Sept Guide

September Guide

You are most welcome to the first guide of the year.

The Leaving Cert Year brings anxiety to both student and parent but with the right information to hand, this can be reduced. While one of the most important topics is knowing how the CAO works, I am holding off explaining that until next month as the opening for registration is 5th November. There are a few other important issues that I want to cover this month. First of all, we will get ourselves set up for the year of study and secondly, I will cover the HEAR/DARE schemes which require a lot of parental involvement if these are relevant to you.

Set up

From the outset, it’s good to consider your teen’s study set up and how you are organised to support them. Here are some things to consider:

Have you considered the study logistics for the year? Agree between you and your teen where and how they are going to study. Does their school offer after school study options or does your teen prefer going to the library by themselves or with friends? Does your teen have their own room with a study desk and lamp?

Having their phone close by can be a constant distraction to study, are there ways to manage phone use while studying? Consider turning the phone to airplane mode while studying or turning off notifications to give uninterrupted study periods.

During the school year, your teen will most likely get some study tips and each teacher will be preparing their students on exam management for each subject. It is worthwhile for parents to also discuss with their teen what strategies they will adopt to support their own learning. Allowing the teen to work out their own strategy is empowering but there will be some trial and error before they find what works best for them. In January’s guide, I will cover study tips as the students will be facing into mock exams but if you have any specific questions before that, please ask during any of the specific Q&A sessions.

A significant cause of stress throughout the year are looming deadlines or worse, missed deadlines! Get copies of the Leaving Cert timetable and CAO deadlines. I will be reminding you of these as we go throughout the year but having these is a prominent place in your home will help you remain organised. I recommend that you go through timetables and use a highlighter to mark off the important dates that apply to you and your teen.

Here is the link to the CAO timetable – click here. Normally the dates remain the same each year but there have been some changes in recent years due to the pandemic.

There is no timetable yet available for the Leaving Cert, but this should be issued in due course.

Finally, consider how your Leaving Cert teen is going to contribute to household chores. Can they be excused for the year or does doing these chores give them a bit of downtime and head space that they may need? If they are excused sometimes and not others, what are the criteria for being excused? Other younger siblings will also have to understand the arrangements and that they may have to do a bit more to help out. You may not need to have all of these in place but a small bit of thought beforehand can save quite a few arguments later on when exam stress is really creeping in.

HEAR/DARE

These are two schemes on offer through the CAO to help students who may have some disadvantage compared to most due to disability or social and/or economic factors. The purpose of this guide is to highlight that these schemes are available and action should be taken immediately to start gathering the information that will be required to support your application. Both schemes require reports from schools and/or medical professionals in the case of DARE which can take time to gather. If either (or both) of these schemes could apply to you, I recommend you investigate and preparing for these immediately. Both need to be indicated at the point of registration on the CAO, starting in November and the application deadline is 1st March, with paperwork to be submitted by 15th March.

HEAR – Higher Education Access Route

This scheme is for students who have are at a socio-economic disadvantage through low income or attending a DEIS school which are designated schools in areas of significant disadvantage. There are a number of indicators that are assessed for each applicant, the main one being low family income with a number of dependents. I won’t outline all indicators or their associated criteria in this document as these may change . They can be accessed through the link below – click here

The important points to note in this guide are:

  1. you are aware of the scheme
  2. you know to indicate you are applying for it when your teen registers for the CAO on November 5th
  3. You check that the appropriate indicators apply to your family situation.
  4. your teen meets the normal application deadline of 1st February and the HEAR deadline of 1st March.
  5. you submit the supporting documentation, to be received by the CAO by post no later than 15th March. The CAO recommend getting proof of postage from An Post.

DARE

This scheme is for students who have missed some of their education due to disability, learning disability or long-term illness and therefore, their grades are lower than if they had been able to attend school full time as a normal student. There are a number of indicators, two of which must be met depending on the type of disability or illness. A range of reports will be required to be submitted, including medical reports and an educational impact assessment report. Click here – for the link to the relevant page for DARE. I recommend you carefully read through all of the information and apply as appropriate

The important points to note here are:

  1. you are aware of the scheme
  2. you know to indicate that you are applying for the scheme when your teen registers for the CAO on November 5th
  3. You check that the appropriate indicators apply to your family situation.
  4. your teen meets the normal application deadline of 1st February and the HEAR deadline of 1st March.
  5. you submit the supporting documentation, to be received by the CAO by post no later than 15th March. The CAO recommend getting proof of postage from An Post.

If the student is eligible for any of these schemes, I recommend you start collecting the relevant reports as soon as possible as there could be delays in reports being made available by schools or the medical profession.  There may also be waiting lists to get your child assessed for an Education Impact Assessment.

If you have any specific questions, browse through the relevant sections of the CAO website through the links above. Even though you are applying through the CAO, each college will make their own assessment of the application and details of those assessments and criteria are available from that individual college. There are detailed handbooks for both schemes to assist in filling out the application forms.

Summary

In summary, getting a good set up for your student and your family will lessen the stress throughout the year. Empowering your son or daughter to take responsibility for their own exam management will also reduce the stress. However, it will be the first time that the student is under so much pressure and will need the support and encouragement of their parents throughout the year in different ways and at different times.

If your teen is eligible for any of the schemes that allow them to qualify for college places on reduced points (HEAR/DARE) now is the time to start gathering any assessment reports as some will take time to be made available.

I hope you have found this guide useful. There will be time for specific questions at our Q&A session later on in the month.