How To Make The Most of The Last Few Weeks of 6th Year
You made it!
I bet you thought this day would never come, but you have almost made it though 6th year. Most people deserve a medal for that during a normal year, but the pandemic made it extra hard for the class of 2023.
But you can still make the most of your last few weeks in 6th year! Here’s how….
Take All of The Pictures
This one goes without saying, but take all the pictures you can! If you have a polaroid camera bring it into school and snap some pictures. It’s great to have lots of pictures on your phone, but they can get lost over the years. Keeping hard copies of things will be something future you will be very grateful for.
Make A Memory Book
Speaking of actual pictures, stick them in a book and make something special that you can look back on in years to come. Add funny stories, quotes, memories, what you chat about at lunch…you may be living it all now but it will become a distant memory in years to come (
) and you’ll struggle to remember those moments – ah this is making me so nostalgic for lunchtime chats over pot noodles!
Savour Those Little Moments
Putting this article together made me very nostalgic for own last few days of school. I can still feel it; the excitement of the life of possibilities ahead, the nerves over the Leaving Cert and the very distinct feeling of everything being so final. I know the next few weeks will be a rollercoaster, but try take a few minutes to enjoy it. Appreciate the lunchtime banter and the small things that come with going to school that often get overlooked in the hustle and bustle of it all. I particularly miss the morning drives to school with my mam.
Try To Keep The Stress Levels Low
There’s a lot of excitement over the last few weeks of school. It would be a pretty joyous time, except you have the LC hanging over your head as much as you might try to forget that.
By this stage you’ve done the vast majority of the work, so don’t go overboard with insane study hours and pressure over the next week weeks. Be kind to yourself. You’re a person, not an exam machine.
Show Some Appreciation For Your Teachers
If the pandemic has taught it anything (and it’s taught us a lot!) it’s that teachers really did go above and beyond for students. I know when I was in school I never considered my teacher’s lives outside of school, but since then I spent a few years working as a primary school teacher and one of my friends is a secondary school teacher now and I know from her especially how much stress this whole experience has been for teachers and the extra hours they put in. They’ve been particularity worried about their Leaving Cert students.
I know sometimes teachers can be so annoying (I had my share of them!), but the majority of the time they really do just want the best for you even if you can’t see that, so take some time to appreciate your faves over the next few weeks. Even just taking a few minutes after class to tell them how much you loved their class or thank them for any help they may have given you goes a long long way.
Leave The Drama Behind
I could write a book about the drama that was going on in my year during the last few weeks of 6th year. It was intense to say the least. My own friend-group was semi-imploding too and honestly I was just so, so thankful to leave it all behind. I still have my two best friends from secondary school, but the rest of the people just didn’t matter once I left. That’s probably quite blunt, but it’s the truth.
Stress tends to being out the worst in people, so if there’s any drama brewing stay well back. In a few months it will all be a distant memory.
Enjoy It
It’s so easy for me to say that a few years after my own Leaving Cert when I’m not in your shoes now, but like I said before, there’s just something about those last few weeks of school. Make the most of it. Don’t see it as the ending, but rather a new beginning of an exciting life full of possibilities.
I used to hate when people said “school is the best years of your life“. But I always remember my 6th Year English teacher saying that wasn’t true, college and what comes after are. You have so much to look forward to, I kinda envy you!
The very best of luck to all the 6th years over the next few weeks. Our own writers, Sorcha and Amy, are also sitting their exams. You’ll get there and it will all be worth it.
If you are finding these last weeks of 6th year a bit difficult we have a whole host of resources available that I would really recommend. Sometimes you just need a breather and a chat!