Junior Certificate results 2013

Congratulations to our candidates who today achieved excellent results in many subjects. In English, 83% sat the exam at Higher Level (nationally, 73% do), with the remainder sitting Ordinary Level (no-one took Foundation Level).

At Higher Level, of all our candidates:-

11.4% achieved A
20.0% B
34.3% C
20.0% D.

Book Report: Downham and Rosoff

In her Junior Certificate book report for last term's exam, Darcy Maule compared two novels with not-dissimilar titles, Before I Die by Jenny Downham and How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff.  

Darcy writes:

The book I preferred is most definitely Before I Die because I related to the book more than How I Live Now. I chose these books because they seemed to have good storylines that appealed to me. How I Live Now is about a girl called Elizabeth who calls herself Daisy who moves to England from New York City to live with her dead mother’s sister and cousins. A war breaks out in England while the aunt is stuck in Oslo and the children are separated by gender. Daisy then escapes with her younger cousin Piper to find the other family members including her cousin Edmund who she has fallen in love with.

Before I Die is about a girl who is 16 called Tessa who suffers with leukaemia. The doctors said to Tessa “I’d encourage you to do the things you want to do.” Tessa takes that quite literally and makes up a bucket list of things she wants to do before she dies with help from her best friend Zoey. Tessa’s parents are divorced so she lives with her loving Dad and her honest little brother Cal. Tessa’s dad is stuck in denial about her illness and just wants to spend time with her while her mother is very supportive about her list. Tessa’s main point on her list is to fall in love which happens when she encounters her neighbour Adam.


Read the complete book report here.

M.T. Anderson & Mark Haddon : Junior Cert book report

For his Junior Certificate preparation book report, Peter Quigley chose two books about outsiders, and explains:

"The books I read were called The Astonishing life of Octavian Nothing by M.T Anderson  and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon. I chose these books because they both involve somebody who is an outsider in society. In “Astonishing Life” Octavian is a coloured boy who lives in colonial Boston. In  “Curious Incident” Christopher is a boy with Asperger’s Syndrome who lives in modern Britain. Although the time in which they are both set are hundreds of years apart, the people’s views of the two boys are very similar. Both books are written in the 1st person and both are written through the minds of children. Both authors do this very well"

Read Peter's full essay here.

Junior Cert essay: John Boyne and Eva Ibbotson

In her Junior Certificate book report, Eliza Hancock compared John Boyne's The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and Eva Ibbotson's Journey to the River Sea.

She writes:-

"They are two powerfully told books, that are similar in that they are both told through the eyes of an innocent child pointing out the flaws in the adult world, and highlighting the simplicity of childhood. A similar theme throughout each book is the sense of friendship and loyalty shown by both Bruno and Maia to their friends - Shmuel in Bruno’s case and Finn and Clovis in Maia’s. I found both these books incredibly gripping, especially The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, and in both cases I found the books nearly impossible to put down."

Read Eliza's full essay here.

'Unhooking the Moon' and 'Journey to the River Sea'

In her (excellent) Junior Certificate book report, Nicola Dalrymple has compared Unhooking the Moon by Gregory Hughes and Journey to the River Sea by Eva Ibbotson.

She writes:-

There were many differences in them but there were also many similarities. Doing  this book report really made me think about the books in greater detail then I  had before and recognize some of the effective skills the authors used and hopefully I will be able to take them into account when I’m writing. I would really recommend Unhooking the Moon to all readers especially to teenagers. For Journey to the River Sea I would recommend it to readers of all ages, really, children, adolescents and adults. I have simply enjoyed the entertainment I had out of both books and I will read books by the same authors again. I think Unhooking the Moon was a thriller, a true page turner and Journey to the River was an original fantasy that took me out of the St Columba’s library, out of the school, but somewhere completely unique and magical.  

Read the full essay here.

'How I Live Now' & 'What I Was' by Meg Rosoff

For her book report last term, Junior Certificate pupil Ali Boyd Crotty wrote on two novels by Meg Rosoff, How I Live Now and What I Was.  She comments:-

Altogether, I really enjoyed both books. I had never read anything by Rosoff before I read these two books but I already can’t wait to read more by her. How I Live Now isn’t the most uplifting, happy story, but it drew me in and made me laugh and also almost cry. What I Was is a very slow starting book, but soon it made me never want it to end. I would recommend both of these books to anyone my age, and older, I really enjoyed reading them.

Read the full comparison here.

'Brave New World' and '1984'

Our second Junior Certificate book report this year is by Rowland Fitzgerald Barron, and like Mark Russell's yesterday, presents two books linked by theme: in this case, Rowland examines George Orwell's 1984 and Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, two famous dystopian novels. 

