Industry Served: EdTech
Leaving Cert Plus, A Study Platform for
Every Leaving
Cert Subject
Mobile Apps, a Web Platform and an Admin Panel Serving Over 25,000 Irish Students
Study Material Exists. Finding The Right Piece At 9pm Does Not.
Discuss your projectA sixth-year student stuck on one maths topic the night before a test has plenty of options and no good one. Past papers without worked answers, textbook chapters that cover twenty topics to answer one question, hours of recorded lessons with no way in. What they want is the four minutes that explains this specific thing, then a question to test whether it landed.
Leaving Cert Plus was founded by Aaron Keane, who built his own study habits around audio recordings and flashcards while balancing school with competing internationally in athletics for Ireland, and later recorded short topic videos for the students he was giving grinds to while studying Medicine. Students preferred learning that way, and the platform grew out of it. Every video, note and exam explainer is made by a practising Leaving Cert teacher, and the company has since partnered with CJ Fallon, one of Ireland's most respected educational publishers, working with its CEO Brian Gilsenan.
We were the development partner behind the product, delivering three things: the Leaving Cert Plus app for iPhone, iPad and Android, the web platform, and the admin panel the team uses to run subjects, content, teachers and subscriptions. The platform now supports over 25,000 students, holds 4.5 stars on the App Store and 4.9 on Google Play, and has been featured in The Irish Times and the Irish Examiner.
Project Challenges & Needs
01
A Curriculum-Shaped Content Model
Every subject splits by level, then topic, then resource type, and the depth available differs by subject. The structure had to hold that unevenness without looking broken.
02
Entitlements Priced By Subject Count
Students buy one subject or all of them, monthly or as a single payment, so access had to be resolved per subject rather than by a single paid or unpaid flag.
03
A Curriculum-Shaped Content Model
A selection of content is open to anyone, so the same library had to serve visitors, free accounts and paying subscribers from one set of rules.
04
Video That Has To Play Anywhere
Hundreds of lesson videos needed to stream reliably on school wifi, on mobile data and on older devices, with playback speed control expected as standard.
05
One Account, Three Surfaces
Progress, flashcard state and purchases had to follow a student between the phone, an iPad and the browser without divergence.
06
A Syllabus That Keeps Moving
Content is mapped to the current curriculum, including new specifications examined in 2027 and 2028, so the team needed to restructure topics without a release.
Our Solution
We built a subscription learning platform across mobile and web on one shared backend, delivering:
The app and the web platform read the same content tree and the same entitlement rules, so a subject published once appears everywhere, unlocked for exactly the students who have paid for it.
Interfaces We Developed
Leaving Cert Plus App (iPhone, iPad & Android)
The study companion students carry, published on the App Store and Google Play and laid out for both phone and tablet:
- Pick subjects and level, then open any topic within them
- Watch short lesson videos with speed control and resume from where playback stopped
- Read notes and worked examples, with tablet layouts showing notes and video together
- Run flashcards on a topic, marking what is known and what needs another pass
- Attempt quizzes and exam questions, then read the explanation for each answer
- Listen to audio questions and revision material in the car or at the gym
- Search by topic name and get every resource type for it in one result
- Browse free content before subscribing, with locked items visible and priced
- Manage plan, subjects and account from inside the app
Web Platform
The full study environment in the browser, for students at a desk and on devices they cannot install apps on:
- Subject and topic navigation matching the app, with the same content and entitlements
- Video, notes, flashcards, quizzes and exam questions in a wider working layout
- Exam question practice by topic, with explanations and marking guidance
- Sign-up, plan selection and checkout, including single-payment and monthly options
- Account settings for plan changes, subject selection, cancellation and password reset
- Progress and flashcard state synced with the app on the same account
- Teacher and school access routes, verified before free access is granted
- Works in any mobile browser with nothing to download
Admin Interface
The control layer for the Leaving Cert Plus team, covering content, people and revenue:
- Dashboard for students, subscriptions, subjects and resources
- Subject and topic management, updated without an app release
- Upload and publish videos, notes, flashcards, quizzes, exam questions and audio
- Separate Higher and Ordinary Level content by subject
- Free and paid resource settings
- Teacher profiles and subject attribution
- Teaching Council verification for teacher and school accounts
- Plans and pricing by subject count, with monthly and one-time options
- Subscription, transaction and refund records
- Usage reports for subjects, topics and resources
Key Features & Capabilities
01
One Search, Every Resource Type
A topic name returns the video, the notes, the worked examples and the exam questions for it in a single result, which is how students say they use the product most.
02
Bite-Sized By Design
Lessons are cut to the topic rather than the class period, so a student can cover one thing in a few minutes and stop, with speed control from 0.75x to 2x.
03
Per-Subject Entitlements
Access is resolved subject by subject against the plan, so a student paying for three subjects sees three unlocked and the rest priced, on every device.
04
Study Away From The Screen
Audio questions and revision material make journeys and training time usable, the habit the founder built the original method around.
05
Active Recall Built In
Flashcards and quizzes sit beside the notes for every topic, making testing one tap from reading rather than a separate exercise.
06
Free Tier That Converts In Place
Open content and free accounts let a student prove the product to themselves, then upgrade in the app or the browser without leaving what they were studying.
07
Content Team Ships Without Us
Subjects, topics and every resource type are managed in the admin panel, so new syllabus coverage goes live without a code change or a store submission.
08
Teacher And School Access
Teachers verify a Teaching Council number for free access, with classroom and school options handled as separate account types.
Outcomes And Impact
Over 25,000 Students
Scale
The platform now serves students across Ireland on mobile and web, with content from practising Leaving Cert teachers in every subject it covers.
4.5 And 4.9 In The Stores
Reception
Rated 4.5 on the App Store and 4.9 on Google Play by students using it through their exam year, and featured in The Irish Times and the Irish Examiner.
A Business That Runs Itself
Commercial
Subject-count plans, instalment checkout, self-service upgrades and cancellations mean students buy, change and renew without the team handling anything.
Technologies Used To Develop The Solution
Mobile App
Flutter (iOS, iPadOS & Android)
One codebase for phone and tablet layouts, published to the App Store and Google Play.
Web Portals
Next.Js
Student platform and admin panel, with fast subject and topic navigation.
Backend
Node.Js
Shared APIs for content, entitlements and progress across app and web.
Database
PostgreSQL
Subjects, topics, resources, subscriptions and per-student progress in one store.
Video Delivery
Adaptive Streaming Over CDN
Lesson video encoded for multiple bitrates, with speed control and resume position.
Search
Indexed Full-Text Search
One query across videos, notes, flashcards and exam questions by topic.
Payments
Stripe With Klarna & Store Billing
Monthly and single-payment plans, instalments, and in-app purchase on both stores.
Notifications
Push & Transactional Email
Study reminders, plan and renewal notices, and password reset flows.
Security & Hosting
Cloud With Encryption & RBAC
Entitlement checks server-side, protected media access, and role separation for staff.
Here's What Our Client Has To Say
We had a clear idea of how students actually study and needed a team who could build it properly across app, web and admin rather than a version of it. What we got back is stable, fast and easy for our own team to run, which matters when we are publishing content constantly. The student reviews speak for the result better than we can.
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