Two primary schools in the East End have recorded the island’s best average grades throughout the past four years, according to results from the Cambridge International Examinations.

St George’s Preparatory was the only school to average in the “very good” category from 2012 to 2015, with an overall score of 4.3 out of 6, while St David’s Primary School — one of the schools facing potential closure as part of the Bermuda Government’s School Reorganisation (Score) Plan — ranked at the top of the “good” category with just over 3.9. Principal at St George’s, Mary Lodge, said the fundamental reason for her school’s success is an emphasis on reading while she also noted the benefits, as an assisted school, of having the power to hire teaching staff independently.

However, Ms Lodge warned that the Cambridge Primary Checkpoint results in English, maths and science only revealed part of the picture, stressing that the standardised system does not take into consideration socio-economic factors that can affect performance.

PTA president at St David’s, Patrice Minors, said she was happy with the results but believed that school results should have complemented the Score report to “help parents make an informed decision” over which schools should be considered for closure.

The checkpoint results are designed for students in the final year of primary school education. They are designed to give schools an international benchmark of student performance identifying specific learning needs in the core subjects.

A score of 3 is held to be grade level. Twelve out of the 18 primary schools had averages higher than 3 throughout the four years. Schools whose average results were considered “OK”, scoring between 2 and 3, were Francis Patton, Elliot, Victor Scott, West End, Prospect and East End.

However, Ms Lodge said even getting close to an average of 3 could be considered satisfactory, explaining: “Bermuda is the only country or school district where everybody sits the checkpoint exam. The reason this is important is that the other schools that are sitting this exam are international schools, chartered schools, schools of diplomats’ children — therefore all standardised tests show a bias towards socio-economic standards.

“All of us deserve to be told that if we got even close to 3 for your school median score when you are competing against children who have advantages [that it’s] ‘job well done’.

“Whenever you are doing a standardised test there is always a factor where culture bias and other things come into play.

“In Bermuda, you are not looking at all of the people who do Cambridge — you are looking at the whole island of Bermuda in a public education system. Everybody’s child, whether they have autism, dyslexia, behaviour disorders, come into our doors and they sit that exam. If we are competing with how our schools line up with a chartered school, for example, it is not a fair comparison.”

Reflecting on St George’s success in the Cambridge system, Ms Lodge said: “Reading is core to everything that they do. In order to make the children successful they have to be able to read to at least, and hopefully above, grade level. You might be able to add, subtract and multiply but if you don’t understand what you are being asked to do then you can’t answer the question.

“With regards to mathematics we attribute a lot of our success to the maths programme [Everyday Math] we use and the amount of time we spend on it. We teach maths for an hour-and-a half every day from P1 to P6. With the science we have learnt the children have to do a lot of practical hands-on science but they also have to have the vocabulary language otherwise under Cambridge you will not get the marks.”

Ms Lodge added that as principal of an assisted school she is able to hire the right staff required for the school as a whole.

“It is not just about the skill set teachers bring — it is also about wanting a balance in your staffing. If you have enough flexibility to know your own building, you know what your building needs in order to round out the team. Being able to directly control that always puts you in a better position.

“We also have the longest lunch break in the system — 25 minutes for recess and an hour for lunch.”

Regarding St David’s, Mrs Minors pointed to teacher passion, not least, she said, the P6 teacher.

Saying the Cambridge results should have complemented the Score report, she added: “It is our hope for the St David’s community and the parents of students at the school that the decision made by the ministry will be one to continue to allow St David’s Primary to operate as it is.

“I would hope that that decision is based, not just on the recently released Cambridge results, but also the various submissions that have been made by various members of the community. I am hopeful that the ministry will apply rational thinking to their ultimate decision — not just for the benefit of St David’s Primary but all the schools that are being targeted as possibly ones to be closed.”

• For the results from 2012-15, click on the PDF under “Related Media” (Graphic by Nikeisha Burrows)