TWO Bromsgrove parents have criticised a marking blunder, which left their 16 year old sons facing re-sits of their English language GCSE after being told they did not get the grades needed for the next step in their education.

After an appeal, the exam board has re-marked Alfie Bloomer's paper - and upgraded him from a D to a C, which was what he needed to get on to his sports science course at Heart of Worcestershire College's Redditch campus.

A classmate at South Bromsgrove High School faced a similar ordeal as he waited for a re-mark, which also upgraded him from a D to a C in the same subject.

While Alfie and his family, of Willow Road, Sanders Park, are delighted he can now get on with his sports course - without the looming spectre of another exam - his dad, Steve Bloomer, says he is "disgusted" with the original marking by exam board AQA.

"Alfie has waited nearly a month and has been in class at college, not knowing if he will be able to carry on with his course in sports science because he didn't get the grade he needed," said Mr Bloomer.

"He was devastated when he got his original result and, although the college said he could start his course, he had to have an extra class in English language each week to retake the exam.

"He has had the worry and heartache of that - and now the exam board has given him 15 extra marks, taking him from a D to a C grade.

"I am absolutely disgusted - I can't believe that in this day and age they could get it so wrong. It seems shoddy."

The family paid £33 for the re-mark of Alfie's English language paper but will now get that refunded as the appeal was successful.

In the case of Alfie's classmate, who does not wish to be named, the re-grading - which was requested by the school - lifted his marks by 18 points.

And that meant he could, after all, start his A Levels in the sixth form at South Bromsgrove High School.

He had done well in his GCSEs, getting another nine good grades, and was crestfallen at his below-par grade in English language.

His mother said: "If two pupils in the same class get results that are so wrong, what does it mean for youngsters across the country?

"There is obviously something significantly wrong with the way those papers were marked."

Paul Topping, headteacher at South Bromsgrove High School, where Alfie achieved a total of five GCSEs, said: "Parents sometimes think that schools are responsible for marking but we aren't - we send the scripts off to the exam board.

"There is a letter included with the exam results that parents can request a re-mark and, separate to that, the school can request it if we think a student is away from their target.

"We are always pleased when our students' grades go up but the appeals process is frustrating."

Mr Topping added that the number of re-marks requested was a small percentage and there had not been a general increase in them at the school this year.

An AQA exam board spokesperson said: “Most students get the right result first time. We know it’s disappointing when this doesn’t happen, and we’re sorry Alfie had to take extra classes – but we’re glad he now has the correct grade.”