🇮🇪 Ireland ​
This page describes how schools in Ireland grade pupils, from the first year of primary school (year 1, about age 6–7) to the end of upper secondary, and how to build the same system in MarkBook. Back to Find Your Country.
Check the current rules
This description comes from public sources (ministry pages, national laws, Eurydice) read in October 2026. Rules change with reforms, and schools often have local rules. Check the current official text for anything your school reports to the ministry.
How pupils are graded ​
Before year 1: The ECCE free pre-school is not graded. Junior and Senior Infants (age 4-6) are part of primary but get written reports only. Counting the two infant years, school runs 14 years (8 primary + 3 Junior Cycle + optional Transition Year + 2 Senior Cycle); without TY it is 13.
| Years | Stage | Scale | Pass | Recipe |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| pre-primary (Junior and Senior Infants, age 4-6) | Primary - infant classes | No marks; written report | Not applicable | Written description |
| 1-6 (1st-6th class) | Primary - 1st to 6th class | No official grades. Written report card (NCCA template) plus standardised test scores in 2nd, 4th, 6th class | Set by the school | School decides |
| 7-9 (1st-3rd year) | Junior Cycle (lower secondary) | Final exam: Distinction / Higher Merit / Merit / Achieved / Partially Achieved / Not Graded; CBAs: Exceptional / Above Expectations / In Line with Expectations / Yet to Meet Expectations | Achieved (40%) | Words |
| 10 (4th year, optional) | Transition Year (optional) | No state exam; school-designed assessment | Not applicable | Written description |
| 10-11 or 11-12 (5th-6th year) | Senior Cycle - Leaving Certificate | H1-H8 (Higher), O1-O8 (Ordinary), F1-F8 (Foundation); 1 best | No official overall pass; 40% (H6/O6) is the usual minimum for course entry and matriculation | School decides |
Values in Junior Cycle (lower secondary)
| Value | Local word | English |
|---|---|---|
| Distinction | Gradam | Distinction (85-100 from 2025) |
| Higher Merit | Higher Merit (70-84 from 2025) | |
| Merit | Merit (55-69 from 2025) | |
| Achieved | Achieved (40-54) | |
| Partially Achieved | Partially Achieved (20-39) | |
| Not Graded | Not Graded (0-19) | |
| Exceptional | CBA: Exceptional | |
| Above Expectations | CBA: Above Expectations | |
| In Line with Expectations | CBA: In Line with Expectations | |
| Yet to Meet Expectations | CBA: Yet to Meet Expectations |
The year. School year September to June. Primary schools must report to parents at least twice a year, one of them written, using an NCCA report card template at the end of the year. Post-primary schools usually issue Christmas and summer reports and hold 'mock' (pre-) exams in spring of 3rd and 6th year. State exam results: Junior Cycle in autumn, Leaving Certificate in August.
Averages and rounding. No national averaging. Primary uses teacher judgement and standardised test scores. State exam grades are derived from marks (not rounded percentages): for example the SEC states 305/360 (84.7%) is Higher Merit because 306 marks are needed for Distinction. School reports often show percentages per subject (school practice).
Passing the year. Primary pupils normally move up each year; achievement is not a requirement to advance, and repetition is allowed only exceptionally with parental consent (0.3% of pupils in 2019/20). Post-primary also moves up by year; there is no overall pass/fail of the Leaving Certificate since 2017.
Conduct. No national conduct grade. Schools may comment on behaviour; the JCPA reports Wellbeing and Other Areas of Learning descriptively.
Differences between regions or school types. One national system. Irish-medium (Gaelscoileanna, Gaeltacht) schools also test Irish reading. Some schools make Transition Year compulsory, others skip it. Fee-paying schools follow the same state exams.
Common practice that is not official. Not official: percentage marks on house and Christmas exams, reporting school exams with Leaving Cert style H1-H8 or Junior Cycle descriptors, predicted CAO points, effort ratings.
National exams.