Rowland writes:

I thought 1984 was a very good read. From the very beginning I was sucked in as it immediately describes what kind of day it is and vividly yet briefly shows how the protagonist tries to escape the cold. I found it gripping because of the amount of detail put into every scene, for example instead of saying 'Winston walked into the room,' the author would say 'Stepping into the room, he noticed the rich smell of coffee and the shabby furniture'. Also, it is written in a very personal manner so you feel as if you are sharing the protagonist's feelings. However, there were some parts I did not enjoy reading and felt tempted to put down the book and never read it again, such as a thirty-page lecture in which we are told the history of Oceania and the warring states. As much as it pains me to say it however I do feel this was necessary in order to understand the current political situation and the way things were heading. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a new, fresh style of writing as it is a change to most of the books around nowadays.

I found Brave New World was written well and the author was very descriptive as well. However, I did feel that the plot was rather weak; the whole book didn't really seem to have much of a story and felt more as if it was just following someone's life. Also, I thought the beginning was quite boring and didn't make a good impression as it had nothing to do with the already weak story and instead was focusing on a scientist giving a tour to a bunch of students. However, I do feel this was needed (just like the boring part that was in 1984) as it explains what the current situation is and how the human race is being treated.

Overall I preferred 1984 as it had a stronger story and more likeable characters.

Read the full essay here.

'The Wave' and 'The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas'

In his recent book report, Junior Cert pupil Mark Russell compared two books connected by Nazism - Morton Rhue's The Wave, and John Boyne's The Boy in Striped Pyjamas. In his excellent thorough analysis, he analysed each book's background, characters and structure, and commented:

"After I read The Wave I stopped thinking about the book quite quickly, whereas thoughts from The Boy In the Striped Pyjamas kept going through my head. The Boy In the Striped Pyjamas kept me thinking."

Find out why, by reading Mark's full essay here. 

Junior Certificate results 2011

Well done to our candidates in the Junior Certificate this year, who received their results today and are now on a trip out to celebrate. An analysis will appear of the overall College results on the website in due course. In English, 95% of our candidates took the exam at Higher Level, and 73% gained an A, B or C.

'No and Me' and 'To Kill a Mockingbird'

Term started today, and we have another busy term ahead of us on the blog. First, we need to catch up on some pupil work done last term, including Junior Certificate III form book reports.

Sally Kemp read and then wrote about two novels: No and Me by Delphine de Vigan, and To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (which Transition Year will shortly be studying).

Sally writes:

Both these books are from a first person narrative, both of which are female. Lou, a thirteen year old genius with already a very developed mind and Scout, who is very intelligent but still has a lot of learning ahead of her in terms of morality, and much younger. Lou’s perspective was something completely new to me, there would be so many ideas buzzing around in her head and she would analyse every single aspect of those ideas, each possible outcome of it.

Between the two, I found Lou the more interesting character to read about because of this fascinating mind. Whereas Scout was still learning, she was also very clever and articulate for a girl of her tender age. She is confident, brave and with the best of intentions. The fact that she would beat all the boys up and speak her mind in class, really reminds me of when I was her age. For that reason, I can identify with Scout a lot more than I can with Lou.

Read the rest of the book report here.

'Shadow Wave' and 'The Rescue'

III formers completed their book reports (preparation for the Junior Certificate) recently, and we'll post some of the best here, as usual. Juliana Huggard wrote on Robert Muchamore's Shadow Wave and Sophie McKenzie's The Medusa Project: The Rescue.

She writes: there was a a very helpful and wide range of interesting books on the list, but I have a very distinctive taste... these are equally extraordinary books.

Read Juliana's full essay here.

Junior Certificate results 2010

Congratulations to all our candidates who this morning receive their Junior Certificate results. Full details across all the subjects will be on the College site in due course. In English, 84% of all our candidates achieved A, B or C at Higher Level.

Book review: Power and Hinton

In his Junior Certificate book report, Chris Doherty chose two books for his comparison which clearly fit together well - S.E. Hinton's classic The Outsiders, and the much more recent Bad Day in Blackrock by Kevin Power, recommended by SCC English here last April.

Chris writes: - My main novel, Bad Day in Blackrock, is based around the glamorous lives of wealthy private schoolboys in South Dublin and is set in the modern era. It focuses on the difficulties associated with teenagers’ experiences today, and the challenges faced by upper-middle class teenagers. I feel that I can relate well with this book and therefore understand its complexities more fully. The Outsiders, on the other hand, is based in the 1960s, and concentrates on the life of the lower class citizens, or ‘thugs’ and ‘greasers’, as they are known. This is also interesting because it is a setting I am not familiar with, and therefore my reading had an element of learning to it, giving me an insight into a different world.

