Year 12 students in 2011 achieved the highest ever-external examination results recorded for the government education service. According to Education Ministry officials, the pass rate represents a significant improvement over last year’s results and continues a trend of improvement nationally.

Nationally, 45% of Year 12 students in 2011 attained five or more Level 2 passes in external examinations (A*-C [GCSE/IGCSE] or I-III [CXC]). Just five years ago, in 2007, the figures stood at 27%. This represents the difference between 84 students across schools meeting that target in 2007 versus 154 students in 2011.

In 2008, the national average for government schools was 28%. Since 2008, results have shown significant improvement, rising to 38% in 2009 and 39% in 2010.

Performance varied between Grand Cayman and Cayman Brac. In Grand Cayman, in a year group of some 310 students, 43% of students achieved five or more Level 2 passes. In Cayman Brac, students at the Layman E Scott Senior High School (LSHS) significantly outperformed the national average, with a 66% pass rate at this level, in a year group of 32.

The percentage of students achieving Honours status, with seven or more Level 2 passes, also improved in 2011, with 22% (76 students) achieving this standard. Sixty-two of this year’s honors students attended JGHS/CIFEC in Grand Cayman, and a further 14 were from the Layman E. Scott Senior High School (LSHS) in
Cayman Brac.

Minister for Education, Training and Employment, the Hon. Rolston Anglin, JP, shared external examination results with educators in the Sister Islands and Grand Cayman at the Ministry’s official launch for the new school year.

He thanked educators for their commitment to working with the students, parents, the Education Department and Ministry to raise standards of achievement in government schools.

“Standards matter,” Minister Anglin stated. “Behind every percentage point increase are children whose life chances have improved, because they have reached an important threshold for further studies or the world of work.

“These results tell us that our Caymanian students can achieve at a high level and that our system can improve. We must believe that every child can, should and will learn,” he said.

Chief Education Officer Shirley Wahler noted that the significance of what has been achieved in 2011 becomes clear when the results are compared with performance in previous years. In 2005, for example, only 23% of students in Grand Cayman achieved five or more Level 2 passes at grades I-III or A*-C. More recently, the results came in at 25% in 2007 and 27% in 2008, rising to 36% in 2009 and 37% in 2010. In Cayman Brac, results have topped 60% before, with students attaining 65% in both 2006 and 2010. In other years, results have varied between 45% in 2008, 48% in 2007 and 56% in 2009.

In his address, Minister Anglin encouraged educators to feel proud of what they had helped their students to achieve in 2011, but at the same time to commit to striving for even better results in the coming year.

“These results should be celebrated, because they represent real progress and real effort, but they can and must still improve. The Ministry and DES will remain focused on challenging and supporting our schools to ensure that our students’ performance continues to improve, and that we move ever closer to our goal of success for all of our students,” he noted.

Education Ministry Chief Officer, Mary Rodrigues, advised that a more detailed analysis of the external examination results, and other performance data, is being finalized, for use by the Department of Education Services (DES) and schools to identify specific strengths and weaknesses and to set targets for improvement, by school, subject and teacher.

She explained that the DES, through the work of newly appointed Senior School Improvement Officers, has been tasked with engaging with schools to develop additional strategies for improving results even further in 2012.

“At the same time the Ministry will be working with the DES to establish national targets for external examination performance. We will also be focusing on raising standards in mathematics, a significant area of underperformance nationally,” Mrs. Rodrigues said.

Notable Successes

The following 2011 Year 12 students were highlighted, among many notable successes, for their examination success.