Dear GCC Parents/Guardians & Students,
GCC Return to School August 2025
We were delighted to see all our students returning to school this week following the Summer holidays and we look forward to helping students settle in to the routine of school over the coming weeks. On Tuesday, we warmly welcomed a large group of over 200 eager and enthusiastic 1st Year students into our GCC community. Mr. Pittam, their Year Head, addressed the group, emphasising the importance of doing their best, being kind, and working with both the school and their peers to fulfil their potential. He urged our new first years to embrace their new adventure, try new things, seek help when needed, and show kindness to one another in our school community. The support of staff, parents and their classmates will give all students the best opportunity to be engaged and positive about their learning during the school year ahead.
GCC Leaving Certificate Results 2025
We would like to congratulate our 2025 Leaving Certificate students on their excellent results in the State Examinations which they received last Friday 22 August. We were delighted to see so many of our graduates come to the school on the day to receive their certificates and share in their success with their friends and staff.
With a complete profile of all our students developed since they started with us in GCC (based on STen scores, CAT Assessments, PASS scores, term assessments and SEC exams) we can state with the support of data that GCC continues to impact positively on the learning outcomes for the majority of our learners.
GCC has had a consistent upward trend in our results over the last 5 to 10 years and this level has been maintained this year with continued strong performance across all points categories despite the expected grade deflation. The school will provide our Board of Management with a detailed analysis of our results next Monday 1 September but the following are some of the key takeaways:
- Nearly one quarter of our Leaving Cert students achieved over 500 points.
- Our tracking and monitoring of student attainment indicates that nearly 55% of our students performed above expectations in the Leaving Certificate.
- Overall, in excess of 80% of our students performed above or to expected levels.
- There was a significant increase in the number of students attaining between 450 and 500 points.
- We would like to congratulate two of our students who received an outstanding 613 points with one student attaining a fantastic 601 points.
- Nearly 85% of our students achieved distinction in the Leaving Certificate Applied programme.
Our results are the outcome of so many different factors, including the commitment of our students to their programmes of work, the consistent support of parents and the high quality learning experiences GCC staff offer to our learners. The results are also evidence that all our students in GCC are catered for at an appropriate and individual level.
We look forward to working together with parents and students during the 25/26 school year as we strive to build on this consistent delivery of excellent learning outcomes for students.
National Parents Council [NPC] Podcast – Results are in… now what?
Last Friday’s Leaving Cert results and Wednesday’s CAO offers brought excitement for some and anxiety for others. To help parents and teens through this crucial period, the NPC have released three brand-new NPC Podcast episodes packed with expert advice, parent voices, and student perspectives.
- Episode 1 — Mind the Stress
- Episode 2 — From Exams to Campus
- Episode 3 — Beyond College
National Parents Council — Supporting parents to support their children
www.npc.ie
GCC Parents Council
Parents are asked to note that our first GCC Parents Council meeting of the new school year will take place next Monday 1 September at 7pm. We are always grateful for the support our parents offer across so many areas of school life. Sincere thanks as always to parents who helped on a number of days over the Summer to ensure our books were ready for students in their lockers last Tuesday. Our thanks also to Mr Dooley for coordinating the Book Rental scheme and stationery in conjunction with Ryan’s Supervalu Glanmire. We would also like to extend our gratitude to our dedicated SNA team who are always on hand to support and help with preparing for the new school year.
Labelling of School Items
As per our update in June, parents are kindly requested to ensure that all uniform items (and especially the school jacket and fleece) are labelled with your child’s name. This will assist us in the prompt return of misplaced items.
GCC School Car Park
Parents are asked not to drive into the school car park when dropping and collecting students from school. Our school car park is always very busy and with road works taking place on Hazelwood Road for the coming months it is important that we minimise the throughput of cars on the school grounds.
We would also be grateful if parents could remind students:
- to use the pedestrian footpaths and not walk along or between cars when entering/leaving the school
- use the pedestrian gates only and not enter or leave the school via the main gate
- students are to take care in general when walking or cycling to school particularly with so many different sets of roadworks happening currently in Glanmire.
We kindly ask parents who are collecting their children from our school not to park their vehicles inappropriately. For example, we ask parents not to park up on footpaths. We are aware of some cars taking up the whole footpath, leaving no space for either our students or members of the public to walk freely by and limiting the access of wheel chair users.
We also ask parents and students to be respectful of the housing estates near the school around drop off & collection times. Cars queuing in school traffic on the Hazelwood Road are blocking the entrances to Old Avenue & Oakfield housing estates. Please leave a gap for residence trying to leave their estates.
We thank you for cooperation in ensuring added safety for our students when accessing the school grounds.
GCC Upcoming Calendar Events – September
| Monday 1 September | GCC BOM Meeting | @ 5.00pm |
| Monday 1 September | GCC Parent’s Council Meeting | @ 7.00pm |
| Tuesday 9 September | GCC Staff Meeting | 4.00-5.50pm |
| Wednesday 24 September | GCC Open Evening* | 6.00 – 8.30pm* |
| Monday 29 September | School Closed |
*Classes for students finish at 12.30pm
