Decision made after review of predicted and achieved grades

Brent Council has announced it will be seeking a judicial review into the altering of grade boundaries which left hundreds of pupils disappointed following this year’s GCSE exams.

Hundreds of students were left crestfallen this summer when they discovered they had not met the required grades in certain subjects including maths and english.

The decision to challenge the move was taken after conducting a thorough survey of predicted and actual GCSE pass grades among all the borough’s secondary schools.

Cllr Mary Arnold, lead member for children and families at Brent Council, said: “We believe that the AQA and Edexcel exam boards altered their grades between January and June of this year which resulted in a marked difference in students’ predicted and actual grades.

“On behalf of the hundred or so students affected in Brent and the many thousands of other young people across England we are whole heartedly behind the legal challenge to Ofqual for a thorough investigation into this matter.”

A formal joint letter of complaint, to which Brent is signatory, was issued to Ofqual on September 20 calling for a judicial review into the increase in grade boundaries.