Curriculum

INTRODUCTION

Mohill Community College offers the following Programmes:

• Junior Certificate
• Transition Year
• Leaving Certificate
• Leaving Cert Vocational Programme
• Autism Class for second level
• Adult Education Classes Autumn and Spring as per advertised classes IF numbers are viable.

The College does not offer a separate Repeat Leaving Cert Programme. Repeat students are accommodated insofar as there is space within the class. A wide variety of subjects is on offer.

Breadth, Balance and Relevance

Mohill Community College is satisfied that the Curriculum on offer is sufficiently broad and balanced.

Academic and practical subjects, a choice of two European Languages, and the availability of three Science subjects at Senior Cycle, offer each student the possibility of embarking on a broad ranged Leaving Certificate, or one which is geared in a specific direction.

While it is not always possible (or even desirable) to follow trends, the current market focus on the Sciences and Maths is well catered to. A Leaving Certificate student may study Honours Maths and three Science subjects – Biology or Agricultural Science and Chemistry.

Provision for Information, Support & Advice

The College is in the enviable position of having no less than three trained Guidance Counsellors.

Career Guidance is timetabled for First Year, Transition Year, and Leaving Cert students (in both Fifth and Sixth Year). This enables full exploration of Careers options at key intervals in the student’s life.

Transition Year offers an opportunity through Work Experience and the processing of that experience with Careers Guidance teacher to explore options.

Work Experience in Fifth Year forms a central part of the LCVP Programme and, in view of its importance and capacity to influence and inform future career paths, is extended to all Fifth Year students.  Diagnostic screening using the DAT takes place in Fifth Year. While the information gleaned from this offers indicative information (as opposed to prescriptive) it proves a useful tool in provoking honest analysis of strengths and potential careers maximising those strengths. Information, support and advice, with opportunities for independent exploration, are available at all times.

The school’s ICT facilities serve this purpose. The generosity of the Guidance Counsellors with time and expertise is acknowledged. Meetings for Parents/Guardians re Subject Choices take place at the end of First Year and of Third Year.

Meetings with regard to CAO/College options takes place in advance of CAO deadline! In addition to formal meetings as above and Parent Teacher Meetings (one per Year Group per year), Parents/Guardians are always welcome to make an appointment to meet with school personnel to discuss any aspect of their child’s progress.

JUNIOR CYCLE

Classes are mixed ability throughout the Junior Cycle, with the exception of the core subjects – English, Irish & Maths – which are streamed from Second Year onwards.

All subjects are offered at Ordinary and Higher Levels except English, Irish and Maths which have the added option Foundation Level. Having due regard for individual student needs, students are encouraged to aim to achieve to the highest possible level.

Further Information on the curriculum can be obtained here: http://www.curriculumonline.ie/Home/Junior-Certificate-Fact-sheets 

Core Subjects

• • English
  • Irish
  • Maths
  • History
  • Geography
  • Science
  • Religion
  • CSPE

Options

• • Business
  • French
  • German
  • Art
  • Metalwork
  • Home Economics
  • Materials Technology (Wood)
  • Technical Graphics

Non Exam Subjects

• • SPHE
  • PE
  • Computers
  • Careers

Transition Year

Each course is designed by the individual teacher and tailored to suit the current class (mixed ability) group. An international flavour was added to this year’s activities with a very memorable celebration of Chinese Art, culture, geography and food.

The Programme is coordinated by the Programmes Co-Ordinator Ms. Elizabeth Hargaden Ward.

Core Subjects

• English
• Irish
• Maths
• French/German
• Computers
• Careers
• PE
• Enterprise Education

Further subjects offered depends on the availability of teachers from year to year but may include the following:

• History
• Geography
• Science
• Religion
• Art
• Metalwork
• Home Economics
• Materials Technology (Wood)/Design & Communications Graphics
• SPHE

LEAVING CERTIFICATE

Each student studies seven or more subjects for Leaving Cert – the core subjects English, Irish, Maths and four other subjects. If the subject combination allows, students are encouraged to take LCVP.

Optional subjects are generally mixed ability groupings. If however the numbers are large enough to have two classes, a class at Higher and one at Ordinary level are desirable. Alternatively subject teachers may decide on two mixed ability groupings. These decisions are normally left to subject departments and the teachers involved.

Irish and Maths have the added option of Foundation Level.

Having due regard for individual student needs, students are encouraged to aim to achieve to the highest possible level.

Core Subjects

• English
• Irish
• Maths
• Religion

Options

• History
• Geography
• Biology
• Agricultural Science
• Chemistry
• Business
• Accounting
• French
• German
• Art
• Engineering
• Home Economics
• Architectural
• Technology (Wood)
• Design & Communications Graphics

LCVP

• Computers
• Careers
• Enterprise

SPECIAL NEEDS STUDENTS

Mohill Community College expresses its strong commitment to students with special needs in the care it takes in all aspects of the process of securing additional teaching resources.

Every effort is made when timetabling to coordinate the availability of Resource teachers at Irish/Language class time.

This facilitates the withdrawal of students with language exemptions at these times, thus maximising their availability for regular class at all other times.

The monumental task of coordinating the provision of extra tuition, consultation with parents/guardians, diagnostic screening, and so on should in itself form a Post of Responsibility on a par with Programmes Coordinators. In the absence of this, the work continues to be done by Ms. Gabrielle Earley.

In addition to withdrawal of students for extra tuition, each teacher is encouraged to differentiate their programme on a daily basis to cater for the many learning needs of students within their class.

This differentiation acknowledges that it is not just the students who receive extra help on withdrawal who have different learning needs. Within any one class group of thirty students there will be many different levels, thus differentiation of classwork, homework, and class tests/house exams is the best practice to ensure that the learning needs and styles of all are catered to. The College acknowledges the particular needs of very gifted students, and endeavours through teacher differentiation and exposure of these students to challenges such as Scholastic Aptitude Tests (SAT) leading to participation in Centre for Talented Youth in Ireland (CTYI) to challenge them academically.