Leaving cert school problems

samina

Hi, my daughter is in her leaving cert year and one of her teachers has barely been in all year. The school has gotten a stand in when they could, but in their recent mocks there were whole sections that the school removed from the paper after they realised they hadn't been taught anything on them. There won't be a replacement for a couple of months. Which in my opinion is too late. Moneys too tight to pay for private grinds so is this subject a lost cause at this stage or is there anything I can do? Anyone any suggestions?

kate.m

What subject has she missed out on?

samina

kate.m wrote: »

What subject has she missed out on?

Irish

CookieMonster.x

samina wrote: »

kate.m wrote: »

What subject has she missed out on?

Irish

I'm currently in 5th year atm. Contact the school. Irish is quite important (being a language you really need a teacher as opposed to business for example) especially if she's looking to primary teaching. I presume other parents know about this and are unhappy? It's not hard to get a sub (well, my opinion). In my school if a teacher is going to be out and they know in advance a sub is organised immediately. Make sure you get onto the school asap. They can't expect a class to teach themselves.

samina

Hi cookiemonster I was onto the school and it was the principal that told me the above. The new teacher will start on April and until then they have more free classes than substitutes. To make it worse it's the only irish teacher in the school so none of the students are having Irish lessons

rainbowtrout

That's ridiculous. So every class in the school is going to be left sitting there for the whole month of March without an Irish teacher? They should be able to hire someone in the short term.

iguana

Maybe the best thing you can do if nothing will change in the school is do what you can to prepare your daughter for her oral exam which will be coming up in the next month or two. Maybe a good Irish language audio lesson kit, there are a few suggestions here. http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=58676274

It's not ideal but afaik, the oral exam is usually in March or early April so keeping her on top of actually speaking Irish would be an immediate priority.

samina

Yes rainbow trout they didn't explain why they couldn't. As i say they have one sometimes but more often not

Oh iguana I hadn't realised they were that soon. Had a quick look at the thread and shall follow the links and see what I can come up with. Thank you

iguana

samina wrote: »

Oh iguana I hadn't realised they were that soon. Had a quick look at the thread and shall follow the links and see what I can come up with. Thank you

I just checked and last year the Irish Oral exams happened between the 4th and 15th of April. Different schools do different days depending on the examiner's schedule. So it's definitely, imo, the very first thing to ensure your daughter is prepared for.

samina

iguana wrote: »

samina wrote: »

Oh iguana I hadn't realised they were that soon. Had a quick look at the thread and shall follow the links and see what I can come up with. Thank you

I just checked and last year the Irish Oral exams happened between the 4th and 15th of April. Different schools do different days depending on the examiner's schedule. So it's definitely, imo, the very first thing to ensure your daughter is prepared for.

I'll ring the school and find out when it is and see what they can advise in the way of preparation too. Much appreciated

lace

The school should be organizing a sub and it's not fair that your child is being put at a disadvantage.

If you are in contact with any parents of the other children in the class? If so, I'd strongly suggest you send a message/email or ring around and see if anyone else has taken issue with this. The more support you can rally, the better.

Next, you need to set up a meeting with the principal and explain that they need to organize some form of Irish tuition for Leaving Cert students. If it's too difficult to find someone who can cover school hours, suggest that they put it on after school as an option. Surely there's another teacher in another school somewhere who would be glad of the extra pay?

If you're having no luck with the principal then threaten to contact the local paper/radio station. It's absolutely ridiculous that this school is allowing students to go without Irish lessons in the run up to the orals!

In the meantime, the best you can do is try to encourage your daughter to do as much independent study as possible. If her friends are also worried about this, perhaps they could set up a study group (always with a parent in the house who can pop on and be sure they're keeping on track) so that they can practice for their mocks. I did this in the run up to my LC and found that, contrary to what my parents thought, studying with friends helped to keep me focussed. Ask around and see if any family/friends/friends of friends are particularly good at Irish and wouldn't mind helping out?

sarahm1994

That's awful! I have a bad Irish teacher for my LC at tho moment but she's better than nothing. As other people have said, the best she can do is practice her Oral with her friends (that's a large part of what we're doing in class right now!). For the actual exam, the Revise Wise/Less Stress More Success books are really handy, they should help her and they're pretty cheap. Good luck!

Bucklesman

There are Irish Leaving Cert prep podcasts available here from Raidió na Life.