With the practical exam and project already out of the way, there was little to trouble pupils in the engineering exam

EVEN THOUGH the workload has increased of late and they face a further week of exams, students at Trinity Comprehensive School in Ballymun think the Leaving Cert has, so far at least, been a good experience.

There were few signs of nerves at the north Dublin school yesterday even with engineering on the timetable for some and most facing English Paper 2. “ a bit positive,” said Hayley Butler, who plans to study childcare.

“It’s going to be hard but we’ll get through it.”

A sculpture of a young girl on horseback takes centre stage in the courtyard of Trinity Comprehensive. The imposing bronze figure is entitled Misneach, the Irish for courage, and its message of bravery seems to be rubbing off.

Fresh out of the morning engineering exam, Craig Nichol said the paper was simply “grand”.

“There were a lot of pictures,” he said. “We just had to tell them what this is and what that is . . . Just engineering stuff like bracket pinions – that’s the name of those yokes, isn’t it?”

Classmate Phillip Hudson, who intends to study computers, said much of the hard work on the engineering course had been done in advance, with a project involving the building of a miniature recovery truck and a practical exam already out of the way.

“It was all straightforward enough,” he said.

Dean Jenkins begged to differ, saying engineering students should be allowed to start their project in fifth year.

“I don’t think there’s enough time,” he said.

“You have to do a portfolio, a practical exam, a project and then an which goes on for three hours like.”

And how was that exam?

“It was alright,” he said. “Some things you’d know and some things you wouldn’t . . . There were a few questions that were just common sense like.”

School principal Pat O’Dowd said, while not widely popular, engineering and technical subjects gave students a

chance to develop a range of skills that could stand to them later in life. “It’s a model of how could be structured,” he said.

With few of those in Trinity Comprehensive phased by what had been put before them to date, there must surely have been something they were not looking forward to.

“Maths,” said Craig and Phillip and classmate Peter Ahern with a collective groan.

O’Dowd said there were some Leaving Cert butterflies around the school but mostly in the stomachs of those in the staff room.

“Even though I probably wouldn’t admit it to the students, I do have sympathy for them having to face ,” he said.