Jersey education department delay over GCSE results

Jersey has a selective education system with grammar and private schools

Jersey's education department said it would take about two months to release individual schools' GCSE results.

A Freedom of Information request revealed in February that state secondary schools performed worse at GCSEs than almost all UK schools.

Jim Westwater from the education department said the overall percentage of pupils getting the top grades in Jersey was up on 2010.

He said 73.6% of Jersey pupils achieved an A* to C grade at GCSE.

Mr Westwater said the delay in releasing individual school results was so they could fully verify them.

He said: "We had one examination board who failed to send results for their subject."

'highly selective'

He said that the initial results did show that the State-run secondary schools had performed worse than UK schools.

"If we look at the facts then yes that is the case, but what we have to look at is that we have a very selective system.

"We look at the island results of overall and they tell us what the general population is doing.

"What we are doing is creating a very segregated system and the results overall are the results that are most important," he said.

Education Minister, Deputy James Reed, came under pressure to release individual results after the difference between fee paying and state-run schools was revealed.

The privately-run Beaulieu convent school released their results with pupils gaining a 100% pass rate.

It said more than a third of students gained A* or A grades.

Beaulieu's Headmaster, Chris Beirne, said: "As a non-academically selective school, we are delighted with today's GCSE results.

"We are thrilled for the significant number of students who have really excelled this year and we are extremely proud of their achievements."

When the figures were released in February Deputy Reed said the low grades were down to Jersey's "highly selective" education system.

Jersey has four state-run secondary schools as well as two single sex fee-paying grammar schools, two Catholic private schools and a post-14 selective grammar school.