Leading headmaster Richard Cairns said the most intelligent children are often penalised in exams because they go above and beyond what is required

Bright pupils may pick up lower GCSE grades than their peers next week as they are too sophisticated for marking schemes, a leading headmaster says.

Richard Cairns, headmaster of Brighton College, said the most intelligent children are often penalised in exams because they go above and beyond what is required.

He said the issue was most apparent in history and English, which can be more subjective. As markers are not necessarily specialists in the particular text or historical period they are assessing, they may not credit pupils for extra insight.

They may even mark them down for not adhering to a formulaic marking scheme. Pupils often struggle to cope with the simplicity of questions, which are pitched too low for their level, he said.

Mr Cairns, whose independent school will send 28 pupils to Oxbridge this year, said: ‘The two subjects which always cause problems are English and history. The marking is more subjective, and there’s a range of texts you can choose from. Sometimes, markers are marking things they know little about.

‘They can mark papers on medieval history even if they don’t know much about it.

‘It can mean they stick to the marking scheme and they don’t always give credit to the better pupils who question the fundamental evidence in [for example] history, and go beyond it.

‘The children are being asked to jump through hoops and they can’t understand why, because they can see beyond the hoop. They often find it slightly distressing.’

He said it was hard to ‘train’ children to cater to the marking schemes.

‘It’s fundamentally a GCSE problem, because it’s one exam for all pupils,’ he said.

‘That causes some consternation among some children who can’t see the point in the question because it’s self-evident. GCSEs do a disservice to brighter children and you do find that in some subjects the bright children don’t get the top grades, particularly in the humanities.’

On Thursday, Brighton College had some of the best A-level results in the country, with almost all grades A* to B, and 82.8 per cent A or higher.

On Thursday, Brighton College (pictured) students had some of the best A-level results in the country

The school pays its teachers extra to do examining to maintain ‘quality control’ in the system. To mark GCSE papers, examiners usually need recent teaching experience, a degree in the subject they are marking and a teaching qualification.

But exam boards often struggle to recruit enough markers as it is hard for full-time teachers to take on extra work.