School /6th year /mocks/ HELP

emma5678910

Hi everyone , I’m a 16 year old girl and I’m in my leaving cert year in a school that I really do not like. I was a good student up until my junior cert and I didn’t love school but I got on with it and done very well in my exams ( 1A ,6B’s and 4C’s). I’d be very displined and would always have manners and never had any problems with teachers or getting into trouble . Fifth year came and between falling out with friends and what not has left me extremely unhappy in school and this has continued on into this school year too. Last October there was an incident where I was really really let down by a few of my closest friends and it left me feeling very alone and upset , I told my parents and we made a second attempt to try and move school. Unfortunately , logistically it just won’t work with my family situation with my parents jobs and where I live the school I’m in is the closest. It’s too late for me to move now and I do want to sit my leaving cert , my grades and study has gone down noticeably since my jc and I won’t do overly well but because of my age too I’m 99% sure I will do a plc course and get into college that route. At the moment I’m so unhappy in school and I’ve gone from a happy, normal girl to a girl battling with anxiety and I feel like depression too. I do have a good relationship with my parents but my mother just is stubborn and I feel and know she doesn’t understand what I’m going through sometimes and brushes it off, when this incident happened in October my parents were both very understanding at the beginning and towards the end of the first week off my mother was basically saying to suck it up I have to go well in a nicer way though . I have a group of girls I stay with but there not very good friends to me by the things they do / say and they hurt my feelings and upset me a lot. I suppose what I really need help with is how to convince my parents to let me stay at home and study / revise myself ? I cannot cope with going back to school and at this point I’m thinking of unimaginable things to get me out of going back . My mocks are the start of February and I have missed a lot of time in 5th year and already this year and I think staying at home would give me a chance to sort myself out and do my own thing. Absolutely any ideas would be so much appreciated

kanadams123

Hi There!
First of all thanks for posting! I am also sitting LC this June (I am an 18 year old boy though!) I have 2 older sisters and an older brother. They all agreed (which is unusual) that the LC was the most stressful, traumatic experience.My sister still has recurring dreams of it (she is now almost 30). There is so much pressure, and lets face it, the exams are NOT easy. Keep in mind they were all 18 when doing the LC. The trauma/stress must be double for a 16 year old. I think part of what you are feeling could relate to this. There are 5 months left. That seems a lot, but look at it this way. (i am going my my timetable!)
3 weeks of school (not that much, it will fly considering mocks are so close.)
2 weeks of mocks
1 week off for midterm
Mid Term to Easter
Easter to Leaving Cert(this will include orals, practicals if you are doing any, which will really break it up)

There really is not much time left. My advice: stick it out. I know that is easy for me to say, and i understand it is hard for you to do. (really, i do understand) I, like you hang around with "no real friends" if that is how you would like to put it. I don't even speak half the time.

Moving school at this stage is definitely a NO! But there are people there to help you! Tell a teacher you trust (chaplain??) that you are struggling, believe me when i say they WANT to help.
I am sure there is still plenty of the courses left to finish in school so staying at home to teach yourself is not a very good idea, unless you decide to pay a heck load of money for grinds!! Try and take it a day at a time, then in June. THATS IT. YOU ARE FINISHED. you have the whole summer!
LC students (in my school/area anyway) don't usually go in the last week, maybe two weeks of school. They take the time to study! Its so close! Its a lot closer than you think.

I hope while you are reading this you feel a better.
Now, I don't know what this October Incident was. Try to let it in the past. That is all I can say when i don't know in detail what happend. Feel free to let me know in private chat. IF YOU WANT.
If it is something very serious, maybe you should consider calling a helpline/child-line etc.

As a final word. ALWAYS remember people want to help YOU. There are people out there!

I really hope i have helped you. Please reply!

lildaisy

Let me tell you I'm very new to this and ive tried replying to this post twice before this and neither attempt has worked. Damn.

Anyway! I will be sitting the exam in June aswell! To be honest I have went through all of the above, except during my JC and it really impacted me bad. So i can totally understand what you're going through(girls can be vile as hell). It's crappy it really is.
From my experience what worked best for me was getting back into school and my work (although i did spend about 3-4 months off school and ended up with 1 fail all c's and 1b). I know how you feel on a mental health point of view and its super tough.

To be honest sticking it through will be your best bet. The leaving cert WILL be over before you know it (that is indeed freaking me out tbh). We can argue that some teachers are "utterly useless" but its good to have someone there to guide you through all of this. I could go through ALL my conclusions but then i'd be giving you literally an essay of some sorts.

All in all you need to look after your mental health first. The LC can come second. Talking to people can really help, a therapist maybe. You can even message me (if thats possible on here, again, im new). But yeah, I think work through with your mental health. Even if you go against what i say and decide to study at home you still need to be in tip top shape to study.

With the Lc remember to stay strong and brave and do the best of your ability but also remember that pushing yourself too hard will reverse you.

I hope you have had a good day! :]

kanadams123

lildaisy wrote: »

All in all you need to look after your mental health first.

Yes, I agree with what lildaisy has said! Your mental health is the most important!

And also, welcome lildaisy, i hope you get the hang of things soon!

GalwayGrrrrrl

Hi Emma, just came across your post as I was browsing. It’s a long time since I did my school exams but I can remember how stressful that time can be. However as the very wise posters above have already said, you’ve not long to go now, you’ll soon be finished school and I promise you’ll enjoy college or working a lot more as you’ll have more control. If you want to chat to someone I can recommend Jigsaw. It’s free and non-judgemental. Their website is Jigsaw.ie and they have drop-in centres around Ireland too if that’s handy for you. Good luck with your exams.

lildaisy

kanadams123 wrote: »

Yes, I agree with what lildaisy has said! Your mental health is the most important!

And also, welcome lildaisy, i hope you get the hang of things soon!

Thank you so much! :]

emma5678910

Hi everyone, it was so nice to see all your messages when I logged back in I really want to thank ye it really does mean a lot and I appreciate it very much. It’s nice to know to some people can relate to me and understand where I’m coming from. With the school situation I’m slowly trying to ease myself back into doing some study yet whether I’ll face it Monday I don’t know . It’s quite sad because I’ve always been a well got girl in school and I get on with everyone but I couldn’t text anyone and to have stranger reply to me with such nice words really cheers me up! Thank yous all again !

Thatguy11

hi
i am also sitting my leaving and i know exactly how stressful it is to sit it. In my opinion i would not drop out school and continue on. once you finish the leaving and move on to collage or to a plc you will leaving everything behind and forget about it. and my other advice would be to stay in school till the mocks and then you can study at home because most teachers finish the course before the mocks and you dont really need to go in so you can just stay home and study and maybe pop in once in a while to see whats going on.
Hope this helped and message me if you have any other questions.