A snow day in secondary school usually means a day of snowball fights and building igloos that test your patience. That's if you're not sitting your Leaving Cert.
In a strange twist of faith, the Beast from the East means a number of secondary school students cannot sit their Leaving Cert mocks. One school decided to allow the students to sit their mocks from the comfort of their own homes.This morning Hewitt College in Cork informed students and their parents this morning that due to the “hazardous footpaths and roads, and disruption to water services”, the school would close.
The students at the private school would still sit their mock exams at home as the staff made the decision last night. Principal Trish McGrath told TheJournal.ie: "All of our 4th, 5th and 6th year students do pre-examinations. The conditions are so bad, we made a decision last night to close today.”
McGrath said the parents have been instructed on how to the students should undertake the exams and the type of “supervision and examination-style conditions” their children will need to do the tests. A decision will then be taken over the coming days on whether or not to send further exams home if the conditions persist.
McGrath is doubtful that the students will use the opportunity to take a peek at their textbooks.
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I don’t think so. We’ve given full instructions to parents regarding exam conditions. It’s not important what mark they get here, but it’s important they have a trial run for the real thing. I don’t think there will be any cheating.
Regardless of whether or not the students will be tempted to cheat, it gives them the chance to experience the time constraints of an exam and what areas they'll need to focus on when the real thing comes around. Best of luck lads!
