IT is, of course, purely coincidental that students’ A-level results are being released on Battle of Flowers day.

In spite of this, the occasion of the Island’s most important public spectacle, with all the exuberance, delight and satisfaction that it involves, is a fitting time for the publication of data which, the initial signs suggest, will again reflect very well not only on those who have excelled academically but also on the schools that have made that excellence achievable.

It seems that Jersey A-level candidates habitually do so well in these national examinations that headlines declaring that results are better than ever before are almost taken for granted. The temptation to adopt this attitude is, however, to be avoided. To be complacent or blasé would amount to an insult to the many students who have worked so hard for success and to the teaching staff who have guided them through what remains an extremely stern test of ability and understanding.

There has been talk recently of new entrants to Highlands College having to be brought up to speed in the use of English and basic mathematics before they can embark on the rigours of further study. The picture painted by this year’s results is only just beginning to emerge, but information filtering out from individual schools strongly suggests that their supposed inability to teach the basics might have been grossly exaggerated.

Indeed, the percentage of passes and the many passes at the highest grades registered so far utterly fail to imply that this is an Island of poor academic standards or, among the teaching profession, Wackford Squeers incompetence.

The quality of performance at A-level is, in fact, good evidence that we are served very well indeed by our educational system and those who make it function. We are no doubt lucky to be a community wealthy enough to pour resources into this vital area of public spending, but resources alone do not guarantee results. In the end it comes down to people – and those people, at the learning and the teaching ends of the educational relationship, deserve our thanks and congratulations on a job very well done.