As summer draws to a close, it is time for the annual ritual of the publication of exam results, and the now seemingly inevitable news that more candidates have passed/achieved top grades than ever before, to be followed immediately by claims that the papers are getting easier/scripts are being marked more leniently.

Among all the media ‘noise’, little if anything is ever heard about the Common Entrance examinations taken by children at Schools like Christ Church to gain entrance to senior public schools.

It was 105 years ago that the Common Entrance examination came into being. Until then, there had been no unified approach to the tests taken by children for the various senior schools, each setting its own.

This made teaching very difficult, since no two tests were based on the same material. Today, the Independent Schools Examination Board publishes syllabuses in eight main subjects: English, mathematics, science (biology, chemistry and physics being separately examined), a modern language, Latin, geography, history and religious studies. Regard is paid to the National Curriculum but the requirements for study are both broader and deeper.

Children sit the examinations in June in their own schools and their answers are sent to their chosen senior school for marking.

Unlike GCSE and A-Level, no attempt is made to set a national standard; although there is an agreed marking scheme, each senior school treats candidates’ scripts in line with its own academic policy.

‘Pass marks’ are therefore more demanding at some schools than at others; assessments are about suitability and potential, rather than normalised standards.

To deal with the range of exams making up Common Entrance at the age of 12 is a demanding challenge.

To take one example, it is commonly said that a good mark in each of the three science papers is equivalent to a GCSE double science lower tier pass, and this three years before these candidates will have to face GCSE.

The Common Entrance syllabuses are designed to challenge and stretch and can be effective in doing so. Just as with any other exam system, it is vital not to ‘teach to the test’, but the style of question and the rigour of the papers encourages a great deal more than rote learning and regurgitation of fact.

In my subject, religious studies, candidates are required and encouraged to hold and defend independent opinions, having to weigh up, for example, the relative merits of Creationism and Darwinism as explanations for our human roots, or argue the moral case for or against euthanasia.

In such ways Common Entrance really helps us to prepare children for the next stage of their education. This year, our Year 8 candidates did themselves, their families and their teachers proud, gaining 83 per cent of their subject grades at A and B, just under half of these being the top grade.

Common Entrance may not grab the headlines each summer but those who have taken its examinations with such success should surely feel rightly proud of their achievements.

Mr Martin Bruce, head master