THE head of Ludlow School is disappointed that an attempt to overturn controversial English exam results has been rejected by the High Court.

He was commenting on the court's decision that changes in the examination boundaries introduced last summer were not illegal.

The changes resulted in many pupils getting poorer results than expected and in particular missing the key C grade.

It affected the overall performance of many schools in south Shropshire and throughout the country.

“Students, parents, teachers and lecturers will be frustrated and disappointed by the decision of the judges,” said Phil Poulton.

“It is particularly galling that in reaching their judgement both Justice Elias and Justice Sharp acknowledged that the examinations system had been operated unfairly and that substantial change was needed in the future - this is the key issue. “Nearly 10,000 students have been treated unfairly after working really hard during their school careers. Identical performances would be graded differently if you were sitting the exam January and June – this is simply not fair or acceptable.” But the head of Ludlow School said the impact on young people had not been as serious as it might have been because of the responsible approach taken by colleges.

“Fortunately, many sixth forms and FE colleges were aware of this shambles and seemed to be sympathetic in many cases, enabling students to enrol,” he added. “However, students were then still spending time re-sitting examinations when they could have been working on their new courses. “Another possible impact for schools is that they will focus very thin resources on C/D borderline students even more than ever. “This is a flaw in the system, and an approach that we need to resist if it is at the expense of other students.”