GCSE English verdict: Sense of injustice as students lose out

Headteachers have expressed a sense of injustice after the High Court ruled against a re-grade in the GCSE fiasco.

School leaders have told SecEd that they are frustrated at the decision not to order a re-grade despite an apparent recognition by the High Court that students suffered unfairly.

Paul Scutt, head of Bishop Fox School in Somerset, said they were among those to suffer “damaged” English results. The school saw 57 per cent of students achieve an A* to C grade in English language last summer, compared to 74 per cent in English literature.

Mr Scutt told SecEd: “I do feel that the judicial review misses the key point which is about ‘justice’. I despair that we can have arrived at a point where we conclude that the ‘right’ thing to do is to treat children differently in order to ‘protect and sustain’ the system.”