Excellent Junior Cycle results did not receive the media recognition they deserved

Sir, – Sometimes success slips under the radar. The issuing of outstanding results in the Junior Cycle exam last Wednesday (“Junior Cycle: Record numbers receive their results”, Education, October 7th) to more than 73,000 young people was overshadowed by other events – the Ireland-Israel soccer match controversy, the Garvaghy Road stand-off and the interminable budget postmortems that dominated the news.

A significantly high number achieved grades in the top three bands, with 8.6 per cent awarded a distinction, 30.2 per cent a higher merit and 34.7 per cent a merit. That means that a whopping 73.5 per cent of all grades were in the top three grade bands.

The Junior Cycle exam is important because it is the first opportunity for second-level students to engage with a public exam. With few students now leaving school after junior cycle, it is a significant safeguard against early dropout of at-risk students and a significant force in the reduction of inequality in Irish education.

Congratulations to all the exam candidates and their dedicated teachers for achieving superb results. Mol an óige agus tiocfaidh sí! – Yours, etc,