The grey clouds above Dalkey’s Loreto Abbey secondary school yesterday did not reflect the excitement among students receiving their junior cert results.
“We were outside and all we heard were screams so we knew they were out,” said Elaine Breslin and Ger Hickey who were waiting on their daughters.
Full of smiles while heading for the gates was Ella Hannon who secured 11As and 1B. “I was going for 12 As,” Ella joked while adding that she’s “sort of” good at studying.
Her mother Deidre was brought to tears upon hearing the grades, saying that she was “absolutely delighted”.
The now transition year student attributes the success to setting out a study plan last September and sticking to it “strictly”.
Other students, such as Emma Hickey and Lara Breslin, said they were “delighted” with their grades but found the project maths programme difficult, which concentrates on real world applications for the subject.
However, Lydia O’Brien said that she was particularly happy with her maths grade.
Along with English the 15-year old thought she had failed both subjects and was thankful this wasn’t the case. Although finishing school is a long way off Lydia added that she wants to work in the equestrian business someday.
The Loreto Abbey students were among 59,823 nationwide who received the eagerly awaited results.
Ciara Judge, from Kinsale Community School, will have little time to celebrate her 12As as next week she must travel to the Czech Republic with two of her classmates, Sophie Healy-Thow and Emer Hickey, for the European Young Scientist Finals.
The trio scooped top prize last January at the BT Irish Young Scientist with their project on using a bacterium to boost crop growth.
“It’s been a pretty memorable year, I never expected to do this well,” she said. “I felt I had done really badly in English and ironically I wasn’t even sure about how I got on in science but when I opened the envelope and saw my results, I just started screaming with delight”.
Principal, Fergal McCarthy, said the school was very proud of her and the other 160 students who sat the Junior Cert. These included Ciara’s classmates, Saidbh O’Hanrahan and Ali Hill, who each got 10As and 2Bs.
Over in East Cork, Coláiste Mhuire Cobh student, Laura Lynch (16), was another who earned 12As.
“It was a huge surprise for me, my results were better than I had dared hoped for. I had no idea I had done so well,” said Laura who is also a keen musician, playing clarinet with the Cork Youth Orchestra.
Also celebrating 12As was Fiachra Kelleher, of Presentation Brothers College on the Mardyke in Cork city.
“I was surprised because I thought I would get a B in Maths, it was tougher than I expected so I was thrilled to discover I had got an A, I really like English and I would like to try writing for newspapers and broadcasting.”
