ACCS/info Bulletin 43/19
Fri, Oct 4th, 2019
The Secretary,
Board of Management and
School Principal in
each Community and Comprehensive School.
Members of the Executive of ACCS.
ACCS/Info Bulletin 43/19
Re: DES Circular S.71/19 – Junior Cycle Examination Results 2019
Please see attached DES Circular S.71/19 issued to all schools on October 4th with the results of the 2019 Junior Cycle (Certificate) Examinations.
Online access to results, through www.examinations.ie, is available from 4.00 pm on Friday 4th October 2019.
These results are provisional and are subject to further check. School authorities are requested to examine the Statements of Provisional Examination Results carefully before giving them to candidates. Please inform the SEC immediately of any apparent discrepancy in the results.
In the case of Junior Cycle English, Business Studies and Science, the absence of an Assessment Task (AT) for a candidate will be indicated by a supplementary report stating, “Assessment Task Not Submitted”. Schools now have a further opportunity to clarify matters with the SEC if the supplementary report indicates that no AT was submitted.
All applications for appeal from the school should reach the Junior Cycle Appeals Section, State Examinations Commission, Cornamaddy, Athlone, Co Westmeath by 5 p.m. on Friday 11th of October 2019. It is planned to post the results of all applications for review in the week ending 22nd November 2019.
It is essential that school authorities do not dispose of, or return to candidates, any practical or coursework pieces until the appeal process has fully concluded, even in instances where a candidate has not appealed a result in that subject, as the SEC may need access to the material during the appeals and related quality assurance processes. For that reason, the integrity of the examinations system requires that the material continue to be securely stored by the school.
In order to facilitate the preparation and issue of the JCPA as quickly as possible, candidates will not have access to the administrative facility, introduced last year, to obtain a copy of their examination scripts in advance of lodging an appeal application. Candidates and their parents will be able to make individual data access requests for copies of scripts under Data Protection Legislation but should be aware that they will not have received copies of their scripts under a data access request in advance of the appeals closing date. The SEC will endeavour to provide the requested information within 30 days and will notify applicants should it become necessary to extend the time limit to 90 days.
The General Data Protection Directive and related Data Protection Act 2018 are now in force. Statements of provisional results and the results matrix contain the personal data of the candidates and should be treated with absolute regard to confidentiality and security. Extreme care should be taken when distributing the Statements of Provisional Examination Results. Providing personal data to a candidate which belongs to another candidate is a serious matter. If, in the course of distributing Provisional Statements of Examination Results, you think there might be a possible Data Breach, please immediately contact the SEC’s Data Protection Officer by sending an e-mail to dpo@examinations.ie.
Is mise,
le mór mheas,
_________________
John Irwin,
General Secretary ACCS.