St. Mary's English Department

Junior Cycle

Junior Cycle education places students at the centre of the educational experience, enabling them to actively participate in their communities and in society and to be resourceful and confident learners in all aspects and stages of their lives. Junior Cycle is inclusive of all students and contributes to equality of opportunity, participation and outcome for all. 

​The Junior Cycle allows students make a greater connection with learning by focusing on the quality of learning that takes place and by offering experiences that are engaging and enjoyable for them, and relevant to their lives. These experiences are of a high quality, contribute directly to the physical, mental and social wellbeing of learners, and where possible, provide opportunities for them to develop their abilities and talents in the areas of creativity, innovation and enterprise. The learner’s Junior Cycle programme builds on their learning to date and actively supports their progress in learning and in addition, supports them in developing the learning skills that will assist them in meeting the challenges of life beyond school

Aim

English in Junior Cycle aims to develop students’ knowledge of language and literature, to consolidate and deepen their literacy skills and make them more self-aware as learners. More specifically it encourages all students to: 

1. to be creative through language and to gain enjoyment and continuing personal growth from English in all its forms                                                                                       
2. to develop control over English using it and responding to it with purpose and effect through the interconnected literacy skills of oral language, reading and writing                                                                                                 
3. to engage personally with and think critically about an increasingly broad range of spoken, written and multimodal texts                                                                            
4. to develop an informed appreciation of literature through personal encounters with a variety of literary texts
5. to use their literacy skills to manage information needs, and find, use, synthesise, evaluate and communicate information using a variety of media                                                                                                                         
6. to gain an understanding of the grammar and conventions of English and how they might be used to promote clear and effective communication.