Mentoring and student schemes boost Leaving Cert results for Cork school
A small Deis school in Cork city saw each of its sixth year students progress on to university this year, ranking it near some of the county’s fee-paying institutes.
Ursuline Secondary School received a 100% university progression rate this year, coming 11th out of 77 Cork schools in this year’s Irish Examiner Feeder Schools list.
Each of the 26 students who sat their Leaving Cert at the all-girls school in Blackrock in June gained a place in university, going on to study at Trinity College Dublin (TCD), University College Cork (UCC), and Cork Institute of Technology (CIT).
“The success of the girls was mainly due to their own hard work, determination, and ambition,” said principal Patrick McBeth.
However, he believes the introduction of a number of initiatives, such as mentoring sessions, a focus on wellbeing, and free supervised study helped, along with the school’s small class sizes.
“Last year, our deputy principal Paula Goggin and I met individually with all the girls after their preexaminations to mentor them ahead of their summer exams,” he said.
Students also were given additional support by the year head and the school’s guidance counsellor.
“This was the first time we mentored the girls in this way,” said Mr McBeth.
During the mentoring sessions, we talked about what the school could do to help and support the girls ahead of the summer.
"The girls came up with a number of their own ideas and we set about making these happen where possible.”
One of these suggestions was a Sunday study programme, a series of free supervised study sessions in the school each Sunday beginning after the students’ pre-exams, and continuing right through to their State exams.
“They also asked for hot chocolate for after-school study — so we now put on hot chocolate for all the girls every day during afterschool study,” said Mr McBeth.
To help with the day-to-day pressures of studying, the school also organised a wellbeing day at St Dominic’s Retreat Centre.
“We also had mornings where we walked with the girls up to the Blackrock Castle for morning coffee and cake,” said Mr McBeth.
“It sounds small, but the girls enjoyed it greatly. A trip to the Bakery in the village is a good stress reliever.”
The mentoring scheme’s success has led the school to expand it this year throughout the school via an academic mentoring team.
“This team of staff tracks and monitors the progress of girls in all year groups so that we can intervene when the girls need support, encouragement, and indeed acknowledgement of the good work they are doing,” said Mr McBeth.
It’s also important to keep the summer exams in perspective, he added.
“We encourage the girls to think about how they contribute to their community, the school, and how they look after their friends and family,” he said.
“Putting others first and focusing on their needs is often a good way of maintaining a healthy perspective on life and the bigger picture.”
