Education chiefs have ruled out introducing school league tables - despite Freedom of Information requests revealing clear variations in performance.

Parent David Watts has compiled his own performance tables for each of the island’s 32 primary schools using data supplied by the Department of Education, Sport and Culture in response to FoI requests submitted by himself and others.

The attainment results for year 6 pupils (aged 10-11) completing Key Stage 2 studies appear to show that only four out of 32 schools would be above the last comparable average in England across all subjects.

Eight schools in 2016-17 were above the Isle of Man average in each of the five assessed areas - speaking and listening, maths, writing, reading and science. Five schools were below in each area.

Mr Watts, who lives in Castletown and has two children now in Key Stage 3, says the data allows schools to be compared directly - but he accepts there is a danger in taking one year in isolation and that a number of factors can skew the results.

He said: ’As a parent who has spent the last nine years at the school gate I am well aware that parents compare. They compare schools, teachers, departments.

’I do believe parents and other stakeholders should have easy access to such data and be allowed to form their own opinion.

’No such data was released before the introduction of FoI and, even since then, the department have resisted such publication.’

In her first annual report, Children’s Champion Daphne Caine MHK called for league tables to be routinely published so that ’all parents and students can take pride in their school’s achievements’.

But in a statement, the DESC said: ’The government does not support the publication of league tables for schools in the Isle of Man.

’Neither is this policy supported by school leaders in Manx schools or any of the teaching unions.

’The DESC has co-operated with all FoI requests and seeks to inform parents as much as possible of the work of schools.

’However, in reporting such data, the impact on children and young people must not be overlooked. While there is very little evidence of the effectiveness of publishing school attainment data in raising standards, there is considerable research that demonstrates how this can narrow the curriculum for pupils, reduce motivation and encourage schools to exclude vulnerable pupils.’

Mr Watts accepts the tables he has compiled on attainment at each primary school can only be a starting point for the department to produce meaningful benchmarked performance data.

Factors that can skew the results include the percentage of children on free school meals, have English as an additional language or have special educational needs. And in small schools, one pupil’s performance will have a much greater impact on the overall percentage figure.

Mr Watts focused on those pupils who achieved a National Curriculum level of five or more.

It is expected the majority of 11-year-old children will achieve Level 4 by the end of Year 6.

Work commissioned by the Department for Enterprise to benchmark Manx state secondary schools showed all five would be placed in the top 30 schools in the North West of England, performing well compared with fee-paying schools.

lExaminer comment, see page 18.