4th May 2020
JUNIOR CYCLE 2020
Dear Third Year Parents and Guardians,
I am writing to you to update you on the plans for Junior Cycle examinations. As you know, the Department of Education and Skills announced on 10th April 2020 that Junior Cycle examinations which were due to take place in June had been cancelled. A further announcement was then made on the 29th April outlining what arrangements were to replace these terminal exams:
1) A State Certificate of completion of Junior Cycle from the Department of Education and Skills. Students should receive a State Certification that they have completed three years of Junior Cycle education in a number of subjects/priority learning units. This certification will be provided by the Department of Education and Skills.
2) A School Report setting out the learning achievements of students in Junior Cycle. Students should receive a written report on the broad range of learning that they have achieved in each subject, short course and/or priority learning unit at the end of Junior Cycle. This assessment of their learning will be provided by their teachers. Schools will have autonomy in how this assessment is to be arrived at and the format in which the report is provided.
In line with this announcement, the following arrangements for our school-based assessments will take place over the coming weeks:
* School based assessment – online assessments will take place in each subject during the week of 11th-15th May 2020. Each subject department will devise common assessments for third year classes which will reflect the work studied in class and through distance learning over the past number of months. These examinations will be graded and used to form part of each students’ overall school-based certification. Your child’s teacher will be offering guidance on these assessments over the coming week through our Teams and One Note platforms.
* These results, along with your child’s previous school assessments (winter, summer and mock examinations) and CAT 4 results will then be used to calculate a predicted grade for their final Junior Cycle report.
This predicted grade will be calculated using Athena Analytics, which is a software company specialising in tracking progress and predicting grades, using a tried and tested algorithm. Athena Analytics will provide us with results for each Junior Cycle student to reflect their learning achievements over the last three years. This is an Irish based company and their software has been tried and tested using over 10,000 previous Junior Certificate results. This predicted grade will be a fair reflection of each students’ learning achievements over the past three years.
* Each student will then receive a final school-based report on your child’s Junior Cycle Achievement which will include
1) A grade from each subject area which is derived from Athena Analytics.
2) Any official Classroom Based Assessment (C.B.A.) descriptor grades which have been completed prior to school closure from 2nd and 3rd year.
This final Report on Junior Cycle Achievement will be available on Vsware at the end of May, and when safe to do so, a hard copy also posted home.
We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate each of our students for their fantastic achievements over the past three years of their Junior Cycle. We here in Bremore ETSS are exceptionally proud of each and every one of our students and we are grateful to have watched them develop and flourish into bright young adults and we look forward to welcoming them back to the new academic year, as they begin their senior cycle of education.
Wishing each of you a safe and enjoyable summer break.
Your sincerely,
Kathy Jones Sarah-Jane Willis Chris Kearney
Principal Deputy Principal Junior Cycle Co-ordinator