*St Flannan’s Leaving Certificate students Laura Walsh and Hellen Ameyaw Gyamfi

IT SEEMS like worlds away now, but when Leo Varadkar made the announcement that schools were going to close on Friday March 13, little did Leaving Certificate students realise it would be their last day of school.

Restrictions in place because of COVID-19 have left thousands of Leaving Certificate students without the chance to say goodbye to their school. There will be no opportunity for them to close one chapter of their life before moving on to the next one.

With this in mind, a group of teachers from St Flannan’s College in Ennis came together to create a gift for students to help give them some closure.

Accounting teacher Gráinne Lynch and some of her colleagues have created a 180 page memory book for the Leaving Certificate class of 2020, complete with jokes, teacher questionnaires and plenty of pictures.

“At the heart of the publication is the Leaving Cert class of 2020. We wanted the memories captured in the book from the students, parents and teachers to reflect the best of their years with us in St Flannan’s college. When they look at the book maybe it will remind them of some of the fond memories they have had with us,” Gráinne said.

The team pulled together the book in just two weeks and it even contains a heartfelt letter from past pupil and President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins.

“To this year’s sixth year students my wish for you is that you remember how important friendship, and its ethics is. You will not need to aspire to the one safe job experience of those times but to several opportunities of realising your creativity in so many ways assisted by science and its related technologies,” the letter reads.

St Flannan’s Leaving Cert student Laura Walsh was delighted to receive the book and said it was a nice way to look back at her time at the school.

“I think it’s brilliant because we can see all our peers and classmates and there’s loads of pictures and questions. There’s a lot of jokes in there and we can look back and laugh and see each other. I think it’s brilliant as a way of closure seeing as we never got our final day with signing t-shirts and all that stuff,” she said.

The book will be hand delivered to all 221 Leaving Cert students today (Wednesday). Gráinne confirmed that the students feel they have missed out on a rite of passage, but she hopes the book will ease the disappointment they feel.

“It’s really upsetting for them. They had seen other years graduate and the fun that they had. We would have organised a sports day with the staff and the sixth years and an ice cream van and bouncy castles and that has just been stripped away from them. 

“They just feel that there’s something missing. It just ended so abruptly that they just missed out on all that. I’m hoping that the memory book in some way might make up for this,” she added.

St Flannan’s teachers Emer Murphy, Grainne Lynch and Una Howley

Related News

jane halloran ryan 1
Emigration of Scariff famine orphan girls to be remembered during Harbour Festival
clare greyhound sanctuary 1
Bills were 'hanging over us like a black cloud' say voluntary operators of Tulla based animal sanctuary
madeira 4
There's a magic about Madeira - the hottest new destination from Shannon Airport
ennistymon car park 1
New 48 space car park opens in Ennistymon

Advertisement

Latest News
jane halloran ryan 1
Emigration of Scariff famine orphan girls to be remembered during Harbour Festival
barry cotter notts county 1
Cotter completes season-long loan move to Notts County
pj murrihy 1
Murrihy returns to familiar stage of Armada Hotel for Willie Clancy week
clare greyhound sanctuary 1
Bills were 'hanging over us like a black cloud' say voluntary operators of Tulla based animal sanctuary
madeira 4
There's a magic about Madeira - the hottest new destination from Shannon Airport
Premium
tablet smartphone laptop 1
Man (58) in South-East Clare charged with having 1544 images of child sex abuse
waterford v clare camogie 05-07-25 jennifer daly orla hickey 2
Waterford relievedly Rockett to last four following Clare scare
alan o'callaghan conor ryan tony o'brien pat burke pat hayes 1
'We are the envy of the county' - Hayes says Killaloe MD Cllrs have best working relationship
éire óg vs ballyea 04-07-25 david reidy paddy smyth 1
Éire Óg retain Division 2 League title in derby decider
killaloe canal 1-2
Teenage girl 'scared & angry' after boy (14) 'humped' her from behind in Killaloe

Subscribe for just €3 per month

If you’re here, you care about County Clare. So do we. Did you rely on us for Covid-19 updates, follow our election coverage, or visit The Clare Echo every week for breaking news and sport? The Clare Echo invests in local journalism and we want to safeguard its future in our county. By becoming a subscriber you are supporting what we do, will receive access to all our premium articles and a better experience, while helping us improve our offering to you. Subscribe to clareecho.ie and get the first six months for just €3 a month (less than 75c per week), and thereafter €8 per month. Cancel anytime, limited time offer. T&Cs Apply. www.clareecho.ie.

Subscribe for just €3 per month

If you’re here, you care about County Clare. So do we. Did you rely on us for Covid-19 updates, follow our election coverage, or visit The Clare Echo every week for breaking news and sport? The Clare Echo invests in local journalism and we want to safeguard its future in our county. By becoming a subscriber you are supporting what we do, will receive access to all our premium articles and a better experience, while helping us improve our offering to you. Subscribe to clareecho.ie and get the first six months for just €3 a month (less than 75c per week), and thereafter €8 per month. Cancel anytime, limited time offer. T&Cs Apply. www.clareecho.ie.

Advertisement