Declining Cambridge results predate pandemic and reform
Cambridge Checkpoint assessment results dating back to 2018, seen alongside published data from earlier years, show that public primary-school grades were falling before the coronavirus pandemic and the disruption brought about by education reform.
Primary and middle-school averages in the Cambridge tests scores in English, maths and science were released to The Royal Gazette in response to a public access to information request, while additional data came from a 2020 consultation document.
The Ministry of Education has previously referenced the impact on academic results of Covid-19 and reform disruption, both of which started to take effect in 2020 — but the problems appear to predate both.
The Gazette has asked the ministry when the Cambridge Checkpoint and the International General Certificate of Secondary Education figures for 2026 will be published. While a date was not provided, the ministry said they would be posted.
Records released through Pati showed that the majority of primary-school average scores declined in 2019 from 2018 levels and, after a gap in reporting in 2020 and 2021 for Covid, struggled to rebound after 2022.
Middle schools generally climbed slightly before the pandemic and reported mixed results after it, the charts showed. Education reform seeks to abolish middle schools while transforming primary schools into “21st-century learning facilities”.
The results can be seen against other data going back to 2015 up to 2019 that was published in the 2020 parish primary school consultation document.
Available there were percentages of students that scored in certain performance bands in each subject.
That showed a general trend of declining performance, with the exception of an almost across-the-board rise in attainment in 2017.
The only figures provided in the 2018-2025 Pati records were school-wide grade averages in English, maths and science without often critical context such as the socioeconomic make-up of a school, learning differences, the number of students enrolled and how many of them sat the tests.
As such, the results do not necessarily paint a complete picture of school performance or reflect the overall quality of education at each.
When the Gazette reported on the 2025 Cambridge results in March — showing that they fell below international averages in almost all areas — the Government said that aside from the pandemic and reforms, it was also important to consider factors including “the non-selective nature of the public school system and small cohort sizes — which can create statistical volatility”.
Becky Ausenda, the founder of the Bermuda Education Network, said: “It’s not a level playing field and I’d caution against a hasty interpretation of the results.”
The records did not include international averages that were provided in an earlier Pati response to the Gazette on 2025 Cambridge results.
Cambridge Checkpoint assessments are internationally benchmarked diagnostic tools that measure student attainment against global standards.
In Bermuda's public school system, pupils take the assessments during P6 and M3.
In 2023, Cambridge International Education, the body that sets the assessments, moved from the “legacy” 0-to-6 scoring scale to a new 0-to-50 scale.
There was no school-wide average above 4.2 on the 0-to-6 scale in the 2018 to 2022 records and the lowest average score was 0.5.
The highest score average on the 0-to-50 scale from 2023 to 2025 was 33, the lowest was 5.
On the 0-to-6 scale, 5.0 to 6.0 is in the performance band excellent/outstanding performance, 3.0 to 4.9 is very good/good achievement, scores between 1.0 and 2.9 are classified as basic/developing understanding, and those between 0.0 and 0.9 are poor/low achievement.
Historically, a target benchmark score of 3.0 was used by the Department of Education as a national average target.
On the 0-to-50 scale, there are five bands of ten with 0 to 10 at the bottom as poor/low achievement and, at the top, 41 to 50 as excellent/top performance.
The international average for English was 33 in 2025, as per a response to the Gazette’s earlier Pati request, while the figure for maths and science was 31.
The “legacy” 0-to-6 scoring scale:
0.0 to 0.9: Poor/low achievement
1.0 to 2.9: Basic/developing understanding
3.0 to 4.9: Very good/good achievement
5.0 to 6.0: Excellent/outstanding performance
The latest 0-to-50 scoring system:
0 to 10: Poor/limited performance
11 to 20: Below average
21 to 30: Average to solid understanding
31 to 40: Very good/above average
41 to 50: Excellent/top performance
Primary schools combined went from an average of 3.0 in English in 2018 down to 2.57 in 2019. The figure improved slightly after Covid in 2022 to 2.67.
After the scoring change to 0 to 50, primary averages went from 22.7 in 2023 to 20.7 in 2025.
As for maths at primary-school level, the average fell from 2.06 in 2018 to 1.72 in 2019. From 2023 onwards, the figures dropped, landing at 13.2 in 2025.
The primary school grade average in science also fell pre-Covid, going from 3.06 in 2018 to 2.26 in 2019. Figures dropped from 17.6 in 2023 to 14.7 in 2025.
There was little improvement post-Covid at primary level, where results in 2025 were almost all below or equal to the results in 2023, with the exception of one school in English, one in maths and three in science.
Middle-school scores showed a slightly different story, with their school-wide averages, while low, rising slightly before Covid.
In English, the middle-school average was 2.52 in 2018, inching up to 2.54 in 2019 then dropping down to 2.1 post-Covid.
In 2025, the figure was 26.3 compared with the middle-school international average of 34.
Middle-school averages were lower in maths at only 1.87 in 2022.
Scores stayed fairly stable after the pandemic, landing at 16 in 2025, well below that year’s international average of 31.
