Just a reminder: February and March are filling up very quickly with examination bookings and many dates are already unavailable. Please don’t leave it till the last minute to book your exams and always have a few date options in mind. Contact us by phone or email.
News
January 2012 Newsletter
Click here for a downloadable copy, although it is going in the post today.
Buying Drama Books
If you’re not sure about ordering our books online, you can simply print out this Order Form, indicate the books you want and send it to us with a cheque or Postal Order. Our books site (www.dramabooks.ie) contains information about the books, so you can refer to it for more details about each publication.
Examination Timings
Timing your exams can be difficult so we’ve provided a rough guide for Grade, Public Speaking and Communication Skills exams, for reference.
Grade Examinations Poetry Suggestions
We very much believe in teachers and candidates discussing and agreeing the choice of poem to be performed for Irish Board of Speech & Drama examinations and we will never seek to constrain that choice. However, we do understand that some teachers would like some guidance and/or suggestions for poems that might be suitable for each grade. So we are happy to oblige. This list has been compiled by Deirdre Galassi FTCL and Finola Ryan FIBSD and we are very grateful to them for their work.
Examination Guidelines
These guidelines accompany the confirmation letter sent to each centre. They contain very useful advice for teachers preparing their students for Irish Board exams which will help make the examinations a positive experience for candidates, teacher and examiner.
DIPLOMA EXAMS: FINAL REMINDER of closing date
This is the FINAL REMINDER that the closing date for the receipt of entry forms for new and continuing candidates for the November Diploma exams is TUESDAY 1 NOVEMBER 2011. Remember that new candidates for the Diplomas of Associate (Teaching) and Licentiate (Teaching), need to supply documentary evidence of their eligibility.
See Diploma Examinations Eligibility Criteria (PDF) for details.
Submission to NCCA/HEA
A few weeks ago, the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) and the Higher Education Authority (HEA) organised a conference called ‘Transition or Transaction?’ to open a debate about the CAO system and whether it still fitted the purpose for which it was set up.
We have long held the view that, as happens in Britain, certain out-of-school or in-school extra curricular activities that provide young people with useful skills and certification should be valued and recognised by the State in the context of college entry. In other words, that points or credits should be awarded through the CAO system or any future college selection process for, for example, senior speech and drama Grade exams.
We tweeted this view during the conference and we believe that the idea was well received. We have now followed up with a short written submission to the NCCA and the HEA, and have asked for a meeting to discuss our proposal in more detail. Please click on the link below to read our submission.
Feiseanna (update)
We had a veritable flood of information about feiseanna over the last 12 hours so we’ve updated the list:
Feiseanna in Ireland
In response to many calls from teachers looking for feiseanna large and small throughout the country, here’s our best shot at a list. It’s not quite complete, but we’ll update it as more information is received and, of course, we’ll republish it every year.
List of Speech and Drama Feiseanna in Ireland
