Cystic Fibrosis Ireland welcome the decision announced today by Minister for Education, Joe Mc Hugh, TD that the Leaving Cert examinations for 2020 have been postponed. Students will be offered an option of accepting calculated grades or sitting written examinations at a later date.

This decision is the best outcome for students with cystic fibrosis and students with a family member with cystic fibrosis, to whom a return to school and / or sitting in an exam hall for the duration of the exams would have posed a huge health risk.

Cystic Fibrosis Ireland had made representations to the Minister for Education to advocate for our members on this issue and are pleased that the impact on the student’s and student’s family’s health has been considered when making this decision.

In the announcement today, the Minister for Education confirmed that students will be contacted individually by their school and given the option to choose Calculated Grades. There is no obligation on students to confirm at this stage if they would like to sit the Leaving Cert examinations when they take place later in the year.

If a student opts for Calculated Grades, but is unhappy with their results they will have the opportunity to appeal and can still choose to take part in the Leaving Cert examinations when they take place later in the year. 

Calculated Grades will be a grade awarded to a student by their teachers and will be reached through an assigned mark and a ranking compared to their classmates. This will happen for each individual subject. These marks will then be subjected to an in-school alignment process before being reviewed and signed off by the School principal.

A process of national standardisation using statistical methods to ensure a common national standard is applied. 

Cystic Fibrosis Ireland can provide letters of support to students with CF who were due to sit their Leaving Cert and opt to accept the calculated grades. This letter will outline the daily impact of cystic fibrosis and also highlight any absences a student experienced due to their CF and ask the school to consider these circumstances when assigning a grade. Students or parents who would like to avail of this support should contact Samantha Byrne by email only; sbyrne@cfireland.ie

Additionally, if students with cystic fibrosis would like to sit the exams later in the year, but will require specific arrangements to be in place to do so, Cystic Fibrosis Ireland will support students with their applications.

The new date for the Leaving Cert Examinations has not been announced, but is expected to be in Autumn / Winter 2020.

Cystic Fibrosis Ireland acknowledge that is has been an anxious time for Leaving Cert students and their families since the initial restrictions were introduced on March 27th and the initial postponement of the State Exams was announced on April 23rd. We hope today’s announcement will bring some relief in these unprecedented times.

Further information on today’s announcement is available on the Department of Education website. 

Students should contact their school for advice and further information.

The Cystic Fibrosis Ireland Member Services Team are also available if students or their families need support following this announcement.