Three students from Finian's achieve top LC grades

One hundred and forty-one students from St Finian's College in Mullingar are anxiously awaiting CAO offers due for release this Friday, September 11.

The Leaving Cert results which were released on Monday last saw three of the St Finian's alumni gain top marks, bagging them 625 points apiece.

A total of 41% of students scored 500 points or more, while 73% scored 300 points or more.

That's according to principal John McHale (pictured above) who said, "As a principal it brings you great satisfaction to see all pupils achieving their full potential, and that goes for the students who would struggle in school also."

"It was a difficult year for everyone involved, both for students and the teachers who had to calculate the grades. But everyone rose to the challenge and I have to say all teachers worked with a strong sense of fairness and professionalism."

Looking to the Leaving Cert year ahead, Mr McHale says as well as the usual in-house exams at midterm, they have introduced a continuous assessment programme for all year groups.

"The continuous assessment component will see each year group complete an assignment once a month. This will allow us to gain a broader view as to how each student is progressing and will be particularly helpful for Junior and Leaving Certs.

"We've spoken to students and parents about this and I think it will help students focus and to be more conscious especially as, given the current climate, you wouldn't know how things will pan out, we could be facing into the same challenges again next year as happened this year."

Mr McHale summed up by issuing his hearty congratulations to all Leaving Cert students and wished them well with in both the CAO offers process, and their chosen future career paths.