English remarks result in upgrades

Due to the persistence of Dr David James, Head of English, in his belief that the English Literature exam had been unfairly marked, we are delighted that the Chief examiner at AQA English has notified us of several upgrades.

Of our 122 students, 82% had the marks increased which resulted in 51 candidates receiving a higher grade. One of these students went from her original C grade to the remarked A grade (going up 63 marks); other noticeable increases meant that one candidate went up 53 marks; two went up 41 marks: 37 candidates went up 20 marks or more.

Not only has the English literature A/A* percentage increased from 30 to 45 but the school’s A/A* percentage has gone from 56.1% to 57.7%, with the overall pass rate going from 97.5% to 97.9%.

Says Dr James: "Staff and pupils are obviously hugely relieved that some very obvious wrongs have been put right. It was clear, when one compared the English Language results to the Literature results, that there had been some problems with either the marking or the moderation, and AQA deserve credit for acknowledging this. That said, any system which allows these results to go through in the first place does not inspire much confidence, and I would hope that, in the future, there are more effective checks and balances in place to ensure that such anomalies are avoided."