Headteachers have expressed their fury towards exam regulator Ofqual after they refused to re-mark this summer’s GCSE English exams.


This year saw a national slump in GCSE English grades as the exam regulator heightened the grade boundaries from January to June, meaning students with the same marks as those who sat the exams in the January got lower grades.


Jo Longhurst, headteacher at Orleans Park School, said it was unfair to raise the grade boundaries at such a late stage without informing schools.


She said: “The system should be consistent and transparent and we need to have confidence in it. The way the exam boards have behaved this year does not give us any confidence that our pupils are assessed against consistent standards and are recognised fairly for their achievements.”


She said re-marking the papers would not make a difference to the pupils’ grades unless the grade boundaries were changed back to the January levels and said the situation impacted on students’ futures.


Chairman of governors at Richmond Park Academy Simon Danciger said the school would take it up with the Academies Enterprise Trust, but said the issue had to be solved at national level.


He said: “It is like two people in a running race who have both been training hard but on the day of the race one has to run 100m and the other has to run 110m. It is clearly not fair.”


Mr Danciger said the crisis did not mar the success of Richmond Park Academy, which he said had the best results in the borough, but added some individual students were still affected. 


Councillor Paul Hodgins, cabinet member for schools, raised his concerns over the inconsistency of the English exam marking in January compared to June.


He said: “Ofqual needs to be allowed to act independently, but the system needs to be improved so that students, teachers and parents have full confidence in the results. I’m glad that this is being recognised.”


Despite the controversy over the English exams, he praised the area’s schools for improvements in Maths and Science results.


He said: “This reflects the hard work our teachers and students put in last year to continue to raise standards.”