This article is from page 19 of the 2012-08-21 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 19 JPG
TEACHERS have credited a new focus on maths as helping boost the results achieved by Clare students in the Leaving Cert.
As students of Coláiste Muire gathered in the Ennis school on Wednesday to collect their results, school principal Jean Pound said there had been a good response to the Project Maths initiative.
Project Maths involves the introduction of revised syllabuses for both Junior and Leaving Certificate Mathematics. It involves changes to what students learn in mathematics, how they learn it and how they will be assessed.
Much greater emphasis is also being placed on student understand- ing of mathematical concepts, with increased use of contexts and applications to enable students to relate mathematics to everyday experience.
Ms Pound said students had scored “excellent” results.
“They’re delighted with the results so far.
“The Project Maths aspect of it seemed to go well. The students seemed very thrilled. We had some very good results. A few of the students had all A1s.”
She continued, “We had 90 students altogether sitting the exams, which was our smallest group for a number of years.
“We had 13 students sitting the Leaving Cert Applied. The students achieved some very distinguished results.
“Overall I’d say it was probably on a par with other years.”
Ms Pound also urged students awaiting third-level offers from the Central Applications Office (CAP) to carefully consider their options.
“They should be very pleased with what they have achieved.
Students shouldn’t get too worried if they did not get their first choice. They will always have options.”