Schools in Ireland follow a curriculum set down by the Irish Department of Education and Science (www.education.ie) so whether in private or state school, all students follow the same courses and take the same state examinations.

At junior cycle level, students usually take a minimum of 8 academic subjects and at Leaving Certificate level a minimum of 6. Students may take each subject at a higher or lower level. For example, normally our High School programme students take lower-level English.

The most common subjects for the Leaving Certificate are shown in the table below:

Core Subjects – obligatory
Maths	English	Irish*

*Irish is the original language of spoken over a hundred years ago. Today it is still spoken in some rural areas and remains an official language often heard on television, radio and seen on official government signs and documents.

Overseas students are not required to study Irish. Usually, overseas students use these periods as study time or they can take an extra subject or even extra English lessons, where available.

Elective Subjects – usually 1 modern language and a choice of 4 + other subjects
French	Spanish	German	Italian
Physics	Business Studies	Music	Design and Technical Graphics
Chemistry	Accountancy	Art	Engineering
Biology	Economics	Classical Studies	Construction Studies
Agricultural Science	History	Home Economics	Technology
Applied Mathematics	Geography	Technical Drawing