Tea and biscuits at Blarney co-ed, but there's little need for sympathy

EARLY YESTERDAY a large group of feverishly excited teens gathered with their parents in the entrance porch and hallway of Scoil Mhuire Gan Smal co-ed secondary school in Blarney, Co Cork.

At 10am on the dot, school principal Jack Whyte began handing out the Junior Cert results in their brown envelopes individually to each pupil as they lined up outside his office along with a firm handshake and a hearty "well done".

There were hysterical shrieks of joy from the girls (and some of the mothers) as well as the inevitable tears. Less emotional reactions came from their male fellow students as the envelopes were opened.

Parents and students were all invited to have a cup of tea or coffee and a hot buttered scone or biscuit in recognition of the fact that many would have been too nervous to eat breakfast.

Star pupil Bríd Brosnan (15), from Whitechurch, was quietly pleased with her 10 As. "I can't believe it. I did work hard, but I was worried about science. I'm thrilled," she said.

Unlike most of their fellow pupils, Bríd and her friends were planning to celebrate their results last night by going bowling and then to the cinema.

Despite the advice of their principal to celebrate by going out for a bite to eat or going to a movie, most students were planning to head to an alcohol-free youth disco at the Bondi Beach nightclub in the city centre last night.

However, Mr Whyte warned that all pupils were expected in school at 8.40am today. He was particularly proud of Polish pupil Patrycja Olesky (16), from Blarney, who got three As, four Bs and a C, including a B in English.

"She didn't have a word of English when she started here two years ago. She's a fantastic pupil, she had two hours of extra tuition a week. We are very proud of her."

Although Patrycja said she did study very hard for her exams, she was surprised at how well she did and she hadn't decided yesterday morning how she was going to celebrate her success.

Mr Whyte, who appeared almost as excited as his pupils, was very pleased with the results this year which he said were "exceptionally good". "We have made it compulsory for all students here to take science and the results were very good. Maths also held up well to the national average."

Students at the school had the option of 18 subjects for Junior Cert. As the school was co-ed, they also had a number of boys taking traditionally female subjects like home economics, and a small number of girls taking woodwork.