Ratoath students celebrate first Junior Cert results

The first ever Junior Certificate students at Ratoath College had plenty to celebrate when they got their results last week. Pupils, their parents and staff were delighted with a fantastic set of results with grades which were significantly higher than the national average at Junior Certificate level. A number of students took 12 subjects, taking Italian and music as extra subjects. Two students in particular, Aoife Kavanagh and Grace Randles, achieved the highest results in the college. Both students shared 13 A grades at higher level between them and are now taking higher level in all subjects at Leaving Certificate level. Some 73.8 per cent of all students studying Irish at the school took higher level papers and 61 per cent of students taking ordinary level Irish scored a 'B" grade or higher. Out of 25 students studying woodwork, 22 students took higher level papers with 13 of these students scoring grade A. Ratoath College is now entering its fourth very successful year and has students studying at senior level in a new vibrant transition year and fifth-year Leaving Certificate. Both the principal, Máire Ní Bhróithe and deputy principal, Oonagh Prendargast congratulated all students on these fantastic set of results. Meanwhile, many of Colaiste Pobail Rath Carn"s students received their Junior Cert results while on a school tour to Rome last week and they celebrated on Wednesday night, outdoors, at a restaurant in central Rome. This year"s results were particularly good and 13 of the 21 who sat the exam had travelled to Rome last week. The 21 students received 54 grade A"s at Higher Level and there were A grades in all subjects taken to honours level. Of the 21, some 14 recieved As at higher level in Irish and 13 of that 14 recieved As in subjects other than Irish. Of the 231 exams sat, 159 resulted in A, B or C at higher level. Cían MacGrianra from Trim achieved 9 As at higher level, while Cait Caomhanach and Siobhán Nic Niallagáin both achieved 7 As. Both Cian and Siobhan are past pupils of Gaelscoil na Boínne, while Cait is a past pupil of Scoil Ui Ghramhnaigh. Last week"s school tour took in Rome and Pompeii and school subjects such as art, building construction, history, geography, science and religion were all covered in the tour. Day one of the trip took in the Coliseum and other famous sights. On the second day, they travelled to Pompeii and Vesuvius, while they visited the Vatican and St Peter"s Basicila on Friday and enjoyed more sightseeing and shopping on Saturday. Plans are afoot for their next tour in January 2010 - skiing in Scandanavia or Switzerland. There were smiles all round in St Patrick"s Classical School for Bohermeen student Mark Gallagher who achieved top marks of 11 As in his Junior Certificate. Other high achievers at the Navan School were John Paul Kennelly, Macetown, Navan, and Robert Whelan, Trim Road, Navan, who each got 10 As. School Prinicpal Colm O"Rourke said overall there were really good results and they were very happy with the students. He said students had achieved a lot of As and Bs in all subjects and said that students had performed very well at all levels including the pass grades. Elizabeth Cahill, Deputy Principal of Boyne Community School, Trim ,said they were 'absolutely delighted with the result's and that the students were very happy, She said they were delighted with the amount of students who got a lot of A"s. 'They were a lovely group of third years and did very well and we wish them well for the Leaving Cert and that they will continue the good trends,' she said.. St Joseph"s Convent of Mercy Deputy Principal Mary Mulligan said they were delighted with the results and that the girls had done very well. She said Marie Blaney had got 10 As and a number of other girls had got nine or ten As. 'All the girls did very well in the sense that everybody achieved their potential. We are very happy with the results,' she said. Scoil Mhuire, Trim, Principal Jacqueline Maher said the Junior Cert students had done very well and one student had got nine As. She said overall the uptake of higher level was high in the school and above the national average with over 80 per cent of students doing high level history and geography and over 70 per cent in other subjects. 'We are very pleased with all the girls and there were very few who didn"t achieve to their full potential,' said Ms Maher. She also said that there were a number of students with special needs and with difficulties and they had also done extremely well. Principal of St Michael"s Loreto Sr Elaine said: 'The girls did extremely well. The results were outstanding. One student, Lyndsey McKnight, got 10 As and we had a number of girls with nine As and eight As.' She said the girls were delighted and that students did well across the board but the results had been particularly strong in Irish and French.