Manchester College have apologised after staff discovered they'd failed to send a GCSE Maths paper to be marked, leaving students with lower grades than expected.
Several students who sat their Maths GCSE at the college were left heartbroken when they received lower grades than they expected at results day on August 25, with some losing out on university places over the grades. However, their shock and sadness was replaced with anger on Tuesday, September 6, when they received a letter from the college which revealed the school had failed to send one of their papers in to be marked.
The letter, which some of the affected students have shared with the Manchester Evening News , states that there is an "issue" with the paper one, sat at Shena Simon Campus on June 7. It states that the college carried out an immediate internal review, before expressing "concern" that the review found the paper had not been sent to the exam board, Edexcel, to be marked.
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After discovering their mistake, the college contacted the exam board and sent in the missing papers, which the board said they will "prioritise" marking for. No date for the updated results has been given to students, but the college has apologised and offered support to affected students, including formal confirmation of the error to support and employment or university applications affected by the results.
The letter apologised for any distress caused by the "exceptionally unsettling news" and states a "full formal investigation" will be carried out, involving a review of what should have happened, why the error occurred, and how the issue could have been prevented.
However, for some students, the error has been uncovered too late. One pupil, who did not wish to be named, said she had to make the decision to take a year out after she withdrew the application she'd made through clearing as she knew her grade would not be good enough to secure entry for her chosen course.
She told the Manchester Evening News : "Once I entered the building it was literally a shambles, no one knew where anyone was going, it was very unorganised and I was very surprised considering how important it was for students to sit this exam after being isolated for two years due to Covid.
"Fast forward to results day on August 25, I opened my student hub to the surprise of a grade 2 when in all my mock exams I was predicted at least a 4. I was shocked and very saddened as when sitting my exams I didn’t feel as though I struggled too much, I also spent a lot of time studying for my Maths GCSE.
"I was applying through clearing for Manchester Metropolitan University and I was waiting for my GCSE result to apply, but when I received my grade 2 I immediately withdrew my UCAS 2022 application as I knew no university would accept me with that grade for what I want to do.
"Then yesterday I received a letter from Manchester College to let me know my paper one exam was never sent off for marking. They based my grade on paper two and paper three which resulted in my grade 2. I’m going to have to take a year out and re apply in 2023.
"I’m disappointed as I really had my hopes up for this year, plus I can’t apply to any university until they sort my grade out and I believe I am now too late to go this year."
Another student says she's splashed out around £400 for tuition and rebooking an exam privately, after she was rejected from her chosen university. Fortunately she's been able to secure a place at another university to continue her studies as planned, but the experience has set her back financially and caused a lot of stress.
She told the Manchester Evening News : "I have dyscalculia, it's like dyslexia for maths, so I was working every single day without fail so to see that grade two was awful. I was originally wanting to go to Salford University but they needed a grade four which is well away from a grade two so I was turned down, it just wasn't good.
"Salford was just a really convenient location for me so I'm not too bothered about the switch, I'm still going to uni just not my original choice, but it happened to 30 other people and some of them are having to wait until next year.
"For it was more the shock, how did I only get 95 marks, I thought I'd completely messed up. I want the college to give us refunds, I spent £100 on tutoring and £200 on a private resit exam. I'm going to speak to the exam centre I went to because it's such a bizarre situation."
The college has apologised for their mistake and say they will be undertaking a review to prevent the error from occurring again, as well as supporting students with the effects of the low grade. Students have been urged to get in touch with the college to help them support people with documentation and advice.
College Principal Lisa O’Loughlin said: “We have been made aware of a small number of our students who have received incorrect grades for their Maths GCSE. Following an initial investigation, the issue has arisen due to an error that was made in collecting and submitting completed examination papers to the awarding body. The error falls short of the standards that we set ourselves and we fully understand the extent of the impact that it will have on our students.
“We are currently working with the awarding body to ensure that students receive their correct grades as quickly as possible and to provide affected students with the support they need to progress. I would like to apologise unreservedly to those students who have been impacted and reassure them that we are doing everything in our power to ensure they receive the grades they have worked so hard to achieve as soon as possible.”
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