Girls are more likely to leave school with a pre-college or pre-univesity diploma than boys, even though boys slightly outperform girls at the start of their secondary education, according to new figures from national statistics agency CBS.

The agency followed 190,000 pupils who started secondary schools in 2010 and found girls are more likely to end up with a pre-college or pre-university diploma (havo or vwo), and more boys end up with a trade school (vmbo) certificate.

At the start of their school career, there was an even division between the sexes in classes, with boys scoring an average of 75% in their primary school leaving tests and girls 74%.

But by three years in, 9% of girls and 15% of boys in vwo and havo streams had repeated a year, and the gap between the sexes was beginning to emerge.

Seven years after starting secondary school, 43% of girls had been awarded a havo or vwo diploma, compared with 38% of boys.

In trade schools the difference between the sexes was less marked, but boys were more likely than girls to end up with some form of vmbo certificate. By contrast girls starting in a vmbo class were more likely to be moved to a higher stream than boys.

Some 12% of pupils left school with no qualifications at all.