STUDENTS AT A fee-paying south Dublin school who received their Leaving Certificate results earlier this month have initiated legal proceedings against the Government.

Papers were filed on behalf of the students and the board of management at St Kilian’s German School in Clonskeagh in the High Court on Tuesday.

The fee-paying school specialises in the teaching of German at pre-school age, primary level and post-primary level.

Court papers list the State, the Attorney General, the Minister for Education and Skills and the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science as co-defendants in the case.

The students and the school’s board of management are represented by solicitor Eileen McCabe, who also represented a Mayo student who successfully challenged the government’s decision to exclude him from the calculated grades process this year.

An affidavit sworn by St Kilian’s principal Alice Lynch is also listed among the papers filed yesterday.

Earlier this month, it was reported that 14% of Leaving Certificate students at St Kilian’s received H1 grades in German under the calculated process, compared to 41% of students who received H1 grades in the normal exams process last year.

The school subsequently wrote to the Department of Education to question the marks given to this year’s students.

Under the calculated grades process, students received grades based on teacher and school input along with other information as part of a process designed by experts from the State Examinations Commission and other agencies.

One native-speaking German student, who is among those named in the court filings, told RTÉ that he got a H2 grade despite expecting a H1 because he has spoken German for his entire life.

The latest proceedings follow the first High Court challenge to the calculated process, which was launched by Aine Finnegan from Fairview in Dublin last week.

The Department of Education and the board of management at St Kilian’s declined to comment when contacted by TheJournal.ie.

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