2. 

Link-school for the National Council for
Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA)
Addressing some of the issues with Junior
Cycle reform since May 2012

4. “From 2014, the new junior cycle will feature
newly developed subjects and short
courses, a focus on literacy, numeracy and
key skills, and new approaches of assessment
and reporting”.

5. ...put a lot of focus internally with teachers on
the eight Junior Cycle Key Skills
...developing many of these in our existing
teaching

6. 

Centrality of Literacy and Numeracy
We have done a lot of work in PCS on
developing and implementing our literacy and
numeracy policies

7. First-year 2014/2015 will see every
secondary-school student in the Republic of
Ireland undertaking a new English Syllabus
with a new form of Junior Cycle Assessment
in 2017

8. 





Set texts – can be viewed at
www.juniorcycle.ie
Based on the Key Skills
Oral examination at the end of Second-year
Portfolio presentation at the end of Thirdyear
JCSA (Junior Cycle Student Award)
examination in June of Third-year
Teachers CPD is ongoing

9. 

1.
2.
Schools have the option to offer shortcourses
This year we are offering two in one of our
option blocks – student must do both
Programming and Coding
Sports Science

12. The course aims to develop the student’s
ability to formulate problems logically, to
design, write and test code, to develop
games, apps, animation and websites, and
through these learning activities, to learn
about computer science.

13. 





students should be able to explain the basics
of computer networks
Produce four webpages using HTML and CSS
Explain how search engines work
Demonstrate their understanding of binary
code
Describe how data is communicated on the
Internet using protocols
Investigate the representation of images on
computers

14. 
Mr. McNeive

15. 




all of the marks awarded will be for school work
the evidence of learning will be generated
according to the (NCCA) short course
specification and will relate directly to the aims
and learning outcomes of the short course
there may be more than one assessment
component involved – a mix of process and
product elements
the component/s will be marked in the school
and will include internal moderation to maintain
standards
the grade awarded will be included on a JCSA
(Junior Cycle Student Award) in 2017

16. 
Two periods per week, each

Over three years

Certification at the end of 3rd Year

Continuous Assessment – Common level

Assessment focus in Second and Third Year

In an option block that each of the other three
subjects can be taken in 4th/ 5th Year

17. 
48 students – a “draw from the hat” if
oversubscribed (Unsuccessful students will be
offered their second choice)

Open to all abilities

Open to all skill-sets