Leaving Certificate

Leaving Certificate in HCCS

Leaving Certificate is part of the senior cycle curriculum, after completing Transition Year students have the option of following the leaving Certificate Applied programme or the Leaving Certificate Programme

The key skills of the Leaving Certificate Programme are:

Leaving Certificate Key Skills

Information Processing

This key skill helps students become competent in an information-intensive environment. As well as developing the specific skills of accessing, selecting, evaluating and recording information, students develop an appreciation of the differences between information and knowledge and the roles that both play in making decisions and judgements.

Critical and creative thinking

This key skill assists students in being aware of different forms and patterns of thinking so that they become more skilled in higher order reasoning and problem solving. In engaging with this key skill, students reflect critically on the forms of thinking and values that shape their own perceptions, opinions and knowledge.

Communicating

This key skill helps students to appreciate how central communication is to human relationships of all kinds, and to become better communicators in both formal and informal situations. As well as developing specific skills in a variety of media they form a deeper understanding of the power of communication-particularly language and images-in the modern world. It also incorporates competence and confidence in literacy as an essential basic skill for all learners.

Working with others

This key skill highlights the role that working with others plays in learning and in reaching both collective and personal goals. It helps students gain some appreciation of the dynamics of groups and the social skills needed to engage in collaborative work. It contributes to an appreciation that working collectively can help motivation, release energy and capitalise on all the talents in a group. In a broader context, they come to recognise that working collectively is important for social cohesion and for engaging with diverse cultural, ethnic and religious groups.

Being personally effective

This key skill contributes to the personal growth of learners, to them becoming more self-aware and to their using that knowledge to develop personal goals and life plans. As well as giving students specific strategies related to self appraisal, goal setting and action planning, an important dimension of this key skill is in building the know-how of students in recognising how to get things done, how to garner and use resources effectively, and how to act autonomously according to personal identities and personal values.

Leaving Certificate subjects in HCCS

Students study 7 subjects at examination level for the Leaving Certificate 3 core subjects Irish Maths and English and 4 optional subjects. In addition as part of our senior cycle wellbeing suite of subjects all students study RSE and PE

Core subjects:

Optional Subjects:

For further information on the Leaving Certificate please click on the link below:

https://ncca.ie/en/senior-cycle/programmes-and-key-skills/leaving-certificate-establishedA

Assessment in Leaving Certificate

Subjects are assessed by an examination paper and by additional assessment methods including oral and aural examinations, practical examinations and assessment of practical coursework at the end of the two-year programme of study. Performance in the examination can be used for purposes of selection into employment, and into further and higher education.

Further information on assessment can be found at

https://www.examinations.ie