With the mock exams now over, Leaving Certificate students across the country are taking stock of their results. The exams will have been a wake-up call for some students. One parent wrote to Brian Mooney that the exams “exposed gaps across all [their son’s] Leaving Cert subjects”.
The good news is there’s still more than 14 weeks to go until the first exam kicks off.
To find out how to best use that time, The Irish Times spoke to three friends who graduated from Maynooth Post Primary School last year and all achieved more than 600 points in their Leaving Cert.
Tim Murphy, Dominika Jablokov and Charlotte Favre d’Echallens shared their advice for making the most of the final stretch: from not wasting time on a subject you know won’t count, to turning your notes into a podcast using AI.
READ MORE
SNAs ‘fiasco’
Meanwhile, a controversial review of special needs assistant (SNA) allocations is being paused after criticism from teachers, parents and unions. The U-turn came after the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) contacted almost 200 schools indicating their allocations were being reduced.
Two thirds of the 584 schools reviewed before the pause are set to retain or increase the number of SNA posts but 194 were informed of planned reductions. Some schools reported they would lose four or five positions.
Minister for Education and Youth Hildegarde Naughton had indicated that the reviews would continue but said on Tuesday that she would pause the process having listened to issues raised by parents and school communities. On Thursday, Simon Harris told the Dáil this pause would take a few weeks.
In today’s Irish Times, Jen Hogan hears from parents about how they fear schools could be impacted negatively by a change in how needs are defined.
----
Finally, here are some important dates in the CAO calendar in the next few months - along with important links, reminders and information about fees.
February-April
Interviews and portfolio presentations for restricted application courses take place. Marks are awarded in many cases, which are added to an applicant’s CAO points score in August, to determine offers of places.
March 1st, 5pm
The closing date for completion of the mature applicant section of the CAO form. It is also the final date for CAO applicants to add any restricted-application course choices, and to complete the online sections of the application process under the Hear (Higher Education Access Route) and/or Dare (Disability Access Route to Education) schemes.
March 5th, noon
Late-application facility opens for those who have not yet applied to the CAO, at a cost of €60. It remains open until May 1st at 5pm.
March 10th, 5pm
All supporting documentation for Hear or Dare must be supplied to the CAO to arrive in its offices in Galway by post by that date.
School Easter holidays
The State Examinations Commission’s (SEC) Leaving Cert oral tests in Irish, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian and Japanese take place in schools throughout the country.
Late April
Results are released for University of Limerick and mature applicants who sat the Hpat undergraduate medical entry aptitude test in February.
May 1st, 5pm
Closing date for late CAO applications. After this, no further applications will be accepted for the 2026/27 academic year.
May 6th
The CAO change-of-mind facility opens, which enables applicants to amend, or list for the first time, their course choices.
June 3rd
Leaving Certificate written examinations begin and will continue until late June. On the day of the last Leaving Cert written paper: applicants under 23 who sat the Hpat test in February receive results to enable them to factor these marks into their final consideration of course choices before the July 1st CAO deadline.
July 1st, 5pm
Final date for any amendments to course choices and order of preference on all CAO applications for entry to college in September 2026.
Best of luck to students (and parents!) in the months ahead.