Read the full report by Chris here.

Junior Certificate reading list

The day after last year's Junior Cert candidates got their marks, we're posting this year's III form reading list. Each year in the first term, III formers write a long essay comparing books, which goes towards 25% of their exam marks. An earlier version of the list of choices from our Library collection was published in the Spring 2007 edition of the Teaching English magazine, and can be read by clicking the Issuu version at the bottom of this post.

Included in the list are novels such Teresa Breslin's Divided City, M.T.Anderson's The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing and Margaret Bechard's Hanging on to Max. Pupils - you can read the entire list here, and also always under Department Documents (scroll down for the link on the right).

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Junior Certificate results 2009

Congratulations to our Junior Cert candidates this year, who have just received their results. There were some very impressive overall performances.  In English, 83% of all our candidates gained A, B or C at Higher Level. No national statistics are available for 2009 yet, but this compares with 52% of all candidates in 2008.

Leaving and Junior Cert English

Good luck to our 61 VI formers and 41 III formers as they start their Certificate exams this morning in the Sports Hall with English. The Leaving candidates are tackling Paper I (composition and comprehension), and the Junior candidates Language at Higher Level (with Literature this afternoon) and all the sections at Ordinary Level.

All My Sons review

Transition Year and III form have now both been to see the Gate Theatre's production of Arthur Miller's tragedy All My Sons. Among the Junior Cert pupils to go last week was Michael Kemp, who reviews it below:-

Reading play scripts before seeing the play is the exact same as reading the book before the movie. I had already envisioned how it should be played, the timing and setting all in my head and thus prepared myself to be appalled by any motion not in sync with my vision. My vision was wrong though.

I think that All My Sons is a play that will only work with the right cast, although this production pulled it off marginally.

The portrayals of Joe and Kate were flawless and fully deserved their standing ovation, Joe especially simply for making Keller's transformation from family man to the angry, confused and guilt-ridden character that dominates the final act, seem so real and human. Unfortunately, Chris could not pull this off.

The actor certainly played it well at the start but as he needed to be more dramatically unhinged; he became fidgety and lost his restraint, perhaps uncomfortable with how he was supposed to attack Joe.

I won't go into too much detail about the supportting cast but even though I imagined them differently, they were all good, especially George and Annie, whose chemistry electrified the second act after a slow beginning.

The set was authentic though I found the lighting scheme to be a little jokey [George is sad so put him under a blue light, but now he is happy, get him under an orange light!] but it worked although it distracted me a little.

But the general lighting was superb, and especially the deep orange flooding the stage as the sun sets. I won't give too much detail about the sets because as long as they are there, they do their job but the set designers did well to give Keller's home a 'Lived In' look with old wood and a seemingly overgrown garden.

All the things I found annoying in this adaptation are subjective to every person. For example, some of the things that I would see differently were: Jim's too old to be Chris' s friend, Sue wasn't old enough, and Kate seemed weaker than she was supposed to be. Many seemed too concerned with keeping their accents in check than expressing their emotions.

Although it sounds like I thought it was a poor production, that's not true at all, I'm simply nit-picking. I was slightly confused at the start, mainly because the characters were so upbeat and jokey, contrasting so heavily with their true selves, but I soon got it. Like the best suburban dramas, All My Sons shows the gloss and rose-tinted memories that suburbia promises and provides, yet dig a little deeper and the play reveals the dark heart that beats behind the forced smiles and the tragedy that is the American Dream.


[Go here for links to press reviews]

III book report

As part of their exam mark, III form Junior Certificate pupils again this term wrote book reports on books of their own choosing. Here, Lingfan Gao writes about Jeffrey Archer's The Fourth Estate, unusually comparing it to William Golding's Lord of the Flies.

Disaster

Paul Coleman, from III form (Junior Certificate) recently wrote this 9/11 story, 'Disaster', in Mr Jameson's class. It starts:-

It was 8 o’clock in the morning and it was another beautiful day. By the time I was dressed and downstairs, my wife had already laid out my breakfast. When I was finished my breakfast, I gave my wife a kiss and went off to work. When I got to the World Trade Centre, Tower 1, it was 9am. I was halfway up the stairs to Level 9 when I thought of the tough day ahead of me. And that’s when the first plane hit.

The full story is here.

Junior Certificate results

Congratulations to the many pupils who yesterday received excellent Junior Cert results. In English, 91% sat the papers at Higher Level (the national figure is 67%), and 18% of all who entered received A grades (nationally, 7% of the entire cohort get Higher As).