irish Examiner the final grades were "broadly in line" with the school's estimates, and with the student's junior cycle. 

Pictured after receiving her 2020 Leaving Certificate results, 8 H1s, is Christ King Girls Secondary School student, Paulina Jaworska, from Ballincollig with Richel Long, Principal, Christ King Girls Secondary School, at Christ King Girls Secondary School, Half Moon Lane, Cork. Picture: Jim Coughlan.

One-in-four students (25%) received more than 500 points, with seven students receiving over 600 points, including one young woman, Paulina Jaworska from Ballincollig, who received eight H1s. 

The calculated grades process was "exceptionally difficult", Ms Long said, mainly due to "inconsistent information" given to schools. For example, certain communications about the process were made by the former minister over Instagram. However, Christ King students feel confident about the CAO offers when it opens on Friday. 

"They have faith in the process," she said.

Christian Brothers College (CBC) also saw students secure a record number of high marks under the calculated grades process. Six students secured 625 points, including two, who received eight H1s. 

Former students who all received 625 pts Ciaran O'Driscoll, Alex Sheehan, Finn Mac Fhlannchadha, Ben Terhost, Jack O'Sullivan and Luke Galligan pictured after receiving their Leaving Cert 2020 results at Christian Brothers Cork. Picture: Daragh Mc Sweeney/Provision

In Wicklow, Ella Byrne, received a H2 in Irish. As the 17-year-old student was homeschooled until the age of 12, she didn't speak a word of the language until she started as a student at Coláiste Bhríde Carnew. 

Until she started first-year, Ella learned through 'unschooling'; a method of teaching children based on their interests rather than following a set curriculum. She had felt worried about the calculated grades process but was "thrilled" with her results. 

Asked about her impressive mark in Irish, given her late introduction to the language, she laughed. 

"I was a bit shocked when I started learning it. I didn't even know me féin, or tá me go maith." 

After receiving 613 points today, Ella hopes to go on to study business and law at University College Dublin (UCD). 

Another student with a grá for languages is Aoife Mannion, a student at Coláiste an Phiarsaigh in Glanmire, Cork. Receiving 625 points, she now hopes to study French and German at Trinity College Dublin (TCD). 

"I suppose in the end I was disappointed we didn't sit the exams, as I had given up quite a lot to focus on study," she explained.

You'd be hoping for good results but I was a bit shocked and delighted with mine.

Every year there is upset come results day, and this year was no different. One student told the Irish Examiner they were expecting around 490 points. Roughly speaking, this would give them 20 points more than last year’s entry requirement for their course. However, they received significantly lower grades than expected. 

Luke Galligan pictured with his mother Mary McDonald after receiving his Leaving Cert 2020 result of 625pts at Christian Brothers Cork.

Raised in a Gaeltacht area, they scored upwards of 90% on every Irish oral and aural exam and consistently received H1 and H2 grades in their mocks and on tests. However, they received a calculated grade of H4. 

“I’m so confused as to why. There’s no reasoning behind it aside from standardisation, and it also means I don’t pass the requirements for my CAO course, never mind the points aspect," they said.

Similarly, in geography, the student received a H4 which they believe is inconsistent with the marks they achieved all along. 

“I was in a class with extremely strong high H1 students. Was this a factor? They just had to have a bell curve and couldn’t afford to give me a H2 or even a H3?” 

Twins Oisin and Cathal McKeogh from Ogonnelloe pictured at their school, St Anne's Killaloe Community College, Clare, as they recieved 625 and 532 points in the Leaving Cert, with Oisin looking to do Film and TV Production in IADT and Cathal doing Chemical Science in University Limerick. Picture: Brian Arthur

“Disappointed doesn’t feel like a strong enough word to describe this. I’m seeing people saying ‘they’re handing out H1s like mad this year’. That’s simply not true. I can’t afford to take a gap year and resit my exams with full focus.” 

Another student who attended a grinds school also voiced their frustrations to the Irish Examiner. She hadn’t been “too pushed” when historical school-based data was removed from the calculations last week. 

“I thought it was a fairer way,” she said.

Sally O’Flynn from Listowel Co Kerry with her family, sisters Lily and Evelyn, brother Bill, Mum Joanna and Dad Simon when she logged on for her Leaving Certificate results. Photo: Domnick Walsh

She received 430 points, which was mainly in line with her results all along. But after speaking to students in other schools, she realised they had received in and around the same CAO points as her, although they had scored significantly less in their mocks and in other exams. She later found out that many of the students in her school had received fewer points than expected. 

It would seem some students were given "room for improvement", she said, adding that she didn't have a problem with that. However, this didn't seem to apply in her case. 

And I’m still fighting for a CAO place with the people who were brought up.

Another group of students keenly watching the 2020 results unfold were CAO applicants presenting results from previous years, in particular those who sat their exams in 2019. 

Former Harty Cup captain Niall Hartnett (601pts) and former Senior Cup captain Finn Mac Fhlannchadha (625) pictured after receiving their Leaving Cert 2020 results at Christian Brothers Cork.

Among them is Melissa Byrne, from Kildare. After receiving 525 points last year, she opted to hold off applying for a course in psychology. Instead, she undertook a QQI course in the subject to make sure it was what she wanted to study. 

Unable to qualify for a SUSI grant, she also focused on working and saving her money for college. 

"I thought, I'll just get through this year, it'll be fine." 

She was "pretty upset" to hear about the overall grade increases. 

"You can't help feel hard-done-by," she said. 

"My sister received her results on Monday and its not students' fault they couldn't sit the exam. The Department of Education should have realised this would be an issue."