Blackburn Girls’ School’s GCSE results published incorrectly.

A Blackburn school revealed that a major error resulted in incorrect GCSE attainment levels being published in the annual secondary school performance statistics.

Islamiyah females’ School in Willow Street, Little Harwood, provides a curriculum balanced with Islamic instruction for females aged 11 to 16.

It received a ‘Outstanding‘ rating from Ofsted following its most recent inspection in 2018.

According to published results, fewer than half of students received pass grades in English and maths, whereas 94% did.

The Department for Education released the data in the autumn, showing how well each secondary school in the borough scored in the Year 11 exams.

It shows the percentage of students who received 9 to 4 grades in English and maths, as well as higher scores of 9 to 5 in the two areas.

According to data from Islamiyah Girls’ School, 42.9% of students achieved standard 9-4 passes in English and maths. The school claimed it has now received proof that the right figure is 94%.

The school received a 90% success percentage in five courses, including English and arithmetic, and a 65% pass rate in five subjects, including English and maths.

Most notably, the school’s Attainment 8 score was 58.5 vs 39.6. This would have put it only behind Tauheedul Boys School (62.3), and Tauheedul Islam Girls’ School (72.1).

The school said in a statement: “Islamiyah Girls’ High School is offering clarity regarding the disclosure of its 2025 GCSE (Key Stage 4) performance data.

“Following a detailed review by the Department for Education (DfE), involving three senior leads responsible for performance measures data production, statistical publications and school accountability policy, the DfE has confirmed that the GCSE data originally published for the school does not accurately reflect pupils’ outcomes.” The Department for Education replied to the school:

“Whilst it is not possible to correct the data, an exception has been agreed to suppress the published KS4 performance measures to avoid the continued public display of inaccurate information.”

Because national systems do not allow for retrospective rectification at this time, the DfE has confirmed to the school that suppression is the only mechanism available to prevent incorrect data from being publicly broadcast.

The DfE stated that in this context, suppressed means that the school’s GCSE performance results would not be displayed on national league tables or performance websites.Instead, the data will be displayed as ‘SUPP’.

The school statement continues, “This decision has been made because the DfE has determined that its systems do not allow the data to be appropriately updated or changed at this time.

“Suppression has thus been used to ensure that false or misleading information is not made public.

“Importantly, suppression does not imply poor performance or concern about norms. It represents a decision to eliminate data that does not accurately represent the students educated at the school.”The suppression will apply to:

 

the Compare School and College Performance website, national GCSE statistical releases, both revised and final 2024/25 KS4 publications (January 2026 and April 2026).”

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