Averages were better for science at middle-school level pre-Covid at 2.98 in 2018 and 3.14 in 2019, but dropped to 2.7 in 2022.
The figure was 16 in 2025 compared with the international average of 31.
While the Pati documents show a declining trend at primary level right before Covid, charts in the annexes of the 2020 parish primary-school consultation document showed that the trend largely stretches back to at least 2015, with some exceptions.
2020 consultation document:
The government-released 2020 parish primary school consultation document showed persistently low Cambridge Checkpoint performance in maths, with as little as 22 per cent scoring above 3.0 (P6 in 2018) and a high of 32 per cent scoring below 3.0 (P6 in 2017).
In English at P6, there was a gradual decline in the number of scores above 3.0, dropping 12 percentage points from 58 per cent in 2015 to 46 per cent in 2019.
In science, those scoring 3.0 and above plummeted 22 percentage points from 57 per cent in 2015 to 35 per cent in 2019.
Scores improved for one year in 2017 in all cases at primary level and almost all at middle-school level.
Middle schools, for which only scores from 2016 to 2019 were provided, generally showed a smaller percentage scoring at 3.0 and above than in the primary schools.
However, in 2019, 61 per cent were scoring above 3.0 at middle school.
Government announcement on 2016-17 results:
In an overview of the results for the 2016-17 school year, the Government announced that P6 students, as a cohort, exceeded a target of 3.0 in the areas of English and science.
It said results for English were “significantly close to” the international average score but did not meet the 3.0 target for mathematics and were “notably below” the international average.
The figures for 2016-17 were said to have been posted on the Ministry of Education’s website www.moed.bm but could not be found when the Gazette searched.
An education ministry spokeswoman said: “The ministry changed website vendors, and unfortunately some information wasn’t archived.
“The department will work to restore and repost those results.”
Shortly after the Gazette reported on the 2025 scores being below international averages, the Government ordered a Cambridge International Education review into poor performance on figures dating back to 2013.
On tabling the resulting report in Parliament in July, Diallo Rabain, the Minister of Education, said the review had led to specific interventions designed to improve outcomes.
The ministry does not generally publish results broken down by school but provided the breakdown in response to The Royal Gazette’s latest Pati request to the Department of Education.
The records showed primary and middle school averages in the Cambridge Checkpoint scores in English, maths and science from 2018 to 2025, excluding 2020 and 2021 for Covid.
Victor Scott Primary School was the school that most often scored the lowest in a subject. For example, it was the lowest-performing of the 18 primary schools in 2018 in maths with an average score of 0.9, in maths in 2022 at 0.5 and in science in the same year at 0.7.
St David’s Primary School scored the highest averages in most cases — seven times topping the charts across subjects over the period. It was the only primary school under the 0-to-50 scale to score more than 30 in any subject, coming in at 33 in English in 2023.
The highest score under the 0-to-6 scale over the period was 4.2, achieved by St George’s Preparatory School in science in 2022.
St George’s Prep also regularly came top throughout the period — four times topping the charts across different subjects.
Under the original education reform plans, both of these top-scoring schools were slated for closure, with East End Primary School, one of the lowest-scoring, to be kept open as the parish school for St George’s.
Enrolment figures released in July in response to parliamentary questions showed that only 34 students were expected to attend East End this September, so statistical volatility could have a significant impact on figures.
In 2025, East End scored 5 in the 0-to-50 scale in maths and scored the same in 2024 for science.
Whitney Institute Middle School achieved the most top averages in the middle-school tier throughout the period across the three subjects. It topped the charts 11 times.
No middle school scored an average in the very good/above bracket on the 0-to-50 scale.
TN Tatem Middle School had the highest number of lowest averages.
After it closed at the end of the 2023 academic year, Clearwater Middle School took its place, scoring the lowest averages on six occasions across the period.
Becky Ausenda, the founder of the Bermuda Education Network, said that looking at raw data alone can be “unfair” when comparing school performance.
She explained: “Some schools are dealing with a population that needs more support than others.”
She highlighted that Victor Scott had been chosen to host the alternative education Success Academy programme.
Ms Ausenda added: “However, what is clear is that the school reforms need to prioritise more consistent support and services, especially at certain high-needs schools.
“This is a comprehensive school system which is trying to cater to a huge range of needs.
“It requires a mountain of paperwork to have special education students — that can bring down the average results of schools whose teachers are often working the hardest.”
The Gazette requested information from the Ministry of Education about factors that could unfairly influence the outcomes of schools, whether positively or negatively, but did not receive a response by press time.
They included strengthening mathematics instruction, expanding writing across the curriculum, and enhancing science teaching and learning.
He said then: “Students are demonstrating solid literacy foundations, especially in reading, which remains a key pillar of academic success.”
However, results from the separate Gates Mac-Ginitie Reading Test, which were released to the Gazette as a result of the latest Pati request, showed that more than half of pupils in the public school system scored below the international benchmark for that test between 2020 and 2023.
The Ministry of Education did not respond to further questions about the Cambridge Checkpoint challenges by press time.
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