Zoom Meeting with Minister Simon Harris

In early March it was announced that Cllr Marie O’Sullivan had kindly organised for KCS and some surrounding schools to engage in a Zoom Call with Minister Simon Harris. This was during the peak of the changes being made to the Leaving Certificate Exams and I was keen to talk with him and ask him a few of the many questions the Leaving Cert students had in regards to our exams, but also in regards to our Third Level Education. Ms. Sheehan invited all of the 6th Years to send in any questions we wanted to ask Minister Harris, from which he would choose three to answer during the Zoom.  

Hannah Hayes, Ellen Farrissey and I were each allocated a question to ask that the Minister had approved. With the help of Ms. Sheehan and Ms. Dunne, we logged onto the call and were greeted with the faces of many other students and local politicians.  

Minister Harris was eager to answer our questions and engaged quite enthusiastically with us all. Ellen got the ball rolling by asking what advice the Minister had to; “keep students motivated for the remainder of the school year?” Minister Harris was positive in his response, reminding us that there was only a few more months left and to give it; “our best shot” He reminded us how lucky we were to be back in a school setting and urged us to keep going and maintain as normal a routine as possible.  

I was next to ask a question for KCS asking; “what adjustments and accommodations would be made with regards to university and college places for the next academic year, seeing as there has been such a surge in CAO applications this year as a result of the pandemic?” The Minister reassured us that the Government had a plan in progress that was going to allow for 4,000 more university and college places across the nation. He went on to say that these places would be divided up between courses depending on the demand evident in CAO applications. This piece of information was new to us all and was certainly reassuring. Hannah concluded our question segment by asking the Minister, if it was him in our position would he; “choose to sit his exams or choose to take accredited grades?” Minister Harris pondered the question and honestly stated that he would probably sit the majority of his exams to give himself the best possible chance of doing well. He encouraged us to do the same and to sit as many exams as we felt confident doing. 

It was a brilliant opportunity to be face to face (virtually!) with one of the people who is so heavily involved in making the decisions that affect our futures and be able to and get answers instantly. The Zoom call enabled us to relay the messages from the Minister to our peers. It was certainly reassuring and to see how optimistic Minister Simon Harris was about our future - thank you to Cllr Marie O’ Sullivan and our teachers for making it possible! 

Rachel Fox (6th Year)