Hello and welcome to this edition of the Classroom Central digest! In this issue we report on Enoch Burke’s appeal against orders restraining him attending Wilson’s Hospital School; we look at a new special school pilot programme with enhanced supports for pupils with complex, severe and profound needs; Pauline Kelly writes about the Merchant of Venice and what we can learn from it; we report on new research indicating that attending a fee-charging second level school does not appear to greatly change students’ chances of getting into high-points university courses; Breda O’Brien writes about plans for Leaving Cert reform and we report on the student who achieved a record-matching 9 H1s after she appealed her Leaving Cert results.

Enoch Burke tells court school ‘is not entitled to be more welcoming than law permits’: Teacher Enoch Burke has told the Court of Appeal that a Co Westmeath school “is not entitled to be more welcoming than the law permits”.

Summer school aims to boost participation of children with complex needs: Government ministers say changes to this year’s summer school programme are aimed at enabling more vulnerable children with complex needs to access the scheme.

Merchant of Venice offers important lessons on how we treat the outsider: How do we treat the outsider? It is the timeless, humane question asked by Shakespeare in the Merchant of Venice, the most popular play on the London stage in 1596. Audiences of 3,000 flocked to see it. Along with Romeo and Juliet of the previous year, it set Shakespeare on the road to wealth and property.

Fee-charging schools do not greatly enhance students’ chances of securing high CAO points – study: Attending a fee-charging second level school does not appear to greatly change students’ chances of getting into high-points university courses, new research suggests. The analysis found that while students who attended fee-charging schools were about 9 per cent ahead in their performance on entry into second level, this gap remained roughly the same at 10 per cent in the Leaving Cert.

How boarding schools still hold an appeal for some modern families: ‘They’re on screens less’: Helen Poff, a mother of three in Kenmare, Co Kerry, says she got the fright of her life when her daughter asked to go to Coláiste Íde, an Irish-speaking boarding school in Dingle. “She was such a home bird,” she says. “She would be the first to jump into bed for a cuddle. I couldn’t get over it. But that was it. One day she just decided she was going. Any of my friends would have advised me against it, but I went with what Lizzy wanted and she absolutely loves it now.”

Norma Foley’s half-baked reform of the Leaving Cert ought to be abandoned: It looks like Norma Foley’s “early win” senior cycle reform may now be untenable. Last March, the Minister for Education announced ambitious Leaving Cert reforms. The proposal that captured the most attention is that from this September, students will sit paper-one exams in English and Irish at the end of fifth year, instead of two papers in sixth year, writes Breda O’Brien.

‘I was quite shocked’: Student gets record-matching 9 H1s after appealing Leaving Cert results: When Caraíosa O’Farrell (18) looked at her Leaving Cert exam scripts last September, she was convinced there were gaps in the way a couple of her exam scripts were marked. She appealed, without success. Still convinced there were errors, she sought a further recheck through an independent appeals scrutineer with the State Examinations Commission (SEC).

The Leaving Cert Class of 2020 are still dealing with the Covid shock: Remember the Leaving Cert class of 2020, the ones who ended up not sitting a Leaving Cert due to Covid? Anecdotally, many of those who made it to college are not doing so well. It is not just those who are now in third year, writes Breda O’Brien.

Sharp division over teaching of gender identity and use of pronouns in updated sex education syllabus: Sharp divisions over gender identity and the use of pronouns in schools are revealed in submissions to the State’s advisory body on the curriculum which is updating how sex education is taught.