Guidance Department Twitter Account - Covid 19

The Twitter Handle for Bush Guidance is @bppguidance

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Rainbows 9 week programme

Rainbows Ireland is a free, listening, peer, group support service that provides support for children from the age of 7, after they have experienced a Parental Separation and or Bereavement. 

When significant change and loss happens in a family, the entire family can be affected including children. Children generally find it difficult to understand their feelings and often do not have the words to say how they feel. 

Rainbows provides group support for children of a similar age and loss experience. Meeting others in a similar situation can be very supportive for children. 

Rainbows is not a counselling group or professional therapy.

Bush Post Primary School provides this service to children attending our school.

Staff at our school have undertaken the training to become a Rainbows Volunteer Facilitator. 

If you would like more information on the Rainbows service and its programmes, please visit www.rainbowsireland.ie 

Normally the programme will run for 9 weeks, for an hour each week after school. 

If you would like to find out when the programme will be running in our school, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to speak to Elizabeth Bell, Rainbows Coordinator.

19 March, 2020 – Minister McHugh Announces Cancellation of Leaving Certificate and Junior Cycle Oral and Practical Performance Tests

Minister for Education and Skills Joe McHugh TD has today (Thursday 19 March 2020) announced the cancellation of oral and practical performance tests of the state examinations which were originally scheduled to take place from Monday 23 March to Friday 3 April 2020.

All students who were due to take these tests will be awarded full marks for this portion of the exam. 

The decision was taken in light of the closure of schools as a result of the Covid-19 virus and it will be implemented by the State Examinations Commission (SEC). 

Minister McHugh said: “This is a difficult time for all. Students are facing a challenging period out of school and our decision on this element of the exams is being taken with their best interests at heart. 

“It is the fairest response we could take in the circumstances. It guarantees that no student will score less than they would have if schools had been operating as normal. 

“We have seen a new emphasis on remote learning amid the uncertainty about the impact of Covid-19 and the closure of all schools. I hope this decision will ease some of the pressure that students are feeling and allow them to focus more clearly on completing project work and preparing for written exams.” 

The change to the 2020 state examinations means all students who were due to take oral and practical performance tests in the following subjects will be given full marks for this part of the examination: 

• Oral tests in Leaving Certificate Irish and the Modern Languages of French, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian and Japanese.
• Practical performance tests in Leaving Certificate Music.
• Practical performance tests in Junior Certificate Music and Home Economics. 

Minister McHugh also confirmed changes to deadlines for students to complete project work and coursework in a number of subjects. 

Students were originally scheduled to complete these elements of the state examinations on a number of dates from Friday 20 March to Friday 24 April 2020, depending on the subject. 

Students will now be given until Friday 15 May 2020 to complete this work. 

Minister McHugh said: “We know we are asking a lot of people in order to stem the spread of Covid-19. In response to that I want students and their parents or guardians and teachers to be given flexibility as they work towards the exams. 

“All of Government is hugely grateful for the effort, commitment and energy that students and teachers are putting in to continue education in difficult circumstances. I urge you all to keep up the momentum and focus on preparing for the exams.” 

Minister McHugh also said the Department will continue to work with the State Examinations Commission to monitor the Covid-19 situation in terms of its potential impact on the other later scheduled components of the state examinations. 

“We will continue to respond at the right time and in the right way, with the impact on our students at the forefront of our minds,” Minister McHugh said. 

The Minister also advised of steps taken by the Department to minimise the impact on teaching and learning of the current school closures. All schools have been asked to continue to plan lessons and, where possible, provide online resources for students or online lessons where schools are equipped to do so. Schools have also been asked to be conscious of students that may not have access to online facilities and to consider this actively in their responses. School buildings are available to staff if they wish to access the facilities in order to provide online delivery, or essential services once this is in line with Health Service Executive (HSE) advice.  

The Department of Education and Skills will continue to provide supports to the education sector at this time, particularly schools with students taking State examinations. 

The Department of Education and Skills has been liaising closely on a continual basis with the Department of Health in relation to Coronavirus/Covid-19 since early January. This will continue. 

Ends 

Notes for Editors  

Further information in relation to the Department’s response to Covid-19 is available here www.education.ie/covid19 

Some 126,000 students are due to take the state examinations in 2020:

• 65,190 students sitting the Junior Cycle examinations
• 61,053 students are due to sit the Leaving Certificate Established, Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme and Leaving Certificate Applied. 

The examinations comprise several components spread over a number of weeks, culminating in the final written examinations which are scheduled to commence on Wednesday 3 June and run until Tuesday 23 June. 

Orals & Practical Performance tests (originally scheduled from Monday 23 March to Friday 3 April) are cancelled. These tests are in the following subjects: 

• Leaving Certificate Irish and the Modern Languages of French, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian and Japanese
• Leaving Certificate Music
• Junior Cycle Music and Home Economics

Students who were due to sit the orals or practical performance tests in the affected subjects will take their final written examinations in these subjects at the level they have indicated when confirming their subject choices to the State Examinations Commission earlier this year. 

Project and Course Work completion deadlines are extended to Friday 15 May for the following subjects: 

• Leaving Certificate Computer Science, Physical Education, Technology, Art, Agricultural Science, Agricultural Economics, History, Geography, Religious Education, Politics and Society, Music, Constructions Studies and Home Economics;
• Junior Cycle Metalwork, Materials Technology Wood, Technology and Religious Education;
• Junior Cycle Assessment Tasks in English, Irish, Modern languages, Science and Business Studies. 

Second phase of practical examinations remain as originally scheduled from Monday 27 April to Friday 8 May, as well as the final written examination in the Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme (LCVP) scheduled for Wednesday 6 May, a range of oral and practical tests in the Leaving Certificate Applied (LCA) programme, along with the first examination in Leaving Certificate Computer Science on Wednesday 27 May, and the final written examinations commencing on 3 June. 

For more information please click here to read the press release in full

TY mini company wins 1st prize at the Student Enterprise Awards County Final.

Congratulations to TY mini company ‘Heated Clothing Company’ for winning 1st prize at the Student Enterprise Awards County Final. The company consists of students Cathal Malone, Peter Hanlon, Lorcan Rice and Nathan Mills. Their innovative product idea of electronically heated bodywarmers and coats wowed the judges at the Fairways Hotel. The students are now busy preparing, with support from their teacher Ms Campbell, for the All-Ireland final that will be held in Croke Park in May.