Delight for Laois Leaving Certs in Mountmellick Community School

Emily Hughes, Rachel Doogan, Aoibhe and Emma Doyle, Jim Scully, Robbie McEvoy and Callum Kearns receiving Leaving Cert results in Mountmellick Community School. Photos: Lynda Kiernan

placeholder image — Emily Hughes, Rachel Doogan, Aoibhe and Emma Doyle, Jim Scully, Robbie McEvoy and Callum Kearns receiving Leaving Cert results in Mountmellick Community School. Photos: Lynda Kiernan

Photos and reactions from students fresh from their Debs Ball

It was a hectic 24 hours for Mountmellick Community School Leaving Cert graduates, who opened their results after coming home at 6am from their Debs ball in Ardee.

The Laois secondary school in the town centre had 129 students getting exam results, including 10 who sat the newly introduced Leaving Cert Applied exam. Many came to the school to share the experience of opening or discussing their results, mingling on the corridors with the new 1st years and 6th years and their teachers who were eager to see how they did.

Emma and Aoibhe Doyle.

"It will be weird, we are kind of best friends too. It's actually insane that we got the same points. We studied really hard and the results are showing that thank god. We couldn't study together though, Emma is an auditory studier, she talks and walks around. I was going mad and had to put in my air pods," Aoibhe said.

The Debs was "good craic, we got in at 6am and got two hours sleep," said Emma who plays rugby with Port Dara.

Shane O'Gorman from Pattison's Estate is one of nine LCA students who achieved the highest grade of a distinction. He had been close to leaving school two years ago.

"I was going to drop out back in third year, I didn't like school as much. The teachers encouraged me to try the LCA and they were very helpful. It was more hands on, it was good craic. I feel very proud of myself. I hope to do a PLC in Portlaoise College this year and go on to study Social Care in Carlow next year," he said.

Shane O'Gorman with Pauraig McGarr - who hopes to study physiotherapy.

Carrie-Anne Derwin Lalor from Ballyfin was "over the moon" with her results.

"I'm so happy, I was in shock when I saw them. I'll probably take a year off and go working and then see after that, probably something in music. I sing as a hobby but I plan to go all the way," she said.

Callum Kearns says he was "nearly more shocked than anything" to achieve higher points than expected.

"I'll have a rethink, I was going to do social studies but I'll see, maybe sports journalism instead," he said.

Kickboxer and Irish soccer superfan Abbi Gammell ready to open her Leaving Cert results, with hopes of media studies in SETU Carlow, pictured with principal Larry Curtin and year head Patty Conroy at Mountmellick Community School.

Rachel Doogan from Kilcavan is planning to study animation and illustration in Athlone, having already scored the maximum 600 points in her portfolio assessment.

"I'm very happy, I got a lot more points than I needed, I'm delighted with Geography, it was a rough exam, it went well enough for me," she said.

Conor Farrell, Hollie Rafter and Ciara O'Neill receiving Leaving Cert results in Mountmellick Community School.

Principal Larry Curtin said he is delighted to see so many students come in for results and get support from their teachers and class friends, rather than get them online at home alone.

"Similar to previous years, our students have done exceptionally well in their Leaving Cert with a significant number achieving over 550 points, others over 600 points and our top student, Emer Dunne scoring 613 points. We are also delighted to see the excellent results achieved by other students who also achieved their potential and will progress to their chosen area.

"Having introduced the LCA programme in 2022, we are thrilled to see that nine out of the ten students who completed this programme were awarded distinctions which is the maximum possible mark in this Leaving Cert programme.

"These outstanding results would not have been possible without the assistance of their teachers over the past number of years along with the support of their Parents.

"Similar to the students who completed the Leaving Cert in each of the past four years, the 2024 cohort have also had their second level experience impacted upon by COVID 19. As one of the first schools in the region that implemented live online classes for all year groups at the time, along with a wide range of other interventions, we are thrilled to see that our students who were in 1st and 2nd year when COVID arrived did so well in Leaving Cert 2024.

"Having taken the decision to afford students the opportunity to access their results in school as in previous years rather than online, many preferred this option and it was marvellous to see their excitement and delight when opening their results.

As you can appreciate, we are delighted with the results of our class of 2024 and we are looking forward to their future," the Mountmellick principal said.