A children's health specialist has warned that preventing middle school students who failed a new transfer exam from moving up to senior school could seriously jeopardise their education.

Paediatrician Bente Lundh told The Royal Gazette that the Ministry of Education needs to urgently determine why 24 children failed the exam on three occasions and must put in place a plan to ensure they are not left behind academically.

The youngsters and their parents found out this month that they cannot attend CedarBridge Academy or the Berkeley Institute in September because they failed to achieve 50 percent in mathematics and English.

The test was taken for the first time this year by about 360 M3 (middle three) public school students, wiping out the practice of allowing automatic "social promotion" from middle to senior school.

Dr. Lundh, an expert in learning difficulties, said: "I am not saying that [students] shouldn't be retained per se, but grade retention without a proper evaluation and intensive intervention to find out why they need to be retained in the first place, it's just not going to help.

"In an ideal programme, you do not retain. You have early intervention. You should never have to get to the point where you are retaining a student."

The doctor said the students being held back may have an unrecognised learning difficulty, like attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder or attention deficit disorder, or a mental health condition, which needs to be diagnosed so they can get help.

She said research showed that children held back often failed to catch up with their peers and usually felt rejected by the system, leading to an even poorer performance.

Dr. Lundh said: "I wonder how many parents of those 24 children are now just going to pull their children out of public school and put them in the home school system, just because of the stigma.

"I would also like to know if the Ministry is going to formalise a policy for when children are retained."

One mother told this newspaper she was planning to remove her daughter from the public system — because she was not alerted to the fact that her child was struggling.

The woman, who asked not to be named, questioned why her 14-year-old daughter was allowed to graduate from her middle school if she was performing badly enough to fail the exam twice, in April and in June.

"If they had tested the students while they were still in school that would have determined their fate i.e. whether they graduated or stayed behind," said the mother.

"It was the fact that my child was allowed to graduate. She got awards. If this was a high school selection test, it should have been done much earlier."

The Southampton mother said she and other parents believed the test was simply an "evaluation". She was not told her child was being held back a year until August 6.

The woman called the Department of Education after being notified and was told her daughter got a low maths score. "When I went home and told my daughter, she was devastated," she said. "My daughter was never informed that there was a third chance to take the test in July, when she was off the Island."

She said the girl was allowed to sit the test again on August 13, when she claimed some other pupils were taking it for a fourth time.

"We haven't received any notice from the school yet [as to the result]," she said. "They should be informing us this week. I'm in the process of trying to find her another school; a private school or a home school."

Shadow Education Minister Grant Gibbons has welcomed the Ministry's decision to abolish social promotion but queried how the selection process was carried out.

"While it's unfortunate that 24 students will not be advancing to senior school, it's good to know that the Ministry and senior schools are sincere in their efforts to do away with social promotion, which obviously has been a problem in the past," he said earlier this week. "However, the way in which the transfer exam was originally handled does raise some questions."

The first sitting of the exam was on April 17, during the Annual Exhibition, and education chiefs have admitted that students may have been distracted.

Dr. Gibbons said the Ministry should reveal how many children failed the exam that day and explain why many parents seemed to be unaware of the importance of the test.

The Ministry has not responded to a series of questions about the test this week (see side panel). But a press release issued on Tuesday reminded parents that they have until August 31 to appeal a decision to retain their child.

Letters should be sent to Education Commissioner Wendy McDonell at the Department of Education, Dundonald Place, 14 Dundonald Street West, Hamilton HM 09.

• Are you a parent of a child in public school? Send your views on the new transfer exam to letters@royalgazette.bm.