- Standardised tests (English reading, Mathematics; Irish reading in Irish-medium schools) (year 2nd, 4th and 6th class): Norm-referenced scores (typically STen 1-10 / percentile)
- Junior Cycle final examinations (SEC) - JCPA (year 3rd year post-primary (age 14-15)): Distinction, Higher Merit, Merit, Achieved, Partially Achieved, Not Graded
- Leaving Certificate (established) (year 6th year post-primary (age 17-18)): Higher H1-H8, Ordinary O1-O8 (Foundation F1-F8 in Irish and Maths); 10% bands, H1 = 90-100 ... H8 = 0-29
- Leaving Certificate Applied (LCA) (year 5th-6th year): Pass, Merit, Distinction (credits)
Words you will meet ​
Junior Infants, Senior Infants, 1st-6th class (primary); 1st-3rd year Junior Cycle, Transition Year, 5th-6th year Senior Cycle; grade (grád); report card (cárta tuairisce); Junior Cycle Profile of Achievement (JCPA); Classroom-Based Assessment (CBA); Leaving Certificate (Ardteistiméireacht); CAO points.
Set it up in MarkBook ​
Primary: comment columns per term per subject plus numeric columns for standardised test STen (1-10) in 2nd, 4th and 6th class; no averages. Junior Cycle: a percentage column per term (Christmas, summer, mock) and a calculated descriptor using editable bands (2025 bands: Distinction 85, Higher Merit 70, Merit 55, Achieved 40, Partially Achieved 20, Not Graded 0); a separate CBA scale of four descriptors. Senior Cycle: a percentage column per exam and a calculated H1-H8 / O1-O8 band (floor to the 10% band, no rounding up), plus a calculated CAO points column (H1=100 ... H7=37, O1=56 ... O6=12, Maths bonus +25 at H6+). Store level (Higher/Ordinary/Foundation) per subject so the right scale applies.
The scales, ready to copy ​
These are the scales as MarkBook shows them in the scale editor. Build yours with the same grades, descriptions and weights. Each scale links to the recipe that explains it on Set Up Any Grading System.
Ireland · Junior Cycle ​
Judgement scale for years 7-9 (1st-3rd year) (Junior Cycle (lower secondary)). Build it in Configuration → Assessment → Judgement scales. Recipe: Words instead of marks.
| Grade | Description | Weight | Pass |
|---|---|---|---|
| Distinction | Gradam · Distinction (85-100 from 2025) | 6 | yes |
| Higher Merit | Higher Merit (70-84 from 2025) | 5 | yes |
| Merit | Merit (55-69 from 2025) | 4 | yes |
| Achieved | Achieved (40-54) | 3 | yes |
| Partially Achieved | Partially Achieved (20-39) | 2 | no |
| Not Graded | Not Graded (0-19) | 1 | no |
Ireland · H1–H8 ​
Attainment scale for years 10-11 or 11-12 (5th-6th year) (Senior Cycle - Leaving Certificate). Build it in Configuration → Assessment → Attainment scales. Recipe: A scale where 1 is the best mark.
| Grade | Description | Weight | Pass |
|---|---|---|---|
| H1 | 90–100% | 1 | yes |
| H2 | 80–89% | 2 | yes |
| H3 | 70–79% | 3 | yes |
| H4 | 60–69% | 4 | yes |
| H5 | 50–59% | 5 | yes |
| H6 | 40–49% | 6 | yes |
| H7 | 30–39% | 7 | yes |
| H8 | 0–29% | 8 | no |
Before you rely on this page ​
Confidence: medium
The 2025 Junior Cycle band change comes from the gov.ie JCPA page and SEC notice as quoted in search results (pages returned 403 to direct fetch); the 2023 circular confirms the old bands. Senior Cycle redevelopment adds an Additional Assessment Component worth at least 40% to new subjects (Tranche 1 from Sept 2025, first examined 2027; Tranche 2 from 2026/2027) but no change to the H/O grade scale was found. LCA band percentages and standardised test STen reporting were not confirmed from official pages.
Sources (5)
- Eurydice - Ireland: Assessment in primary education (official)
- Department of Education - Final Junior Cycle Circular 2023 (official)
- gov.ie - Junior Cycle Profile of Achievement (revised 2025 bands) (official)
- Oide - Senior Cycle Redevelopment information note, August 2025 (official)
- Common Points Grading System (CAO points table)